In The News

Enduring an IT Eclipse

A. Sheshabalaya August 30, 2005
In recent years, Bangalore has outpaced Silicon Valley in the global innovation race. This is not a temporary blip, writes author Ashutosh Sheshabalaya, but a fast-evolving reality to which the American IT industry must adapt for the long haul. While offshoring is hardly a new phenomenon, it was previously restricted to back-office support functions. This is no longer the case: IBM and Hewlett...

Catering for Globalization

Salil Tripathi August 24, 2005
The firing of 670 workers employed by Gate Gourmet at London's Heathrow Airport has intensified an already heated labor environment. The company is owned by a US investment firm, and union officials hold "mean-spirited capitalists" responsible. According to this Guardian commentary, however, the company's decision was primarily a response to current economic realities. Gate...

Airlines Outsource Upkeep

Sara Kehaulani Goo August 23, 2005
The struggling airline industry, continually seeking ways to cut costs, has seen a rise in outsourcing of maintenance services. According to The Washington Post, more than 50 percent of all service tasks are performed by contractors – many of whom are outside the United States. For many, this trend has brought about safety and security concerns, given the difficulty in assuring contractors...

How France Can Win From Offshoring

Tony Blanco August 15, 2005
The debate over benefits of outsourcing centers to companies and to a country’s economy versus its cost to displaced workers at home, has heated up in France. As France struggles to compete in the global economy, the authors suggest that it should strive to take full advantage of outsourcing. They recommend several tactics that could derive similar benefits from outsourcing, while minimizing...

Death in the Sun

Dan Glaister August 9, 2005
California is well recognized for its wealth of agriculture, but the large number of illegal immigrants who drive the industry are rarely seen or acknowledged. Often forced to work under alarming conditions and minimal wages, an estimated 11 million undocumented aliens work in agriculture across the United States. Although in the past, state authorities have paid little attention to heat-...

The End of Work

Jeremy Rifkin August 5, 2005
Ever since the 1960's, economists and politicians have discussed the possibility that technological leaps may render factory workers obsolete. Now, as decision-makers blame outsourcing to countries like China for a decline in European (and American) jobs, labor expert Jeremy Rifkin writes that their accusations may be misplaced. The spread of automation to service-sector industries, and...

Reinventing the Union

Gary Fields July 28, 2005
The dramatic split in the AFL-CIO this week was caused by equally dramatic, though gradual, changes in the US economy. In the ‘new economy,’ manufacturing is losing ground to services. At the same time, globalization and technological development have allowed many jobs to be sent overseas, a phenomenon that unions seem powerless to resist. They suffer from low membership in high-technology...