EVERETT – To slow the exodus of jobs overseas, the Legislature needs to address health care costs, while also getting a better idea of how many tax dollars are being sent to offshore subcontractors, legislators said after taking testimony from labor groups on Wednesday.
“To the extent that it’s possible, I think most taxpayers agree that tax dollars should stay here and create jobs here,” said Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, chairman of the Commerce and Labor Committee in the House of Representatives.
“We need to take a look at our own organizations within the state,” said Rep. John McCoy, the Marysville Democrat who also sits on the committee.
The committee took testimony on offshore outsourcing and other work-force issues at a workshop in Everett.
Committee staffer Jill Reinmuth told the members that a report by the federal Government Accountability Office – the investigative arm of Congress – found that there’s not enough firm data to determine what effect overseas outsourcing is having on the U.S. job market and broader economy.
American companies are buying more services such as software and accounting from foreign companies, she said, but at the same time they’re selling more of those same services overseas and running a positive trade balance.
But labor leaders said their members have seen jobs go overseas.
“We find that outsourcing is a problem, not only on a national level but on a state level,” said Christian Dube, a spokesman for the Communication Workers of America. In contract talks with Qwest, he said, “outsourcing is our dominant priority.”
Kristin Farr, who directs lobbying efforts for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, said Boeing has transferred hundreds of jobs from Everett and other sites overseas. It also has sent machining equipment to foreign companies so they could do work that used to be done by Boeing workers, she said.
But if state and federal leaders can fix some of the big problems facing businesses, including health care costs, “some of that outsourcing might not happen,” said Linda Lanham, a lobbyist for the International Association of Machinists.
The high cost of health care “is driving business other places,” Lanham said. She recommended that the Legislature create purchasing pools to allow companies to buy prescription drugs and other services in bulk – and do it now.
“It’s time for us to quit talking … and decide as a state what to do,” she said.
The Legislature also should improve education and transportation so companies like Boeing can find trained workers and get their products around the region, she said.
“Our biggest priority is to make sure Boeing can compete and create jobs for our members and our communities,” Lanham said.
Farr agreed.
“We’re firmly committed, along with the Machinists, that these are answers that need to be found,” she said. “It may shock you to hear me say that our members are not against outsourcing completely, but we want to see and be part of a coherent, credible plan.”
Conway said the Legislature “absolutely must” take steps to require private companies that do contract work for the state to report whether they’re sending any of that work to overseas subcontractors.
“If we don’t know what’s going on, how can we even understand it?” he said.
The state also needs work with the federal government on these issues, McCoy said. “Even trying to address our issues in the state, we run into” the World Trade Organization.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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