As Jobless Rate Hits Double Digits, SEIU Slams U.S. Chamber for Promoting Outsourcing

U.S. Lost 5.6 Million Jobs to Outsourcing in 2007 Alone

Washington, DC -- With Friday's new unemployment numbers projected to show a jobless rate in double digits, SEIU President Andy Stern today called on U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue to explain why his organization supports outsourcing of American jobs.

It's unconscionable that, at a time when most Americans are consumed with fear of losing their jobs, their healthcare and their homes, the nation's top advocate for corporate lobbyists is actively working to make those fears become reality," said Stern. "It sounds like a nightmare, but it's true: Tom Donohue and his lobbyist buddies are working overtime to kill legislation to help workers, like the Employee Free Choice Act, while trying to hide his support for sending their jobs overseas."

In 2004, Donohue argued that "there are legitimate values in outsourcing," projecting that the US should outsource as many as four million jobs in the coming several years. Donohue told CNN,

"There are legitimate values in outsourcing -- not only jobs, but work -- to gain technical experience and benefit we don't have here, to lower the price of products, which means more and more of them are brought into the United States, used, for example, I.T., much broader use than it was 10 years ago, create more and more jobs. But the bottom line is that we outsource very few jobs in relation to the size of our economy. We employ -- American companies employ 140 million Americans. They provide health care for 160 million Americans. They provide training in terms of 40 billion a year. The outsourcing deal over three or four or five years and the two or three sets of numbers are only going to be, you know, maybe two, maybe three million jobs, maybe four." [CNNFN, 2/10/04, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/10/ldt.00.html]

In June, the Department of Labor reported a national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent, up from 5.6 percent just one year ago, with Friday's report expected to go even higher. Of these lost jobs, a shocking number have been sent overseas. In 2007 alone, the U.S. lost 5.6 million jobs as a result of the U.S. non-oil trade deficit, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute. 70% of these jobs were in the manufacturing sector.

"Plain and simple, American workers can't afford more of the US Chamber's policies," Stern added.

The US Chamber has led the fight against the Employee Free Choice Act, launching a deep-pocketed misinformation campaign. In 2008, the Chamber and other corporate lobbying groups spent $50 million opposing Employee Free Choice, while the anti-union front group, Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, has committed $200 million overall to defeat the bill. Chamber Vice President Randel Johnson called the bill's passage "Armageddon."

In fact, according to a study by the Center for American Progress, the legislation that could pump as much as $49 billion annually into state and local economies at a time when they need it most. Forty of the nation's leading economists, including 4 Nobel laureates, have come out in favor of the legislation, arguing that it would help the economy.

US CHAMBER PRESIDENT TOM DONOHUE'S SHAMEFUL RECORD ON OUTSOURCING
U.S. Chamber President Defended Outsourcing of U.S. Jobs, Arguing That Americans Are "Short of Skills." Defending outsourcing in 2004, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said, "The big fundamental issue that we need to understand is we are short of skills in this country. Five years from now we'll have 10 million skilled jobs and we haven't got the people to fill." [CNNFN, 5/3/04]

U.S. Chamber President: "There Are Legitimate Values in Outsourcing." In 2004, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said, "there are legitimate values in outsourcing -- not only jobs, but work -- to gain technical experience and benefit we don't have here, to lower the price of products, which means more and more of them are brought into the United States, used, for example, I.T., much broader use than it was 10 years ago, create more and more jobs. But the bottom line is that we outsource very few jobs in relation to the size of our economy. We employ -- American companies employ 140 million Americans. They provide health care for 160 million Americans. They provide training in terms of 40 billion a year. The outsourcing deal over three or four or five years and the two or three sets of numbers are only going to be, you know, maybe two, maybe three million jobs, maybe four." [CNNFN, 2/10/04]

U.S. Chamber President Suggested More Jobs Were Brought In to the U.S. Than Outsourced to Other Countries. In 2004, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said, "nobody knows where Lou got 2.2 outsourced jobs. Maybe we've got 300,000 in the last couple of years. The most interesting thing is that if you take an annual basis, we insource in the very same categories of work $16 billion more than we outsourced, which is 2 million jobs." [CNNFN, 9/2/04]

In 2007 Alone, the U.S. Lost 5.6 Million jobs to Outsourcing. According to a study from the Economic Policy Institute, the U.S. lost 5.6 million jobs as a result of the U.S. non-oil trade deficit in 2007 alone. 70% of these jobs were in the manufacturing sector. [EPI, 10/2/08]

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