Fighting the Attack on GOOD JOBS: Outsourcing and Election 2006: Holding Leaders Accountable

Public workers in Ohio who have had their jobs contracted out have a chance to turn things around this fall.

Members of CWA Local 4501 who worked in the secretary of state's office helping businesses incorporate lost their jobs in 2004. Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who's now running for governor, contracted the jobs to a private firm in his hometown.

In Ohio and other states that have handed family-wage jobs to contractors, CWA members are gearing up for campaigns to elect candidates who have pledged to reverse the trend.

U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, an Ohio Democrat, is running against Blackwell, with CWA's strong support, and has pledged to bring these jobs back. Jennifer Bruner, the CWA-endorsed candidate for secretary of state, also has promised to return the jobs lost to outsourcing.

In 2006, 19 states have either introduced bills or are considering legislation concerning outsourcing. Most of the bills require studies before allowing any outsourcing of public jobs and some ban it entirely. Five states — Hawaii, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia — are considering bills that would penalize business or companies that outsource jobs.

Outsourcing state jobs was largely a secret until 2002, when it was discovered that calls from New Jersey food stamp participants and other states were being sent to call centers in India and Mexico, according to the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First.

The outcry caused New Jersey and other states to return the work to the United States, but more public jobs continue to be privatized or sent offshore.

Rep. Ted Strickland, Democratic candidate for governor, at a support rally for IUE-CWA members at Delphi in Warren, Ohio.