AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers

[El Pinko]

Gotta love this one...


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/tc_nm/att_workforce_dc


AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers
Wed Mar 26, 9:39 PM ET
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.

"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.

Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent.






Read what he's saying here - in other words, the problem is not a "lack of skilled workers" the problem is that there are no skilled workers who will do this gig for $6 an hour and no benefits. It's clear that this is the case, because demographic groups with those dropout rates are the only ones desperate enough to work for crap wages like this.


If they were offering $20, or even $15 per hour I can guarantee you there would be LINES of people with BAs and tons of customer service experience LINED UP around the block.


And who wants to bet that the operators who had these jobs BEFORE scumbag AT&T moved them to Bangalore made at least that much, adjusted for inflation?


Fuck off, Randall Stepehnson, you and all your ilk. Cheap Labor CEOs and Cheap Labor politicians are the very reason the US is in the economic mess its in today.

[Why Syzygy]

1. $11.50 an hour

is what I made in 2001 after three years of technical support experience. The company was a contractor for support for a variety of products (Dell, Microsoft, SBC, Webtv, etc.)

Wages have not gone up since Reagan.

You are absolutely correct, though.

It isn't the QUALIFCATIONS.
It's the WAGES stupid!

[Rammy]

5. ?

Work for Stream Int. ??

[Why Syzygy]

6. bingo

you?

[Rammy]

11. yep

I started there in 95 though.

[Why Syzygy]

17. You don't have enough

posts for me to send a pm, so says DU. I won't post which contracts I was on in public.
I sarted in 1998. Left right before the bottom fell out.
But then went to work for a telecom, who had two layoffs a few weeks after I started. I avoided those two cuts. It was a mess. I wonder if Stream will come back or are these companies going in house?

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. Damn skippy.

I get so :banghead: when I hear Dem politicians spouting the cheap labor lobby line. It seems every time I go to hear my congressman speak, he invariably brings up the "need" to increase H1B visas. He's a Dem. Recently I went to hear a Congresswoman, from a neighboring district speak at a fundraiser. Surprise surprise. She brought up H1B visas, gushing about how Bill Gates says we need raise the limit! Also a Dem. No amount of pointing out basic economic facts to these people dissuades them. They are too starstruck and too in bed with corporate interests.

[Cant trust em]

40. H1B visas are the short-term solution

In the next 5-10 years we won't have enough people skilled in math and sciences to fill tech support positions. But if we invest in our education to get people the skills they need then this guy would have to shut up. Unfortunately these CEOs want to pay the minimum in taxes so we don't have money to properly fund education.

[mhatrw]

42. Decent wages are the solution.

There are millions of US citizens more than skilled enough to fill tech support positions who are working at coffee shops, bars and books stores across the country because the wages are better there.

Tech support is not rocket science.

[Cant trust em]

47. Do you have any links to support?

I'm not trying to contradict you, but based on what I've read we don't actually have enough skilled positions to fill tech needs. Tech support isn't rocket science, but some training is needed. Training that I certainly don't have with my liberal arts degree. If you've read something else can you forward it to me?

Thanks.

[mhatrw]

49. Are you kidding? You have a liberal arts degree and you think tech support is

beyond your capabilities? Have you ever called a tech support line?

Here is a report that reveals the real appeals of H1-B visas: lower wages for all IT professionals and an interim step toward off-shoring.

http://www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-06-901T

More: http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/itaa.real.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/27/BUG0RQ1CD51.DTL&hw=sawade&sn=001&sc=1000

U.S. tech workers say today's job market is a far cry from the go-go '90s and the brief dot-com boom. Data published in April by the American Electronics Association show that tech payrolls nationwide are down 12 percent since 2000, which means about 800,000 fewer Americans are collecting high-tech checks despite a slight recent increase. Meanwhile, immigration statistics reveal that from fiscal years 2000 through 2005, the United States approved 794,000 H-1B visas. Not all went to high-tech. Many visa-holders work as college instructors, accountants, architects and medical professionals. But a third of all H-1B visas went to computer-systems design and related services in the most recent year for which data are available.

So it appears that at roughly the same time that the economy was trimming tech payrolls by 800,000 positions, the United States invited about 260,000 tech guest-workers to join the labor pool. That changed the life of Toni Chester, a 44-year-old contract programmer from Phillipsburg, N.J. "The job market is just not there anymore," said Chester, who nearly lost her home after the dot-com crash. ...

H-1B program critic Ron Hira, a professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, argues that a large share of H-1B visas are used by computer consulting firms, many of them based in India, that bring Indians to the United States on a temporary basis, as the law intends, but use these U.S.-placed workers to figure out how to move work offshore. "Even the Indian government calls the H-1B visas the outsourcing visa," said Hira, whose concerns have prompted scrutiny from Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa -- delighting H-1B critics and unsettling tech leaders. ...

Washington resident Rennie Sawade, a 44-year-old software engineer affiliated with the Programmers Guild, an organization of tech workers opposed to the H-1B program, said he understands the resentment of Indian tech workers at being kept waiting on temporary visas to get their green cards. "Companies would prefer it that way," he said. "They want people in the limbo stage."

[Cant trust em]

50. Not beyond my capabilities, beyond my current knowledge.

I'm sure that I can take apart and rebuild the carburetor on my car if I had some books and possibly someone to train me first. But if you put my in there by myself and asked me to do a tune up, I'd have no idea what to do.

[mhatrw]

53. OK. Well, here's what you do. You use a computer to guide you through

an installation and troubleshooting manual depending on the end users' feedback. If that doesn't do the trick, you transfer the call to your supervisor. Got it?

[Cant trust em]

55. Sounds good. I'm fine with blaming this on corporate capitalism.

Everyone's a winner!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

44. Exactly.

There should be no raise on H1B caps beyond a few years, and only if they can prove there is a legitimate need. 10 years is plenty of time to grow the skills we need in this country.

[mhatrw]

54. How about just getting rid of H1B visas and letting the market fix the

supposed problem? When wages and benefits go back up to 2000 levels, I guarantee you the supposed "technology gap" will be quickly filled.

http://www.news.com/Waging-battle-on-foreign-labor/2009-1022_3-5888772.html

The median annual wage paid in the United States to workers in computer and math occupations was $62,620 in May 2004, according to the Department of Labor. Among companies seeking at least 100 H-1B visas last year, many employers planned to pay substantially less than that amount, according to the Programmers Guild report.

Of 100 employers in the category that planned to pay the lowest salaries, the report said, none intended to offer more than an average of $48,355 a year. Seventy-four of these companies pledged to pay an average salary of less than $45,820--a figure in the 25th percentile for U.S. math and computer workers. ...

[mrreowwr_kittty]

56. I agree. Funny how the ruling class doesn't care for the "market"

When said market doesn't work in their favor.

[mhatrw]

57. It's all about cheap labor. They can't STAND empowered workers.

http://www.cio.com/article/195907/Why_the_H_B_Visa_Has_Such_a_Bad_Reputation

"Executives are being told by their hiring managers that there are not skilled workers in the U.S. and they must seek H-1Bs to fill positions," says Terri Morgan, a principal at Wudang Research Association who says she has encountered issues when seeking IT employment from U.S. companies, such as IBM. "There are a whole host of us out here that have really good skills and know the culture, but maybe we don't have one item on the check list HR is seeking. H-1B applicants know how to manipulate the system and companies know how to make it appear as though they exhausted their options here." ...

"Unfortunately, the program often seems to be abused and results in American workers being sacrificed for cheaper resources and facilitates the transfer of jobs abroad," says James Kritcher, vice president of IT at White Electronic Designs in Phoenix. Reports of Indian outsourcing firms snagging many temporary visas concern Kritcher, who says if the program worked as it was intended, he would support it fully. ...

"Long term, I think that the program may create market interference that drives down wages, displaces qualified candidates, encourages companies to outsource offshore and removes incentive for college students to enter IT—as evidenced by recent drops in computer science enrollment. No one wants to enter a profession where they may become "disposable,'" he says. "The U.S. is known for creativity and innovation. If core use of technology is sent offshore it could result in less innovation and a reduced comparative advantage."

[kirby]

3. Especially when you are looking in India!!! n/t

[Aviation Pro]

4. Here's a solution, stupid....(not the OP)

Cut the dividends going to your stockholders and you'll be able to pay your employees more and you'll get skilled workers. (May I add, you stupid fuck).

[trotsky]

9. The kicker...

is that they'd also end up making more money in the long run. Too greedy to see past the end of the pay period.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

29. The business community has forgotten how to think long term.

They give lip service to it, but really they are driven by quarterly profits.

[trotsky]

31. Absolutely.

And when you look at big bidness right now, what's a great strategy for a CEO? Hide all your horrible decisions for a few quarters, inflate the stock price, cash out your options, then let the company fail when it has to balance the checkbook, and bail out with your golden parachute. Brilliant and easy way to get yourself a few hundred million and be set for life.

[mhatrw]

43. It's a "great" strategy for Presidents as well. n/t

[El Pinko]

10. Not to mention OBSCENELY high CEO compensation...

NT

[Touchdown]

7. You don't work for AT&T, do you?

Customer service jobs are waged on zones, which are bargained for by the CWA/AT&T labor contracts. The least paying in 1993 were $7.00 an hour. 25 hours is considered full time and has full medical, dental, vision, 401k, cash balance/pension, etc. Top pay in Kansas City Mo. (a medium pay zone) is $18 an hour for a call center employee. They are all union (if they are AT&T employees and not contractors). Technicians, whose jobs are also being outsourced, are $29-36 an hour depending on the zone.

I think what your getting at is that he'd (and he is a douchebag, but he's my ultimate boss, so he's MY DOUCHEBAG!) rather have cust service in Bangalore rather than Atlanta. And that, I agree with you on.

[daa]

12. I dont' have any AT&T in my house any more

so I could care less where there customer noservice is. Call Comcast, they are US supported.

[El Pinko]

15. I quit AT&T years ago because of the bad service and the Indian Call Center people...

Whenever I called them I would have to touchtone through endless menus only to be put on hold FOREVER only to have to talk to some clueless person in Bangalor claiming to be "Michelle" who had no idea what I was talking about or how to help with my specific problem.

[girl gone mad]

51. I just spoke with..

"Harry" last week. It was an interesting conversation, though not helpful in the least. I actually don't think that he knew more than a few words in English. It took him about ten seconds to remember his name, too.

I wish I could dump AT&T, but I don't have any other options.

[Touchdown]

18. Doesn't matter to me one bit.

Do what you think is best. Just don't delude yourself that Comcast isn't just another greedy corporation bent on controlling our lives. Even pure as snow Starbucks has it's own skeletons (managers skimming the tip jars).

[El Pinko]

13. Are you sure that these offshored jobs aren't different?

Somehow I doubt that they would be having trouble finding decent applicants if they were offering those wages.

[Touchdown]

16. I don't think they do. He's teh CEO, how would he know?

He only cares about how his martini is stirred and when his tee off time is. Complaining about non-qualified Americans is what they do. To catapult the propaganda.

[mhatrw]

46. Let's see the "help wanted" ads announcing this.

Let's see the qualified response rate. I have several well-qualified friends who would jump at these wages and benefits and I live in San Francisco -- one of the most expensive cities on the planet.

[daa]

8. He should have thought about that befroe he sent my job to India

Yes, AT&T outsourced my job to IBM for the sole purpose of being off-shored to India. Now that we have been sold down the river it is too late. Here is the truth from American Progress:

Our competitive edge in high-technology products continues to slip away quickly. Our competitive edge in high-technology products continues to slip away quickly. The deficit in high-technology goods continued down a long path of deterioration over the past year, indicating our country’s increasing inability to compete in a global innovation economy. In 2001, we still maintained our competitive edge in such products, running a surplus of $4.5 billion for the year. Yet by 2006, this figure had deteriorated to a $44.4 billion deficit.

Most recently, the United States posted a record-high $53.5 billion deficit in high-tech products for 2007. Even as nominal U.S. import growth slowed to just over 6 percent from 2006 to 2007—down from over 17 percent during the previous year—our deficit in high-tech imports jumped by $15.4 billion, a deterioration of over 40 percent. If the balance in high-tech products had remained the same as it was in March 2001, we would have seen an 11.5 to 12.5 percent reduction in the aggregate trade deficit today (Table 1).

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/03/high_priority.html

[Iris]

14. Nowhere in the article does he say what "skills" the workers are missing.

What are they? Lack of reading? Writing? Basic math skills?

And then he attacks the schools - "If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

Nice subterfuge.


You're dead on EL Pinko - total bullshit spewing out of that guy's mouth.

[daa]

19. Those jobs just read a script

I know I helped write it (when it was in the US). All you need are basic reading skills and the ability to answer a phone.

[Iris]

21. So, why didn't he say that?

Because, as the OP said, they want to act like there aren't people in America to do this when in reality they don't want to pay those people a decent wage.

[Touchdown]

22. It's corporatespeak. He's a CEO. He's reciting propaganda

It has nothing to do with the job, or the skills needed. Only the message that Americans aren't skilled enough to do the jobs matters. As long as that message gets repeated over and over again, someday we will believe that lie. It was just AT&T's turn to say it. Next week, it'll be Exxon's turn to say it.

They don't want to pay people what they're worth, but they can't say that, so they say this shit instead.

[Iris]

61. so disgusting

I just get so sick of this shit.

[El Pinko]

24. Don't they also have to access billing records, make changes in account options, etc.?

It may not be rocket science, but I don't think it's just reading a script, either.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

20. Well I think youre being a tad generous with their money..

While 6 an hour and no benes is sorry joke I think 15 an hour ( in most markets) is way to high for some of these support jobs.

10-12$ an hour with passable health care ( a two earner home with call center jobs would be bringing in nearly 50K at that point)

[El Pinko]

23. Touchdown says the union folks make $18...

I dunno, but I actually switched from AT&T to a carrier that charged slightly MORE because I was sick of their crappy service and clueless Indian call center people.

[Touchdown]

25. That's what AT&T pays for union workers.

$15-18 an hour in the US. Full benes at 25 hours a week. They're a union company.

I don't know where the OP got $6 an hour from.

[El Pinko]

27. I pulled it out of my hat - I bet these jobs are somehow classified different than union ones

That's the only way I can believe there would not be enough qualified applicants in this job market. I know BAs working for peanuts at Kinkos and Starbucks who would jump at those jobs if they paid a decent wage.

[Touchdown]

28. I found them. They're in Florida and Georgia.

...and they're TEMP positions.:eyes:

I looked in the job openings site on AT&T's intranet.

[mhatrw]

48. Wow, So not enough people are jumping at their temporary positions in the Deep South ...

according to the CEO at least. What a surprise. They set it up to fail.

[BuelahWitch]

26. You have to fight with their computerized menu before you ever get

an operator for tech support. I called them just the other day because I needed a new install disk for DSL for a new computer running Windows Vista. I had an old one from 2002 (when they were SBC) and I emailed tech support first (because I hate phones) and was told i had to call for a new one.
But the little girl who took my call told me I did NOT need a new disk, all I needed to do was plug in my modem and I'd be off to the races. When I asked her what I would do if this didn't happen, she told me to call back and someone would walk me through it. This was unacceptable to me, and I had to become "angry asshole customer" to get her to send me the disk anyway.
So apparently Mr. CEO isn't aware that his Indian employees don't know what the fuck they're doing either, or why else would one tell me one thing and the second tell me something else. It has nothing to do with the quality of the PEOPLE, but like other big companies they don't give a shit about support.
Unfortunately, my only other option is the local cable company, and they experience too many outages (and are way too expensive). So I'm staying with AT&T since I have to deal with their customer support very little.

[Jazzgirl]

35. I have beg to differ.

You do not need a CD to run AT&T's DSL for XP or Vista. Trust me. I'm running both and have for years and have never installed any software for either operating system. You plug them in and it works. Simple as that.

[Strelnikov_]

30. McCain is offering $50/hr. to pick lettuce

An oppo researchers dream.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/04/05/50-an-hour-to-pick-lettuce-you-bet/

Apr 5, 2006

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), thought he could push around members of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD).

He was wrong.

Meeting in Washington, D.C., for their annual legislative conference, union leaders representing Iron Workers, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters, Laborers, Painters and Allied Trades and other hard-hat unions traveled to Capitol Hill where they urged Congress to protect wages for U.S.-born and immigrant workers in the trades.

And when McCain spoke about immigration at the BCTD conference yesterday, the crowd began booing, with one participant honing in on the real issue, shouting: “Pay a decent wage!”

McCain’s response? Immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted.

But that wasn’t enough of an insult. McCain then offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

When some union leaders said they’d accept his offer, the expensive-suited Washington, D.C., politician insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season.

Said McCain: “You can’t do it, my friends.”

Anyone taking bets on whether McCain or building and construction trades guys would last longer working in the hot sun for 12 hours a day?

[havocmom]

32. Stagnet or shrinking payrolls = less taxes paid=cash starved schools

=poorer education

And that little chain reaction was started so the ruling class could fuck us faster, harder, more often.
See, they HAVE done some work on recycling and renewable resources. Sadly, like Soylant Green, IT'S PEOPLE

[taught_me_patience]

33. Why doesn't he just say

"we can't find the skilled workers necessary that are willing to accept our shit pay"

[Omaha Steve]

34. Omaha has over 5,000 unemployed skilled phone reps alone

There are also several closed/empty phone centers just waiting for somebody to fill them. Omaha used to be a phone service capital. Three national companies left us high and dry. I was a TSR (outbound) until I got back on with the city.

AT&T please come to Omaha.

[progressoid]

41. But with that horrible Omaha accent!

just kidding :)

I remember when we moved back to this area, the telecom biz was a big deal. Now it's nothing.

[SharonAnn]

58. Here in Knoxville we also had Call Centers (cheap labor, don't you know)

But now all of those jobs have gone to India.

They were minimally decent jobs, though the companies played all kind of games about numbers of hours trying to keep people from being full-time.

When I move here (2000) the chamber of Commerce speech at a big meeting was about how Knoxville was a growing area because it had so much low-cost area. I made myself, the newcomer, really unpopular when I asked "What happens when people somewhere else will work for less? Won't all those jobs just move there?"

[superkia]

36. Wasnt there something out before about how they have meetings...

talking about how to keep people from getting the jobs here so they could have lower wages? I thought they were even posting job announcements in poor neighborhoods so no one there would qualify or see the ad and then pull it down because they coudnt find anyone. Our country is being raped and stolen from most and given to the wealthy and powerful. How long before we are all slaves to their system, with no say in what takes place?

[hootinholler]

52. I lost the link to it...

There is a youtube video of parts of a seminar given by a legal firm specialized in HR law that teaches the tricks to qualify a position for H1B status.

-Hoot

[leftofthedial]

37. fucking capitalist scum

[Cant trust em]

38. I'm calling Bullshit on this one

I guess he wants people with PhD's to spend their days answering phones? There are plenty of high-school educated folks out there to do these jobs.

[dkofos]

39. I bet it is hard to find skilled workers to work for slave wages.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

45. You have captured my sentiments exactly in the last line of your OP.

:mad:

[Kurovski]

59. Try harder, you spyin', lyin' CEO mother fucker.

[otherlander]

60. Bull fucking shit.