Tuesday, March 7, 2017

An Open Letter to America from a Retired Engineer

I'm that guy. I'm the hypocrite. I worked for one of the top 3 American technology/IT integration companies in the world. Top 3 in the world! An American company! I was in the telecom business almost all of my adult life. I guess I should have realized something was up when the head honcho told the entire company "telecom is not now, nor will it ever be, a core competency". I hesitated, took a breath, and wondered what the hell I was doing there. Little did I realize their plan was to use my IT/telecom knowledge and experience to ship American jobs overseas in the name of profits. We hocked offshore body shops like nobody's business and did VERY well before the bubble started to burst in mid 2007. The crash came quick the next year. At the time, I was thinking about my wife, my son, my paycheck and not of the "consequences" of my employment. I've done a lot of bonehead things in my life...but I am truly sorry for being a part of offshoring American jobs...As I look back, I can't believe I was so stupid...and gullible.

Now, imagine 10 or 20 or 30 of those same types of companies "going after the business" of other corporations, to dismantle their workforce, doing the same thing for the past 25 years in the name of profits. That's how we got here. That's why American labor is in the shape it's in. Our government must understand as I didn't then, that we must protect American workers from corporate policies that by design, dismantle America's working class. It's one thing to automate, but it's completely different to replace an American job with an offshore job. That's how they do it. There are some things money and profits shouldn't buy. Again...I am sorry...and I'm working to prove that.

No comments:

Post a Comment