Stimulus Extends Trade Assistance Benefits to Service Workers

In a big victory for service workers, the Obama administration's stimulus plan corrected a long-standing injustice by extending federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to customer service professionals and high-tech and public sector workers who have lost their jobs due to offshoring, imports, and other trade practices.

CWA customer service professionals have been a big part of the fight to gain equal treatment under the trade adjustment assistance program. At CWA customer service conferences, participants organized lobbying campaigns and other efforts to push Congress to give service workers the same benefits that manufacturing workers already had. TAA provides job training, extended jobless benefits and help in keeping health care coverage.  

TAA coverage also was extended to cover public workers in service occupations who increasingly are losing their jobs to offshoring as some states and municipalities send customer service jobs overseas.

CWA represents more than 200,000 customer service, high tech, and public service workers.

A new Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance has been established to help workers get the benefits they need. More information is available at http://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/.

Tech workers continue to be hit hard by offshoring. Recently IBM Corp. told U.S. and Canadian workers slated to be laid off that they could work "for local terms and conditions" in countries like China, Mexico, Romania, South Africa and Brazil. "Not only is IBM offshoring work, it wants employees to offshore themselves," said Lee Conrad, Alliance@IBM. Since the beginning of the year, IBM has laid off more than 5,000 workers.