Northrop Grumman and AMS-CGI: real jobs or hype?

Northrop Grumman and AMS-CGI are locating to Lebanon and Southwest Virginia because that was a requirement of the lucrative government contracts awarded to them. This is what former Governor Warner calls "insourcing." The process involves firing state and other employees from their jobs, then instead of "outsourcing" to low wage "third world" countries such as India, they ship the jobs to "third world" Appalachia. According to company officials I spoke to, they intend to pay far less here than they would elsewhere. When I asked about using the H1b visa system to import workers from India, they refused to comment. Now according to local officials this isn't about software design, but a call center help desk.

It should be noted that according to local officials, Southwest Virginia has lost over 15,000 college(?) graduates in the last 20 years as they fled the low wage poverty economy. The trick is to lure them back and hope returning home will compensate for the loss in pay.

What isn't being said is the tens of millions in subsidies being given to these companies. The idea was to save taxpayer money through this effort, but adding in all of the other subsidies calls that into question. The various efforts to bring jobs and industry to these depressed regions by groups such as VCEDA and LENOWISCO have been dismal failures costing taxpayers a bundle. As for those 1000 (now they claim 700) high tech jobs, we've heard that one before. I hope this is real this time.

But why Russell County?

Posted June, 2, 2007. If we dig long enough the truth is revealed. An article entitled After plant closings, hard-hit towns see salvation in high-tech (Herald Courier June 2) reveals some of the reasons. The article concerns Lenoir, N.C. that lost 5000 jobs in the furniture industry. Google plans to put in a call center to create perhaps 200 jobs announced in January. Why Lenoir? Andrew Johnson, Google's Eastern regional infrastructure manager, cited several reasons:

"The town's manufacturing base offered a ready supply of affordable electricity and water. Tax incentives potentially worth $265 million, cheaper land, and cheaper living costs also made it economically attractive. Lenoir's location on the Eastern seaboard is close to millions of Internet users. Although Google made no promises to hire locally, it hopes to, partly "because it makes good business sense."

At over a million dollars a job in corporate welfare and no promise to even hire local people, sounds like a deal for Google. This article also brings up Lebanon:

In rural areas, the phenomenon is known as "farmshoring," a play on the term for moving jobs overseas, "offshoring" Farmshoring is already happening in Lebanon, a small town in Southwest Virginia hit by manufacturing losses and changes in coal mining. Two high-tech companies, Northrop Grumman and CGI, are building facilities that together will employ 700. One big draw to Lebanon for the companies: workforce stability. In places with a large high-tech base, turnover can be rampant. It's easier for employees to jump to other companies, driving up salaries. In some parts of India, it's as high as one in three leave within the first year because of competition for employees. With us, here, there aren't that many other places for people to go," said Mark Eschle, of CGI, which also has offices in India.

While local officials hope other industries will come and these two don't just pull out after their lucrative ten-year contract expires, don't count on it. Like in the past local business will again actively discourage the creation of better jobs. This will help keep wages low and profits up. Call it "insourcing" or "farmshoring" be it Southwest Virginia or India, it's about depressing wages and maintaining a large degree of poverty to keep profits up.

Posted 6 February 2007. This so-called www.returntoroots.org was paid for by a $135,000 government grant. Nothing new there. They linked to mostly public school websites and various local hospitals. Yes hospitals here are hiring, but fail to mention their large turnover and "burn-out" caused by under staffing and pay issues. The schools are not hiring. My wife, a local college graduate that has never been able to earn over $7 an hour with her four year degree, did get a flyer from them noting all the wonderful job opportunities here and why she should apply for them. Perhaps they refer to the call center in Saltville, ($8 an hour) or heavy equipment operator in Claypool Hill. They had no jobs listed to apply for, certainly not high paying jobs for most college graduates. Click on their link and check it out.

Here is an example of the grant industry.

Return to Roots; Dream It. Do It. Two new programs aimed at developing this region's workforce are developing in Southwest Virginia.

Return to Roots is a campaign aimed at the thousands of alumni from Southwest Virginia high schools who moved away for college and careers. Return to Roots, financed in its first phase by a special projects grant from the Tobacco Commission, urges those former residents to come home to the job opportunities that are exploding throughout the region. The website ReturntoRoots.org is an information portal for former residents to learn about the transition taking place in the region today and a place to post resumes and view job openings of regional employers...Dream It. Do It. is designed to reverse the trend of a shrinking skilled workforce. The Smyth-Washington Regional Workforce Consortium received a $900,000 grant from the Virginia Works program "with an equal amount committed by local manufacturers, community colleges and county governments" to fund training and promotion of the Dream It. Do It. campaign in Southwest Virginia.

"Hundreds of manufacturing jobs are currently available in the Southwest Virginia counties of Smyth and Washington, and they need to be filled with a workforce that is regionally trained," said Bruce Kravitz, executive director of Dream It. Do It. SW Virginia and regional workforce program director for the Smyth-Washington Regional Workforce Consortium. "Filling those jobs with skilled individuals will have a big impact on the health of our economy and on economic development in the region," Kravitz said, at the Oct. 24 (2006) career fair in Abingdon.

Webmaster note: I have been unable to confirm the existence of these "hundreds" of jobs. I have written directly to the above agencies and they refuse to provide proof. I also attended this job fair. Turns out Bruce Kravitz seems to be connected with the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission http://www.mrpdc.org/ another part of the local grant industry. One will find out all the same people get appointed to all of these government agencies. I did get to speak to Mr. Kravitz, and I'm satisfied with his explanation.

Printed Bristol Herald Courier December 10, 2005

As a participant in the CGI-AMS Career Fair, I have deep concerns on what's really going on here. I feel the ad they placed in the Herald Courier was dishonest.

Most of those collecting applications weren't CGI-AMS employees and admitted they didn't know anything. What employees they had were very evasive. They couldn't even state job requirements, salaries, etc. other than a BS degree with experience paid in the "low 40s." That's not an average of $51,000!

What they did admit is troubling. They intend to hire most employees outside the region intending to pay far below industry standards hoping our low cost of living (due to our low standard of living) will compensate for their below market pay scales.

According to the Pasadena Star-News (July 13, 2004) this company had a similar deal with California, then outsourced the jobs to India creating a political uproar. Their representative got agitated when I asked about the use of H1b visas to bring in foreign workers. These type visas are used to bring in cheap foreign labor to replace American workers. From their reaction, I don't think they have any intention of hiring 300 people. Many job announcements from public officials have proven grossly inflated according to data I obtained from VCEDA.

If Russell County residents are paying millions in corporate welfare so CGI-AMS gets a lucrative state contract, we should at least demand rigorous public oversight to be assured they hire the 300 people promised and they"re legal American citizens. No backdoor outsourcing to India.

It's time to end these dishonest job claims from government officials.

In 1996 VCEDA claimed the creation of 318 new jobs at Pro Air call center in Buchanan County. They soon pulled out, most of those jobs never materialized. They soon announced 60 new jobs at a new VEC center to process unemployment claims. What they forgot to tell us is the plan to fire workers at other VEC offices in the region. In Southwest Virginia, the plan calls for eliminating more than 50 jobs at seven field offices. That represents about a 40 percent cut in staff. They claim this is due to a drop in processing unemployment claims, so why open a center to process unemployment claims? Net real job gain is zero and pay is less than the jobs lost. VCEDA gets credit for so-called "job creation" and fills an empty shell building. Ref. Herald Courier June 3, 2005.

Technology secretary wants full bids public: Three companies are fighting for Virginia's outsourcing contracts

According to various press reports a $100,000 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant might prepare local workers for 700 high-tech jobs. CGI-AMS and Northrop Grumman landed Virginia's 10-year, $2 billion contract to update the state's information technology infrastructure, plans to hire 700 people at a backup data center and help desk. In the past a "technology job" has been a call center.

In other words it's government jobs again.

http://www.dreamit-doit.com/SWVA/index.html Check of their job listings for SW Virginia. Smyth and Washington counties have a large number of community colleges and technical schools that provide career guidance and technical training. It seems they don't want to deal with the general public and prefer to work through various agencies. Check them out.

Virginia Highlands Community College
Wytheville Community College
Washington County Skill Center
Smyth Career and Technology Center
William N. Neff Center for Science and Technology

The Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator has cost the taxpayers a bundle and as of yet produced nothing, but who knows. Check them out at http://www.vhsbi.com/.

See Virginia's @ Corridor News letter http://www.acorridor.com/newsletter/November06Newsletter11.1.06.html November 2006:

• How Bloggers are Taking on the Local Press in Bristol VA/TN
• A Deist View: Should Abortion Be Legal?
• The Ominous Parallels: Environmentalism and Collectivism
• Does Liberal Religion Imply Liberal Politics?
• Exposing the (Eco-Socialist) Watermelon Cult

[ Homepage ] [ Deism ] [ Christianity in America ] [ Deism VS Islam ]
[ Article List ] [ Sullivan County, TN ] [ Bristol VA/TN ] [ Guestbook Archive
[ Local Schools, Immigration impact in Tennessee, Liberal Racism ]

[ Article archive 1 ] [ Article archive 2 ] [ Article archive 3 ] [ Article archive 4 ]
[ Article archive 5 [ Article Archive 6 ] [ Electronics Page ]

[ Muslims Killing Children ] [ Saudi Terrorism ] [ Islamic Fascism ]
[ Palestine Myth ] [ Arlene Peck on Islam ] [ Muslim Immigration Must be Halted ]

Search WWW Search www.sullivan-county.com