Leaked Memo Shows Microsoft Outsourcing High-End Design Jobs - Seattle PI

[hatrack]

"A Seattle-based labor union says newly surfaced documents show that Microsoft Corp. has looked to outsource to Indian companies high-level jobs in software architecture and development. The union, WashTech, says the previously confidential agreements between Microsoft and Indian outsourcing companies Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services debunk the popular notion that only lower-level technology positions are vulnerable to outsourcing.

The 3-year-old documents, obtained by WashTech in an anonymous package in the mail, formed the contractual framework for the companies to supply workers to Microsoft for specific projects. Microsoft would not confirm or deny the authenticity of the documents, saying it doesn't discuss confidential business arrangements. But spokeswoman Stacy Drake said such project-focused contracts are part of the normal course of business.

EDIT

"The policy prescription you hear from people again and again as the response to the global competition of outsourcing is for Americans to move to high-end work," said Ronil Hira, an assistant professor for public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in an interview with The New York Times. "It's important to dispel the myth that high-end work is immune to offshore outsourcing."

"What is not clear," Hira told the Times, "is how much of that high-end work will go abroad."

EDIT

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/178021_msftindia09.html

[mhr]

1. Why Should We Be Surprised - The Only Question Is When Will The

College educated white collar work force demand action from politicains?