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Title: Tata, Clinton and the ghost of outsourcing
Source:
http://www.rediff.com/
URL Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jul/30hillary.htm
Published: Jul 30, 2007
Author: rediff.com
Post Date: 2008-02-26 21:36:11 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 64
Comments: 3
It seems outsourcing -- and her proximity to Indian business houses like the Tatas -- is going to be the litmus test for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the run-up to the 2008 United States Presidential elections. Fellow Democrat and fellow Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama's campaign office had a go at Senator Clinton not too long ago, calling her a 'Democrat from Punjab' -- for her friendship with the New York-based Chatwals and pro-outsourcing stand. Though Obama apologised for it later, putting the blame on a campaign official, it signalled that the issue of Americans 'losing jobs' due to outsourcing was going to be an issue, just as the war in Iraq is. Now, a Los Angeles Times report cites the outcome of a pet Hillary project in Buffalo, upstate New York, as proof that the issue of outsourcing is far from dead. 'To many labor unions and high-tech workers, the Indian giant Tata Consultancy Services [Get Quote] is a serious threat -- a company that has helped move US jobs to India while sending thousands of foreign workers on temporary visas to the United States,' begins the Los Angeles Times report. It then details how Hillary announced in 2003 that TCS would set up a software development office in Buffalo and how Ratan Tata had said his company might hire 200 people. ' the event signaled that Clinton, who portrays herself as a fighter for American workers, had aligned herself with Indian American business leaders and Indian companies feared by the labor movement,' writes LAT staff writer Peter Wallsten. The report goes on to note that wealthy Indian Americans -- 'many of them business leaders with close ties to their native country and an interest in protecting outsourcing laws and expanding access to worker visas' -- have thrown their weight behind Hillary. The Chatwals' fundraiser for Hillary is also mentioned, without the New York hotelier's name. And it underlines that the Buffalo deal, a sort of showpiece achievement for Hillary, who stresses that globalisation (read outsourcing) helps everyone, has generated just 10 jobs. 'As for the research deal Clinton announced with the state university, school administrators say that three attempts to win government grants with Tata for health-oriented research were unsuccessful, and no projects are imminent,' the report adds. Senator Clinton, it seems, is aware of the criticism. 'Outsourcing is a problem,' the Los Angeles Times quoted her as saying during a Democratic candidates' debate in June. The LA Times report adds that a report by two American Senators named Tata as one of the biggest users of foreign-worker visas in the US -- proof, the Senators said, that Tata was pushing American jobs to foreign workers.
Poster Comment: ...for the record on Hillary's job creation history....
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#1. To: All (#0)
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/538674.cms Hillary Clinton stands up for Tatas, outsourcing 5 Mar 2004, 0439 hrs IST,CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA,TNN WASHINGTON: Former First Lady Hillary Clinton on Wednesday defended the general principles of free trade and outsourcing , while rejecting suggestions that she was allowing Indian info-tech major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to take away jobs from the state that elected her to the Senate. /photo.cms?msid=538685 The New York Senator was ambushed by CNN’s Lou Dobbs on his show, a daily outlet for anti-free trade rants, with questions about a TCS center she opened last year in Buffalo in upstate New York despite the company’s reputation as an 'outsourcer.' "Of course, I know they outsource," Clinton retorted. "But they have also brought jobs and they intend to be a source of new jobs in the state." Outsourcing works both ways, she told Dobbs and his constituency of anti-free traders who tried to corner her on the issue. While not minimizing the problems of job flight, she said free trade also provided opportunities for the US to attract jobs from around the world if they got the domestic diagnosis right. The administration and the Congress needed to figure out changes in tax codes and trade laws to provide incentives for companies to keep jobs at home and create new jobs instead of blindly striking out against outsourcing. "We are not against all outsourcing; we are not in favour of putting up fences," Clinton said firmly, adding that Americans were capable of competing against anyone if they summoned the will. TCS opened a 10-person center in Buffalo last March at the prompting of the former First Lady and local officials eager to generate local employment. The company also collaborates closely with the University of Buffalo on various projects aimed at galvanising the local sci-tech economy. But anti-outsourcing elements have targeted the office, arguing that TCS will simply outsource the jobs to India or bring in Indian hands to Buffalo to do the work. They have also attacked Clinton for inviting TCS, and in some instances accused her of working with what one anti-outsourcing website described as the 'enemy.' But the New York Senator dismissed the fears on Wednesday, and instead offered various prescriptions aimed at creating more jobs at home, including creating a 'Manufacturing Research Agency.' Her proposals, amid a slew of other prescriptions and legislations by other lawmakers, prompted speculation that she was moving center-stage with an eye on the vice-presidential ticket alongside John Kerry. But the former First Lady laughed away the suggestion saying she was happy with her work as a Senator. Tata factfile *India’s largest info-tech company; first to cross $1 billion in revenues *Employs more than 25,000 people, including 5,000 in the US and Canada *Has 50 branches in the US including three in New York State
'He will make Cheney look like Gandhi.' Oh, the Clintons have done great at creating jobs.. in China and India. Here in the US, eh, not so good.
U.S. conservative pundit Pat Buchanan, imagining presidential hopeful John McCain in the White House.
#2. To: robin (#1)
 | Gold and silver are REAL money, paper is but a promise. |
#3. To: Elliott Jackalope (#2)
Years ago I was posting photos of her with Tata consulting on FR. It made no impression. What she did to Buffalo, NY was terrible! Tim Russert was right to go after her in the debate tonight for that.
'He will make Cheney look like Gandhi.'
U.S. conservative pundit Pat Buchanan, imagining presidential hopeful John McCain in the White House.
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