There's a lot we can do to shape an economy that works for all of us, not just a handful of CEOs and wealthy investors.
It's part of government's job to help protect the interests of workers and consumers. That's why we have child labor laws, vehicle crash tests, safety protections in the workplace, safe food and drugs, and much more. And it's up to us to make sure the government does its job.
Tell your members of Congress and state legislators that you support laws that protect workers and consumers, and that you won't allow your tax dollars to be spent to send more jobs offshore.
Here are some of the laws and policies that can ensure that the economy works for all of us.
| How to Protect Workers |
Employee Free Choice Act (S. 1925 and H.R. 3619) Sponsors: Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) and Rep. Miller (D-CA);32 co-sponsors in the Senate, 207 in the House | The single best protection against outsourcing and offshoring, and the most effective way to ensure quality jobs and living standards for U.S. workers, is through union representation. This act would ensure that employees have a free and fair choice whether or not to unionize, without the onerous and illegal obstacles that employers now use to block workers’ choice. |
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| Extend Trade Adjustment Assistance to service workers | Currently, only manufacturing workers are eligible for this program, which extends unemployment benefits and provides training support to workers whose jobs are sent overseas. Now that an ever-growing variety of jobs are offshored, we should extend these benefits to service workers as well. Learn more. |
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Jobs for America Act (S. 2090) Sponsor: Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) | Extends the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification Act (the "WARN Act") to offshored workers. Requires employers who lay off more than 15 workers to give the employees three months' notice of the impending layoff. |
| How to Protect Consumers |
| Consumers have the right to confidentiality in the handling of their financial, medical, and other sensitive information. They should know where a given company fields its telephone call or where it sends its data. Services should have country of origin labels so consumers can make informed choices about how to exercise their market power. |
Safeguarding Americans From Exporting Identification Data Act (S. 2471) Sponsor: Sen. Clinton (D-NY) | Sets standards for companies’ use of personal data. Requires companies to notify consumers if financial information is sent abroad and allow them to opt out of the process. Holds companies liable for the actions of foreign vendors, thereby giving consumers an avenue for legal redress. |
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Personal Data Offshoring Protection Act of 2004 (H.R. 4366) Sponsors: Rep. Markey (D-MA)
| Requires companies to seek consumer consent in advance before information is sent abroad. |
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Increasing Notice of Foreign Outsourcing Act (S. 2472) Sponsor: Sen. Nelson (D-FL) | Requires contracts between U.S. and foreign companies to follow U.S. privacy standards. Enables government agencies to fine companies that have failed to protect outsourced medical and financial information. |
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| State-level privacy bills | Privacy bills introduced in Arizona, California, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington. All still pending (as of September 2004). |
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Call Center Consumer’s Right to Know Act (S. 1873) Sponsor: Sen. Kerry (D-MA)
| Many offshore contractors force their employees to mimic U.S. accents, adopt American-sounding names, and pretend to be calling from the U.S. Requires call center employees to disclose their physical location at the beginning of each call. Applies to all U.S. companies that use call centers to initiate or receive calls. State-level actions began in 2002 with a bill filed by Linda Greinstein (D) in New Jersey. Some bills add provisions that state contract work cannot be sourced to non-U.S. call centers. In spring 2004, there are currently 16 bills that have been filed at the state level that require call centers to identify locations. |
| How to Use Our Tax Dollars to Help Our Economy |
U.S. Workers Protection Act (S. 2094) Sponsor: Sen. Dodd (D-CT)
| Prevents taxpayer funds from hiring non-U.S. companies. Prevents federal agencies from awarding procurement contracts to contractors using foreign labor, and extends those provisions to subcontractors. Mandates that federal funds cannot be used by states unless it is certified that the funds are not going to offshoring. |
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Defending American Jobs Act of 2004 (H.R. 3888) Sponsor: Rep. Sanders (I-VT); 61 co-sponsors | Denies public subsidies to companies that offshore jobs. (New York state is also considering legislation that would deny state economic development aid to companies that move jobs out of the state.) |
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Reduce the Privatizing of Public Jobs | Government agencies at all levels should think carefully before privatizing government work. The decision to privatize should not be made on price alone, but should be the result of an analysis that examines the long-term impact for the citizens involved. |
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Track Offshored Jobs | Believe it or not, those same folks who say that outsourcing is good for us don't even try to keep track of how many jobs are sent overseas. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics should track offshored jobs. The governors of Arizona, Michigan, and North Carolina have begun the process of offshore tracking at the state level. |
