Charlie Crystle Blog: Tech Sweatshops in the 21st Century

September 24, 2003

Tech Sweatshops in the 21st Century

Technology jobs have vanished in the past 2 years across the country. Why? The software from my old company (Chili!Soft) is now outsourced to India by its new owner, Sun Microsystems, who also just created 300 new jobs. In China.

My friends in the Silicon Valley are hurting. Thousands of tech workers have been laid off--not because of the downturn, but because of the high rate of outsourcing to India, China, and other countries. US tech companies are actively, knowingly abusing the H1-B Visa and taking advantage of the L-1 Visa loopholes. The details are bland, but the results are terrible: our highly competent, college-educated, innovative technology workers have been sold down the river by the same shortsighted and mean-spirited approach to the global economy.

Why pay a US programmer $70,000 a year when you can pay an Indian programmer $15,000 a year? Why pay US engineers when Chinese engineers can do the same job for much less? Ask any programmer now working at Starbucks to maintain health benefits. It's just not right.

Our leadership seems to be a bit fuzzy on the whole right/wrong thing, so let's look at the numbers. You take that job out of America, you also take the disposable income out of the local economy. So that brand new Cadillac that programmer was going to buy sits in the lot. That effects someone else's job. You also lose the taxes he pays, so the local, state, and federal governments have less revenues. Less tax revenue means fewer services like police, fire protection, and other first responders. It means less money for schools. Less money for roads. Less money for scholarships for college. But then, why bother go to college at all? Corporate America outsources everything it can--CPA jobs, Radiology, software development...what will be left?

We'll have the most qualified Starbucks employees worldwide. Our cities will continue to crumble around us, our kids will have no motivation to aspire to greater things, but the programmer serving us coffee...wait...his job will be threatened too. Who can afford coffee from Starbucks anymore?

Please contribute to the cause. I am fighting for your jobs, whether you work in manufacturing or software--any jobs threatened by the indecencies thrown upon us by the Bush administration and Corporate Democrats and Republicans who have allowed American companies to take advantage of us and hurt our communities. I can't do it alone--you have the power to take back America!

Rise Up!

Posted by Charlie Crystle at September 24, 2003 09:58 AM | TrackBack

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I'm looking forward to tonight's radio interview. I'll be catching the webcast, but I'm really excited to hear what Charlie has to say. I'm but a poor college student, haha, but once my next paycheck comes in hopefully I'll be able to set aside a few dollars for the campaign.

Reach out to young people- if there were some way to energize the voting potential of 18-21 year olds it could be a decisive factor in election outcomes. Since relatively few of us vote to begin with, there is amazing potential to draw new faces into the ranks of both the Crystle campaign, and the Democratic party.

Posted by: Brian Follweiler at September 24, 2003 01:36 PM