D2-13 Legislative Team Helps Win Protections Against Offshoring

CWA District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney and members of CWA Locals 2106, 2107, 2108 and 2100 watch Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley sign the bill.

CWA's Maryland Legislative-Political Action Team and a strong coalition helped win new protections against the offshoring of jobs in the state.

CWA District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney and members of CWA Locals 2106, 2107, 2108 and 2100 were on hand as Governor Martin O'Malley (D) signed the law that requires companies bidding on contracts of $2 million or more with the state of Maryland to disclose whether any of that work will be performed outside the United States. The law also prohibits public employers from contracting for specific services unless those services are to be provided in the U.S., and requires that state contracts for architectural, construction and engineering services, as well as energy performance contract services, must be performed in the United States.

"Governor O'Malley understands that taxpayer dollars should not go to companies that intend to send this work overseas. We hope that the U.S. Congress adopts this same attitude and moves forward to stop federal subsidies and tax breaks to corporations that move U.S. jobs offshore," Mooney said.

CWA is a strong supporter of the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 3596) that would bar corporations that offshore work from receiving federal grants and loans and provides additional protections for consumers, giving them the right to know where an agent is located and the ability to request a transfer to a U.S. agent. The bill currently has 120 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives.