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Nielsen Collects FL Tax Breaks, Then Outsources Jobs
theodp writes "The poop is hitting the fan over tax breaks given to ratings giant Nielsen Co., which pocketed millions in Florida jobs-creation tax concessions but has turned around and dismissed hundreds of local workers after inking a $1.2B outsourcing deal with Tata Consultancy Services of Mumbai. Lou Dobbs is on the case. Lou may go even more ballistic once he sees the Nielsen-Tata pact, which assures Nielsen that OT worries are a thing of the past ('there shall be no additional charge for overtime work'), allows Nielsen to have unsatisfactory Tata hires replaced within 4 weeks of starting with no charge for the original or re-performed work, gives Nielsen up to 6 man-weeks of free labor when a Tata worker is replaced, and allows Nielsen to make 'any TCS Resource' disappear with no more than 5 days notice if their presence 'is not in the best interests of Nielsen.' Nielsen execs have launched a PR counter-attack, pledging not to bully 85 year-old ladies in future layoffs. In a Letter to the Citizens, Nielsen CEO David L. Calhoun explained that Tata won a 'rigorous competition' to get the job, failing to mention that Tata was also tapped by Nielsen EVP Mitchell Habib in his CIO roles at both GE and Citigroup."
It's a complicated plotical situation due to support for the Taliban from various Pakistani factions and the existing disputes between India and Pakistan. India in Afganistan could be a spark to spread the war furthur so it's really a lot better that they are not there.
Iraq is a completely different story but unlike the USA there is absolutely no benefit to Indian companies to participate. There is not likely to be any benefit to the Indian government either - Australia was rewarded for it's participation by a "free trade" deal that turned out to be a one sided poisoned chalice. There really is no ideological reason for them to do it either and it wouldn't take a long memory to remember the US technology sanctions on India.
All that aside I agree with you that most of these jobs are better off done by locals or at least people within the same company so there is some degree of accountabiity. Personally I think most of the outsourcing is about shifting money about on the books to make one area look good while the overall cost may have even increased. There's also a very unhealthy obsession with wage costs even in areas where it is a very tiny fraction of expenditure and where employing people on cheaper wages can drive those other costs up dramaticly. In some situations things are cheaper simply because the outsourcers are not worrying about expending extra money to deal with risks - they will get their money whether things work or not. The ultimate stupidity is outsourcing everything other than management and sales to India - especially when the Indians are far better at both of that than the average US manager or salesman and they are on the other side of the world so there is nothing legally that can be done if they hijack the entire company to sell outside the USA. In China they have mastered the act of the "second shift" - knockoffs that ARE the same product as the original just made after the end of the production run and often made at the expense of the contractor.