In late September, the NWU Oppose Offshoring campaign urged California NWU members to Write to Governor Schwartzenegger and urge him to sign four bills that would have restricted certain aspects of offshoring. The anti-offshoring legislation was sponsored by the California State Labor Federation. The governor refused to sign the four bills.

The letter to NWU members is reproduced below.

California NWU Members
TAKE ACTION NOW

We urge you to immediately contact Governor Schwarzenegger and press him to sign the following 4 anti-offshoring bills that have been passed by the legislature:

* AB1829: Government Offshoring. Prohibits state agencies from offshoring government work, or using contractors who offshore work paid for by the state.

* SB1492: Confidential Information. Prohibits sending personal medical information outside the U.S.

* AB3021: Offshoring Reports. Require all employers with more than 250 employees to publicly report information regarding offshore work.

* SB888: Homeland Security. Prohibits national and homeland security work from being performed outside the U.S.

For the complete text and history of these bills, go to:

http://www.legislature.ca.gov, and search by the bill number.

There are a number of ways to contact Governor Schwarzenegger:
Web: http://www.govmail.ca.gov
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633

You do not have to write a complicated message (though you can if you wish). Your message can be as simple as: “Please sign AB1829, AB3021, SB1492, and SB88.”

BACKGROUND

This Fall the NWU in cooperation with many other unions will be taking up the fight against outsourcing of our work to foreign countries. This offshoring of high-tech and professional work is having a big impact on many writers and on the communities in which we live.

We are still in the process of setting up the campaign website, researching the issues, preparing materials, building a campaign committee, and so forth. But these crucial bills are on the Governors desk right now, so we are jumping the gun a bit and asking you to take action on this before all of our supporting materials and campaign organization are in place.

The California Labor Federation and other unions such as the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers have worked on these bills and called on the governor to sign them.

If you are interested in working on the anti-offshoring campaign, contact NWU Organizer Kenya Briggs at:
510.839.6092
kbriggs@nuw.org

The NWU, as part of its campaign to oppose the offshoring of high-tech and professional jobs, recently surveyed candidates in close Congressional, Senatorial, and Gubernatorial races across the country.

We asked candidates whether they support legislative positions taken by the NWU. In particular, we asked if these candidates supported legislation that would:

#1. Prohibit the use of tax dollars to pay for work performed in other countries if that same work can be performed in the United States, regardless of cost. Similarly, prohibiting government contractors from performing overseas any work that can be performed in the U.S.

#2. Require that government subsidies and grants for economic development and research, tax abatement, and other forms of public support be conditional on local job creation. No government subsidies shall be given to businesses that ship jobs overseas.

#3. Mandate that all work (public and private) that requires a state license when performed in the U.S, can only be performed outside the U.S. by persons who hold equivalent licenses which equal or exceed the standards mandated by the state where the work will be received, used, or applied.

#4. Prohibit manipulation of the visa system to facilitate moving jobs to other countries by bringing foreign nationals to the U.S. on temporary visas for the clear purpose of preparing them to handle work that will then be offshored.

#5. Prohibit the transmission of personally identifiable medical, financial, employment, legal, tax, or similar information about American citizens to other nations, except for nations that Congress identifies as having a level of legal privacy protection and enforcement that is equal to, or stronger than, that provided by current U.S. law.

#6. Prohibit any transmission of personally identifiable information about American citizens outside of the U.S. without prior notice to, and prior written consent of, the individual.

Survey Results

The responses of candidates to the questions are shown, by question, for the 13 close races surveyed. Italicized candidates are incumbents.

A response of Y means the candidate supports the NWU position. N means they did not support the NWU position. NR means the candidate did not respond. An S means the candidate sent a statement, and did not directly answer the questions. The Score indicates overall support for NWU anti-offshoring positions.

Note that Rep. Joe Hoeffel from Dist. 13, Pennsylvania is listed twice as he’s the incumbent for the Dist. 13 race and he’s also running for Senator.