The
following is a chronology of Harris Miller’s lying, double-dealing and
betrayal of the American people. It
should be noted that some of the links are stale, but they are being provided
anyway as the source. Keep in mind
that he was working the backdoor with India since 1996 or before to establish
the export market for the U.S. Technology sector.
Except for an occasional comment in brackets, all text are excerpts from
the articles listed in the footnotes and hyperlinked in the title:
Under
the banner of WITSA, Miller asked “President Clinton to
use his "bully pulpit" to persuade U.S. industry and government
agencies to take a leadership role on the year 2000 problem. The request comes
from the World Information Technology and Services Association (WITSA), a
consortium of 25 information technology industry associations worldwide. WITSA
described the year 2000 problem as the single biggest challenge facing the
global information technology industry. "In an increasingly interdependent
world, failure to address this problem internationally poses a serious threat to
the U.S. and global economies”[i]
Miller testifies
to Congress regarding the ‘shortage’ of high tech workers[ii]
Worker
Shortage "This is not unexpected given that the economy
has created all these new [professional] jobs," said Harris Miller,
president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) in
Arlington, Va. Still, Miller and others said they are concerned that this latest
development will make it even harder for companies to fill high-tech jobs. A
January study of 1,500 companies by the ITAA showed that there are now about
346,000 open information systems jobs. In the next decade, the U.S. Department
of Labor estimates that another 1.3 million workers will be needed to fill new
high-tech jobs.[iii]
Looking
to the Future "I
estimate it will take five to 15 years for the IT labor supply in this country
to adjust," says Harris Miller,
president
of the Information Technology Association of America, in Arlington, Va. "As
other countries catch up to our level of IT, we will constantly be facing the
same staffing challenges."[iv]
Senators Hatch, Baucus, and Robb
held a press conference with high-tech industry leaders in Washington on Monday,
March 22, to announce the introduction of a bill to make permanent the existing
research and development tax credit.
"U.S.
businesses rely on the credit to develop their products in the U.S. rather than
overseas, by helping to offset higher labor costs. American jobs and our
long-term competitiveness are at stake," said Harris Miller, ITAA
President. "By
making the credit permanent, business decision-makers will be able to rely on
its availability in forming their long-term corporate R&D programs. We
applaud Senators Hatch and Baucus for taking this important step toward
encouraging long-term business investment."
"Long-term research is an
investment in America, and an investment in our future," said John Doerr in
a statement released at the event. "It was the hard work and foresighted
research of the past that made possible the breathtaking technological gains of
today's new economy. And just as assuredly, it is the work of today that will
enable advances in the next millennium. It is in everyone's interest to support
long term research, and that is why TechNet
enthusiastically endorses the Hatch-Baucus legislation." Doerr is a partner
in Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm
specializing in high tech and biotech companies. [v]
[ Note: Doerr and Frank Quattrone were the main players behind the
dot.com boom ]
Until
1998, the United States had an annual cap of 65,000 H1-Bs, but Congress
increased the number to 115,000 for 1999 and 2000. In 2001, the number of H1-Bs
is scheduled to drop to 107,500. The cap is set to return to 65,000 in 2002, but
industry groups like the Information Technology Association of America are
lobbying for more H1-Bs. "We're so far from the equilibrium of the labor
market that it's hard to know how much we'll need (H1-Bs), or how long (the
demand will) last," said Harris Miller, president of Information Technology
Association of America in Washington, D.C. "Every indication is that the
demand will grow faster than the supply side." Most workers go to the
United States on temporary visas, leaving Indian officials with the expectation
they'll return one day to help fuel their own high-tech revolution. "I
think there's an increasing trend of people going back to India," Sharma
said. "There's also the liberalization of the whole economy. There has been
a slow elimination of (the government's) licensing systems, and the old world
socialist economics are transforming into market economies." The trend has
encouraged more workers to return in recent years, Stanford economist Dossani
said.[vi]
Welcome to the New Economy [February 2000 was the month that the tech bubble
burst. Coincidence that this
article would begin with ‘welcome to the new economy?] The topic of
conversation underscores Washington's enchantment with the Web and the growing
influence of high tech on the 2000 presidential race. The star power of dot-coms
and their cash-rich executives has the four major candidates--Gore, Texas Gov.
George W. Bush, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.)--bending
over backwards to secure endorsements and contributions.
"High tech, specifically the Net,
will be the front-and-center issue of the 21st century," says Harris
Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America in
Washington, D.C., which represents 11,000 companies. "It is paramount for
any serious politician to stake a leadership role."[vii]
"I
think at the end of the day, only members of the flat-earth society will
maintain there is not a shortage of IT workers," says Harris Miller ,
president of the ITAA. Miller, a veteran Washington lobbyist before he joined
the association, dismissed arguments by critics of H-1B that the tech labor
shortage is caused by employers unwilling to train U.S. tech workers,
particularly older ones. Says Miller, "I think that's a myth that three
unemployed programmers have generated [themselves]."[viii]
Debate - Should the H-1B visa
cap be raised? Harris Miller: The
U.S. is undergoing an Internet revolution, which has created an extraordinarily
rapid demand for IT skills. There are currently 845,000* vacancies for IT
workers in this country. We need to bridge the skills gap through this
adjustment period while we revamp education and training programs, and one way
to do so is to bring in more skilled foreign workers.
The H-1B visa cap has so far
proved inadequate. This year, we ran out of available H-1B visas in March. If
Congress fails to extend the cap, the losers will be U.S. companies and U.S.
workers, because companies will start taking projects offshore.[ix]
BANGALORE, India—The slumping U.S. economy and the resulting decline
in applications for U.S. high-tech visas this year pose
an immediate threat to the job prospects of many Indian software
engineers, an industry group said.
Speaking
here during a weeklong visit, Harris Miller, president of the Information
Technology Association (ITAA; Arlington, Va.), said demand for H-1B visas this
year will likely fall short of the 195,000 visa ceiling approved by Congress
last year. About 45 percent of H-1B visas are held by Indian software engineers.
In
fact, Miller predicted that demand for high-tech visas could drop to less than
the 115,000 H-1B visa holders admitted to the United States in 2000.
He
cited declining recruitment by U.S. high-tech companies as they seek to cut
costs. Many U.S. companies are laying off workers in response to a drop-off in
demand this year for telecommunications and computer products.
Following
intense lobbying by industry groups, Congress approved legislation in October
that increased the number of H-1B visas to 195,000 annually for fiscal
2001-2003. [x]
New Delhi: In order to boost trade and
co-operation between the IT software and services sector of India and the US,
Nasscom has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Information Technology
Association of America (ITAA).
The
initiative has a greater significance as it can help the Indian software
companies to fight the US economy slowdown with newer opportunities in US
market. "Against the backdrop of slowdown of US economy, the Nasscom-ITAA
pact assumes greater significance, as it would try to bring new opportunities of
business to IT industries of both countries," said Mr Dewang Mehta,
president, Nasscom. Mr Mehta was speaking on the occasion of signing the
memorandum with Mr Harris N Miller, President, ITAA here today.
According
to Mr Mehta, Nasscom and ITAA have been working very closely together for the
last five years and have now decided to formalise this agreement. Mr Mehta said that the pact will
facilitate a lot of new initiatives such as road shows in US by Indian companies
to explore new markets and opportunities, sharing of research information,, web
linkages between the industry players of the two countries and joint efforts for
policy initiatives such as lowering down of non tariff trade barriers. Mr Miller
said, "The emphasis of this MoU will be on software, IT services, Internet,
e-commerce, m-commerce, ASP, communication software, e-security, e-government
and IT enabled services." [xi]
[As
mentioned above, poor Mr. Mehta had an unexpected heart attack the following
month while on a visit to Australia. He
was only 38 years old.]
Harris N
Miller, President, ITAA, the ‘big brother’ of Dewang Mehta, was in Bangalore
to talk to IT companies here about the slowdown of the US economy.Harry Miller
is serving as the President of the Information technology association of America
(ITAA) and also World Information Technology and Services (WITSA).
Miller:
ITAA was founded in 1961. We recently celebrated the 40th anniversary. ITAA has
26,000 member companies. We have all types of companies – big players like
IBM, Microsoft, AOL, Time Warner and also many start-ups. ITAA is involved in
formulating all aspects of public policy issues related to IT at Washington DC.
It also works internationally with organisations such as Nasscom and CII here in
India. ITAA is also involved in educating its members on current market trends
and provide them networking opportunities in order to compete with other IT
companies. We help them in finding different kinds of customers – government,
retail marketplace, financial and services marketplace and telecom marketplace.
indiamarkets:
Has
your trip to India been sponsored just to bring in confidence among the IT
companies here in India?
Miller: Satyam wanted me to get
a first hand view of the growing IT industry in India. I have heard and read
a lot about the Indian IT industry, but it is quite different when you see it. [
BUSTED - caught in a lie. Dewang
Mehta said that he had been working with Harris Miller for five years prior]. My
trip to India was planned about six months back. That was when the US slowdown
began. It was only when I came closer to the event, I realized that people
wanted to know on what’s happening in the US and its impact on Indian
operations. [xii]
Software
deal - During his visit, Miller signed an agreement between the ITAA and
India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom). The
deal seeks to bring opportunities to India despite the slowdown in U.S.
business. Nasscom will hold a series of road shows in the United States
designed to convince more U.S. companies to outsource software development
projects to Indian companies.
The effects
of the U.S. slump will be felt most keenly here by the "body shops"
that send Indian software engineers abroad on visas, Miller said. Software
professionals sent to the United States by such businesses are paid in India at
local wages.
If the dip
becomes a full-fledged recession, Miller said, it would be difficult to convince
U.S. lawmakers to sustain the number of annual H-1B visas at 195,000. He
predicted the H-1B visa ceiling could return 65,000 visas in 2004.
Still, Miller said the
slowdown could have a positive effect by steadying the unbalanced
supply-and-demand gap for information technology professionals in the United
States.
The ITAA represents about 26,000 companies in the U.S. high-technology sector.[xiii]
A
soured U.S. economic climate has created a drastic change in the country's
recruitment of foreign technology talent…. Over the past three years, the
ceiling on H-1B visas has more than doubled as companies and industry groups
pushed the government to use foreign workers as a way to solve the technology
labor crisis in the United States. After heated pressure, Congress raised the
number of H-1B visas available to workers from its standard limit of 65,000 to
115,000 in the last two years and then to 195,000 this year.
The
ITAA was one of the leading advocates of raising the H-1B visa limits, and
thinks the slowdown only proves its case against staunch objectors to its
lobbying efforts.
Harris
sees the visas as any another type of contract. Workers come here for a set
amount of time to do specific projects. Pushing for them to stay now could
undermine the agreement that the ITAA and others made with Congress when trying
to up the visa total in the first place.
While
the U.S. may lose out by watching some of its recruited talent return home,
Harris is bullish on what the country has done to train its own workers.
Four-year universities, community colleges, and vendor-run academies have all
gonee a long to way help solve the labor shortage, especially when a struggling
economy calls for less workers.
Additionally,
the return of H-1B workers to their native lands could help the U.S. in the long
run, Harris argued. Workers returning to India, for example, could use
experience gained in the U.S. to form companies that boost technology in their
home country and also use contacts made in the U.S. to form powerful, global
partnerships.
A
stronger technology economy in India can increase the consumption of U.S.
products, leading to more jobs for workers here. Harris visited India recently
and recalled warehouses packed full with computers made by Austin, Texas-based
Dell.
"Losing
the talent is a mixed blessing that may work out for U.S. companies,"
Harris said. "They can increasingly become our customers, which means there
will be someone in Austin who can get a job out of the deal."[xiv]
“Immigration service shows big
companies, not dot-coms, are largest users”
Applications
for H-1B visas in February were down roughly 50% from the same month last year,
in sharp contrast to expectations by IT leaders and the U.S. Congress.
Statistics released by the Immigration and Naturalization Service show there
were 16,000 filings for H-1B visas in February, compared with 32,000 in February
2000.
But
a spokeswoman for the INS cautions against reading too much into that figure.
"It can be deceptive," she says, unless the sharp increase in
applications by employers in December--the last month when the fee was $500 per
H-1B employee--is taken into account.
The
demise of many dot-coms doesn't appear to be having a major effect on the
program. Most of the top 100 companies using H-1B visas are major companies,
according to the INS. The top six are Cisco, Intel, Mastech, Microsoft,
Motorola, and Oracle. Others include IT-heavy consulting firms such as KPMG and
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, an IT trade organization, favors increasing H-1B visas. He argues that business demand this year will exceed the previous 115,000 limit, making last year's cap increase to 195,000 necessary.[xv]
ITAA
sponsors a conference to promote outsourcing.
Mr. Pramod Mahajan, Minister
of Parliamentary Affairs and Information Technology made a huge impact on the
150-strong U.S. Corporate IT CEOs in his Keynote Address to the Information
Technology Association of America (ITAA) Annual Convention in Orlando
yesterday…. Mr. Pramod Mahajan’s address was heard with rapt attention as he
advocated an aggressive business strategy of outsourcing from Indian IT
companies so that U.S. IT companies could overcome the US slowdown and remain
competitive…. The IT Minister outlined 8 key reasons for U.S. IT companies to
operate in India.
Mr. Harris
Miller, President, ITAA gave the packed hall a feedback on ITAA’s visit to
India, an understanding of the extremely positive IT infrastructure and that US
and Indian IT companies could work together to huge competitive advantage.
In
a tribute to Mr. Pramod Mahajan, the ITAA President said that "the U.S. IT
Industry would like to clone him for the USA".[xvi]
News from India.
Software companies looking for greener pastures are turning to the red,
white and blue.
Whether out of heartfelt patriotism in the wake
of Sept. 11 or the desire to tap into the nearly $38 billion budgeted for
homeland security spending in 2003, many information technology companies that
previously paid little attention to government contracts are now going to great
lengths to attract government business.
The avid response of the IT industry to Sept. 11
coincides with one of the worst markets for computer hardware and software in
recent memory. In the shadow of recession, businesses have slashed budgets for
computers, software and other operational equipment. As a result, the revenue
and stock prices of many software companies have plunged over the last year.
But government spending remains a bright spot.
Even before Sept. 11, federal, state and local government spending on IT
products constituted as much as $150 billion annually, or 20 percent of IT
industry sales collectively, said Harris Miller, president of the Information
Technology Association of America, an IT trade group in Arlington, Va.
Patriotic fervor runs high at Siebel, which
draped a nine-story-high American flag from its office in Emeryville, Calif., in
the wake of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Chief Executive Tom
Siebel has advocated the marriage of technology and homeland security needs at
numerous conferences and before a congressional committee. At one point the
company ran full-page newspaper ads asking, "Who are the Mohammed Attas of
tomorrow?" next to a photo of the alleged ringleader of the Sept. 11.
hijackings….
Siebel's Malden denied that, saying they've put
their "best and brightest" employees on homeland security, now
considered the company's top priority.
"We're not doing it for the money," he said.
There are no revenue targets for his unit, he said, and success would be defined
in terms of stopping terrorist incidents. "The driving and motivating
factor is doing something incredibly important." [xvii]
Demand
for IT positions will stay stable or decline during the next 12 months,
according to the Information Technology Association of America
Technology
job hunters will find slim pickings for at least another year, according to a
new survey released Monday.
Demand
for information technology positions ranging from software programmers to
network engineers will hold steady or decline in the next 12 months, according
to a telephone poll of 400 hiring managers by the Arlington, Va.-based
Information Technology Association of America.
"The
fact that firms have dramatically scaled back ... may indicate that they are
properly staffed to handle existing and new business," ITAA President
Harris N. Miller said.
The
survey found there are about 493,000 unfilled technology jobs in the United
States, down from 1.6 million open positions at the start of 2000. The United
States has about 10.3 million technology jobs.
The
tight market for technology jobs comes as hundreds of American companies
outsource positions to smaller engineering and programming firms in India,
China, Russia and other countries with inexpensive labor forces.
Nearly
one in four large technology companies surveyed said they had already outsourced
technology work to foreign countries, and an additional 15 percent of large
technology companies said they were considering a similar move within the next
year. [xviii]
Republicans
and Democrats alike are trekking to Silicon Valley to scoop up campaign money,
capitalizing on a trend of evenhanded political giving that high-tech leaders
predict will not soon end.
"There's
almost never an issue where the IT industry comes in and says the Democrats are
right and the Republicans are wrong, or vice versa," said Harris Miller,
president of the Information Technology Association of America.
"That doesn't make either party very happy. Both sides work very hard to
try to convince me, to convince us, to convince our members, that they're the
right party for the Internet age," Miller said.
From January through June, individuals and political action committees in
high-tech gave at least $1.8 million to Republicans and $1.6 million to
Democrats on the federal level. That's according to figures compiled by two
groups that track campaign finance, the Center for Responsive Politics and
PoliticalMoneyLine.
During
the same period in the 2001-02 election cycle, before companies themselves were
banned from contributing, those involved in high-tech gave at least $3.2 million
to Republicans and $2.8 million to Democrats.
Further illustrating the divided leanings, venture capitalist John Doerr,
co-founder of group of high-tech executives that throws fund-raisers, has
endorsed Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut in the presidential race.
Fellow TechNet founder E. Floyd Kvamme backs President Bush, who has named
Kvamme by him to a technology advisory council.
Cisco Systems chief executive John Chambers is a staunch GOP donor. Propel
Software CEO Steve Kirsch is a prolific Democratic giver.
"We have no intention of losing our bipartisan status," said Donnie
Fowler, vice president of Democratic outreach for TechNet, which also has a GOP
wing. "Candidates of both parties are coming through Silicon Valley, so
that must mean they both feel like they can get activists to participate in
their campaigns, to give money."
"I
don't think either party has a real feel for the threat to the U.S. high-tech
industry from what's going on in Asia," he said. "I think they are
both perhaps a little bit overly content with our current position and don't
recognize the fact that the Indians and the Chinese are now in the game."
Barrett
said the government was putting too many obstacles in the industry's way, such
as export controls and proposals to require the deduction of stock-option
expenses from corporate earnings.
Miller, of the Information Technology Association, said his industry is not
as politically active as it should be, in part because it is unregulated and
relatively young. Many see no need to "play the inside-the-beltway
game," he said.
"I hope we learn before some crisis occurs and we have to do it,"
Miller said.[xix]
News
from India - Anti-outsourcing
bill in USA on cards Bills
banning information technology outsourcing from India and other countries can be
reintroduced by some states in the USA as joblessness continues to rise in the
world’s biggest economy despite signs of recovery.
“Although
none of the legislations introduced in several states to prohibit state IT
contracts and work being awarded to offshore companies have been passed, the
Bills are expected to reappear during the current election year given the
hemorrhaging of jobs in the USA,” Information Technology Association of
America (ITAA) President, Mr Harris Miller, said at a conference.
Earlier
this year, four US states — New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington
— were considering legislation for stopping the outsourcing of IT work.
The issue
of outsourcing of IT contracts and jobs to countries is now moving from the
states to the Bush administration and the Congress in view of the rising
joblessness.
According
to the latest economic estimates, a vast majority of the 2.7 million jobs lost
since the 2001 recession began were the result of permanent changes in the US
economy. In August 2003 alone, more than 90,000 jobs were lost.
What started off as a
value-added service, outsourcing now is being viewed unfavourably because of the
economic situation and resultant job losses, said TCS America President Arup
Gupta.
In India, the outsourcing
sector is projected to surge by 55 per cent this fiscal.
Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley has said the attempts to ban IT
outsourcing from other countries amounted to a denial of market access.[xx]
Every
company providing information technology outsourcing services is being asked by
clients how they can substantially reduce costs by shifting work offshore, says
William Sweeney, vice president of global government affairs with EDS. "In
the commercial sector, if you’re a major [IT service provider] and you’re
talking to a major customer about a possible client engagement, if you do not
have an offshore component, do not even talk to them anymore," he told a
recent press gathering in Washington, D.C. "It’s changed dramatically.
They’ve almost come to expect that to be price competitive -- and with the
customer in the driver’s seat setting prices for their services -- you have to
have an offshore component."
Shifting
high-tech service jobs offshore is a trend that is accelerating, says Arup
Gupta, president of TCS America, an IT services firm based in India. "In a very serious, competitive environment,
companies have to concentrate on their core competency and they want to
outsource everything and reduce cost and therefore we are seeing the trend
toward offshore outsourcing increasing," he says.
Information
Technology Association of America (ITAA) president Harris Miller thinks its less
of a problem than people are making it out to be. His association is working
hard to derail legislative fixes that require government agencies to award IT
contracts only to American companies.
American
IT workers should not be paranoid about losing their jobs to cheap offshore
rivals, Harris said in response to a question from Manufacturing &
Technology News. The high-tech industry is simply in an economic slump and when
demand accelerates for products and services, employment will follow thereafter.
"I
describe this as a perfect storm," says Miller. The end of the Y2K spending
spree, the dot-com collapse and the softening of the global IT market have all
conspired against the U.S. information technology workforce. "This is a
short-term blip," he says. [Close your eyes for a second, while I release some
tension…… HARRIS MILLER IS A LYING SACK OF SHIT SCUM TRAITOR! …. ok.. you can open them now]
The
Information Technology Association of America is also lobbying at the state
level to defeat legislation that prohibits the "offshore" outsourcing
of government IT contracts. "The reason we don’t want to see legislation
prohibiting states from sending work offshore is it hurts our efforts as an
association representing American companies to convince countries around the
world to open competition to allow EDS, Oracle, Accenture, IBM or Microsoft to
win contracts," Harris explained. "We can’t turn to the rest of the
world and say open your markets and then turn around and say if your country
wants to send companies here we’re not going to allow that to happen."[xxi]
HILL BRIEFING
Featuring
Dan Griswold, Associate Director, Center for Trade Policy
Studies, Cato Institute; and Harris Miller, President,
Information Technology Association of America.
“Many
people fear that we are losing manufacturing and even white-collar,
information-technology jobs to low-wage workers in developing countries such as
India and China. In Congress proposals exist to restrict trade with China or to
make it more difficult for U.S. companies to outsource or hire foreign-born
workers. Are those fears justified, or is flexibility in the location of
manufacturing and information jobs essential for American companies to remain
competitive in a global economy? Come hear two experts discuss the surprising
facts about the trade, investment, and employment trends that are reshaping the
U.S. economy.” [xxii]
This
page contains a video presentation by Griswold and Miller.
October
2003
Manzullo
hearing with testimony from Harris Miller “But Harris Miller, the ITAA president, was
sceptical that legislation would solve the problem.
"ITAA believes that the US cannot legislate or regulate its way out of
this perplexing situation," he said in his written testimony. "At the
same time, to do nothing ... is to risk an ever-increasing number of
knowledge-worker jobs disappearing overseas."
Miller advocated "detailed analysis of the situation, examination of
various policy and programmatic approaches to address identified challenges, and
a plan of action to implement critical policies and programmes." [xxiii]
Miller said "We also need an increased spending by the federal
government on Information Technology and R&D."
[Refer
back to the beginning when Miller successfully lobbied for a permanent tax
credit for technology firms for R & D.
Now he wants the government to just pay for it. ]
American
IT executives say the money saved through outsourcing will mean more domestic
jobs - provided demand for tech products remains strong.
The
loss of US jobs due to a shift of information technology work overseas maybe be
painful for American workers now, but the discomfort is only temporary,
according to a panel of information technology executives gathered on Tuesday.
Executives
from Borland Software, BearingPoint and Infosys, and an official from the US
Department of Commerce expressed confidence that US companies will eventually
reinvest money saved from farming out IT tasks to foreign workers, and expand
operations at home. That, in turn, will lead to American job growth down the
road, the panelists agreed.
"We
need to keep an eye on long-term growth and not take a short-term protectionist
approach," said Chris Israel, deputy assistant secretary for technology
policy at the Commerce Department, explaining why the Bush administration
opposes tariffs and other policies that would discourage the outsourcing trend.
And
because the aging baby boomer generation is nearing retirement, the United
States may be headed for another work force shortage, said William Miller,
professor emeritus at Stanford University and chairman of Borland Software. In
the meantime, displaced IT workers should get training and be willing to
relocate to find new jobs, he said.
"People
have to be prepared to move," Miller said. "That will be one of the
requirements of the work force in the future; people must be willing to move
where the jobs are."
While
the panelists defended the merits of offshore outsourcing, they acknowledged
some troubling problems. One is whether foreign companies and workers can be
trusted with intellectual property and other sensitive information handed over
to them by US clients. Companies in India generally operate under strict
confidentiality rules, said Harris Miller, president of the Information
Technology Association of America, the trade group that organised Tuesday's
panel. But in China, where intellectual property disputes have been more common,
it's a bigger concern, he said.
Another
question is whether American workers will keep pace in the global market for IT
skills, especially at their relatively premium wages. Stanford's Miller noted
that technology and science graduate programs at the country's most prestigious
universities are increasingly populated by foreign-born students. [xxiv]
Harris
N. Miller is the president of Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
— the largest and oldest IT trade association — representing over 500
leading software, services, Internet, telecommunications, electronic commerce
and systems integration companies. While Miller is a strong protagonist of
international competition for American companies, he feels that the only way
for India to fight the protectionist wave in America is by showing more
flexibility towards free trade. Excerpts from an interview with Prerna K. Mishra.
With
what appears to be the permanent loss of many US manufacturing jobs to lower
cost countries, prophets of doom are predicting a similar fate for the US IT
industry and information technology workers.
But
ITAA does not agree and sees a strong future for the US IT industry,
notwithstanding increased offshore competition.
What is your association doing to clear the
perception and the tension surrounding the movement?
For
many years, ITAA has been the nation’s leading trade association in the US
federal, state, and local marketplace. In this capacity, ITAA has helped
lawmakers and government officials understand the benefits of offshore
competition.
We have conducted a series of press
outreach events. I have testified before Congress. And we are conducting other
studies and activities.
A vocal minority of politicians is
arguing for protectionist measures. They are asking for restrictions on business
immigration, “Buy American” provision, restrictions on offshore outsourcing.
According to them, these are the most effective ways of fending off the job loss
threat.
But responsible elected officials look to industries
and industry trade groups such as Information Technology Association of
America as the first line of defence in addressing market challenges such as
international competition. [xxv]
The
Information Technology Association of America has called for India to be the
voice of developing nations after having emerged as a leader in the IT sector.
While
the Indian government is unhappy about US policies on agriculture and steel, the
ITAA has expressed happiness over the fact that India is taking quick measures
to address the problems of its future -- information technology.
Addressing
CEOs from various well-known companies, Harris N Miller, president of the ITAA
said, "We do not advocate India offshoring. Instead, we, along with our
friends from Nasscom are looking towards a global economy."
Miller
said not more than 7 to 9 per cent of all IT jobs would move out of the US in
the next 10-15 years.
"Even
the most optimistic people on outsourcing believe that not more than 7 to 9 per
cent of all IT jobs will move out of the US. It (all jobs) can't move outside
the US, because there are many issues for it," he said. He said much of
the downturn in US economy was a result of its arrogance.
"Just
as Detroit made the mistake of ignoring Japanese cars, US IT companies felt that
they were the only players in the late 90s. At around the same time, India was
going thorough an astronomical change with names like Wipro, TCS and Infosys
leading the bandwagon. US was not paying attention while countries like India,
Ireland, South America, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines were
emerging as the IT hotspots." [xxvi]
[Of
course we didn’t know we had a traitor like Harris Miller working against the
United States - assisting to build up the capabilities of a foreign competitor
while at the same time, lobbying for legislation to weaken the U.S. market]
News
from India. The US Congress has commissioned the General
Accounting Office and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
to study how many jobs may be affected by offshoring and its report is due soon.
Mr Harris Miller, President of the ITAA, who was in India recently, feels that
only 7-9 per cent of all IT jobs will move out of the US in the next 10-15
years. [Congress asks the fox to check and see if the chickens are ok]
The
Government [Indian], along with Nasscom, will have to reorient its strategy to
handle the offshore outsourcing debate. So far, Nasscom has focussed on cost
savings to the US economy as an effective argument favouring offshore
outsourcing. But this has clearly not worked while lobbying for retaining the
H1B visas at 1,95,000 level.
Instead
of harping on this theme of cost savings, Nasscom may to have to shift the focus
of the argument to how offshoring will help in improving the competitiveness of
the US economy in different sectors and create new jobs. In addition, it needs
to be reinforced that the offshoring process will also free up resources and
management attention to concentrate on high level innovative technology jobs. [xxvii]
Joblessness
among tech workers in the U.S. is stubbornly high. Meanwhile, U.S. firms are exporting tech jobs to
low-cost India. As an election nears, American politicians see votes in
complaining about offshore outsourcing. In mid-September, technology workers
staged a protest at a San Francisco conference promoting offshore outsourcing of
service jobs to countries like India. The protesters were backed by a unit of
one of America's most powerful unions, the Communications Workers of America….
These
sentiments were bolstered in mid-October when Intel Chairman Andy Grove warned
at a software conference that a huge number of IT jobs could move from America to countries like India and China in the
next decade. The hi-tech pioneer added that his California-based semiconductor
manufacturing firm had "no choice" but to continue sending work
offshore because of rising costs and the pressure to increase productivity…
Some
industry insiders blame at least part of the unemployment problem on the U.S.
programme of granting temporary work visas to hi-tech workers from India. Ron
Hira of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers told the October
20 hearing that many of those who come to the U.S. under this visa scheme go
home to set up or work for companies that compete with American companies. He
called the visas for these workers "a subsidy promoting the movement of
American jobs overseas."
"Am
I concerned that the U.S. information-technology industry will end up in India
over the next year?" asks Harris Miller, who heads the Information
Technology Association of America that includes America's leading
multinationals. "That's rubbish. Only about 6%-8% of the all
information-technology outsourcing will move offshore. Now it's only 2%."
Miller argues that the best way to protect U.S. jobs is to promote free
trade. He believes that there are steps the U.S. government could take to
bolster job growth, including such measures as establishing a tax credit for
companies that engage in research and development. Miller also says that the
current surplus of hi-tech workers in the U.S. will dissipate as the baby-boomer
generation retires.[xxviii]
Interview
with Harris Miller
What
is your role in the US?
The role of IT in the US is to stop bad things from happening. We want to stop
governments from imposing restrictions on work going offshore, stop there being
additional restrictions on immigration. If the opponents define the debate as a
win-lose situation, that if the Indian industry grows, the US industry falls,
then we, the US and the Indian industry, are all in trouble. If we define the
debate in the US and in India as a win-win and be mutually together then the
opponents are going to fall by the wayside [He means American workers].
It
has been said that it is necessary to seek a far higher level of political
support on the issue in the US than available so far.
Even the strongest supporter of globalisation in the US Congress is not a strong
supporter when unemployment is 7 or 8 percent in his Congressional district. The
ITAA and its member companies who support globalisation don't support offshoring.
We don't support losing jobs to India. My membership [of ITAA] is US-based.
[See December 2003 article where he tells Shelley Singh that
offshoring is the best option for U.S. companies.]
We support fair global competition, we oppose restrictions on it and we have to
convince our elected officials day in and day out. My lobbying message is:
that's a better model than the restrictionist and protectionist one. And we can
give them things to do, like promoting education and training in the US. We've
been falling behind in the US on this.[xxix]
Offshore,
the process by which a well-paying IT job in, say, Dayton, Ohio, becomes a much
lower-paying IT job in Bangalore, India, has been spreading terror through
America's cubicle farms recently.
But even as jobs go to India this week, AT&T was the latest big firm to talk
of shifting a chunk of its workforce there the Indians are hiring in America.
This month, two Indian conglomerates, the Godrej Group and the Essar Group, each said they were to buy a struggling American call-centre firm. Wipro, an Indian IT services firm, has announced the purchase of two small American consultancies. Scandent, another Indian group with interests in the IT industry, has bought a minority stake in North American Benefits Network, which administers company health and benefits plans. Other firms flush with cash, such as Infosys, a big rival to Wipro, are said to be seeking deals.