DEDICATED TO THOSE SEEKING CAREERS IN HI-TECH SERVICES

I think it's extremely important to write about the
problems of health care, education, public servants
and politicians, and how much those sectors cost to the
American taxpayer.


It's important to realize that HEALTH CARE is an
essential need of the population, no matter their age
or status, of course, and that health care is an
essential service, that must be provided to the public.
We agree, and surely 95% of the population understands
and agrees with this concept. What we disagree on, is
WHERE the service is delivered, by WHOM, WHY, WHEN and
HOW MUCH.

I'm a computer, internet and LAN technician, with
professional experience with companies such as (BLANK)
AND (BLANK) , over the past few years.

Indeed, I think it's time (or urgent) to compare the
job quality of those in my industry, which is telcoms
and computer or internet services, with those people
working in hospitals, education, politics and public
service.

First, with computer technical support, computer makers
pay an outsourcing company to do the work, and the
contract lasts 2 years, typically. The bidding process
begins again and again, every 2 years. The lowest
bidder typically wins. There are dozens of companies,
with outsourcing call center solutions, that apply for
the contract, such as (BLANK)(BLANK)(BLANK)(BLANK)
(BLANK)(BLANK)(BLANK)(BLANK) (BLANK), and more,
but only one company wins the tender: the lowest bid.

Before this became commonplace, PC makers would have
their and own employees, companies like IBM, Compaq,
HP, Dell, would pay $20 or $25 per hour to unionized
computer technicans, who were experienced and skilled
professionals. When outsourcing began, wages dropped
quickly in 1998 to approx $12 per hour, to people, the
so-called technicians who many times could not find the
multimedia applet, or disk cleanup tool on their
windows 98 computers. That's how fast wages dropped, and
quality, when outsourcing began. Another example is
(BLANK) ISP: their own employees are paid $(BLANK) or $(BLANK) per
hour. But outsourcing companies, like (BLANK) (BLANK) or
others, pay the techs $(BLANK) per hour, for the same work.

That's a drop of over 25 percent in earnings,
translating to $600 per month for a technician of
(BLANK), for example. That's roughly $7,000 per year
!!! And the quality? Same story ... many times, the
call centers take a salesperson, show 2 weeks of
training, and there, poof! we have created a new
internet technican instantly, at $(BLANK)/hr! The same story
with Bank of (BLANK)or the (BLANK) has taken place
in the past few years. The short of the story, is that
outsourcing, is a great way of dropping costs by upto
40 percent immediately, but often with serious drops in
quality, as well.

Secondly, when the workers have job stability, with
employers, they have a career path, accumulate
seniority, progress to other jobs and responsibilities,
prepare for 5 years or more in their personal lives
ahead of time, and so on. With outsourcing companies,
the workers are purposely and ONLY hired for a maximum
12 months, applicable to 80 percent of the firm's pool
of PC or internet technicians, because it is the goal
of the outsourcer to keep turnover extremely high, to
keep job security very low, unionization eliminated,
fearpresent t in the workers' minds, job pride low, no
possible planning for lifetime events ahead of time,
and no earnings potential exceeding $(BLANK) per hour, for
maybe 6, 12 or 18 months. Most often, 1/3 of all hired
workers are fired within 3 months. The other 2/3, as
indicated doesn't stay with the firm very long. This
keeps costs very low for the company.

Third, with I.T. jobs, employers require no college, no
university, no certifications, no professional
achievements, no professional body for access into the
profession, no maturity requirement, no exams to be
passed, no legal body to penalize incompetent PC,
internet or LAN technicians. Therefore, there is no
surprise that anyone, in theory, can enter the
industry, claim to be an expert, and seek work in it,
from one day to the next, after reading an inspiring
newspaper, magazine or TV spot. There is no requirement
to read, write or speak English or French in any
measure, again in theory. Wages, in practice, are low
as a result.

Fourth. in technology, the workers are usually the
first be be terminated, when the economy suffers. The
reason is that proven technology often remains working
for a long period of time, such as a microwave oven, a
computer, a telephone, a DVD player. Therefore, the
demand for labor is low and penalized in slow times,
wth PC's, Internet and in computer networks. Fifith,
with techology, most employers are in the private
sector, therefore, the costs are carefully examined, to
have a minimum of waste, to allow profitability -
something which is absolutely required, in the private
sectors, for the company to remain a going concern. The
board of directors, as well, requires profit
maximization, and expects dividends, positive earnings,
capital gains on the stock markets, from a rising price
per share, and so on. The exerts pressure on wages.
Sixth, there is currently a fashion to terminate
American technician employment, and take those
contracts overseas, to India, Pakistan, China, Ireland
(low taxes) and similar countries, who are emerging
high tech clusters, with rapid growth. A telcom
specialist in India, can demand $2 per hour (two
dollars) vs. $(BLANK) in United States, or perhaps higher. Clearly,
that differential in wages translates into a saving of
over 80% for the company. Thus, there exists a pressure
on labor, in United States, to keep their jobs and accept poor
deals.

I could go on and on, of course, but I'll be brief,
and immediately begin my comparison with health care,
education, public servants and politicians in terms of
their respective professions.

1 - nobody in a hospital will outsource nurse, Medical
Doctor or health services. There are no contract
proposals or competitions for low prices. There is a
higher quality, than usual, because hospitals cannot
hire a salesman or someone from McDonald's, give them 2
weeks training, and create a MD or nurse. As a result,
the employee wages and costs are high.

2- in a hospital or health care, yes there is a career
path, yes there is seniority, yes there is progress to
higher and higher wages (refer to this week's battle of
CEGEP nurses vs. Bachelor degree nurses over a $10 wage
premium!), and yes, a hospital would be committing
suicide if they purposely fired over and over their
MD's and nurses every 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months! There
would be nobody working there, anymore, as replacements
would be impossible to find ! Also, surprisingly,
nurses and health care workers are all unionized! As a
result, the employee wages and costs are high.

3 - as a health care worker, you MUST have a college
degree, or you MUST have a university bachelor's
degree! You must have 3 or 5 years of post-secondary
education. You MUST be mature. You MUST belong to a
professional body (Order of Nurses, or Order of
Doctors), you MUST be very good in English and/or
French to read medical instructions, books and new
articles. You MUST be certified in a therapy or in a
so-and-so treatment, to administer it. In work in an
ambulence, it may be called CPR training (Cardiac
Respiratory techniques.) You MUST be a professional.
You MUST be doing this full-time, not 10 hours per
week, for example. And those people can be SUED for
incompetence, by the legal system for millions in
damages, potentially, depending on the acts a COURT
decides, IF there is malpractice. You CANNOT become a
professional from one day, to the next, and cannot be a
child to work there. As a result, the employee wages
and costs are high.

4 - in health care, when the economy suffers, people
still get sick, need medical help and treatments, and
therefore, their jobs are not terminated for lack of
money. Those are so-called staple or essential services
to the population. As a result, the employee wages and
costs are high.

5- in health care, the workers are employees of the
public sector, and funded by the taxpayer. As a result,
there is a virtually unlimited bargaining power from
nurses, MD's and so-on, for more and more cash ... from
taxpayers, who can be asked to pay more and more taxes
! There are many ways to go about this, of course,
ranging from gasoline taxes, property taxes, salary
income taxes, sales taxes, etc. As a result, the
employee wages and costs are high.

6 - in health care, citizens need treatment about 20
minutes away from their houses, apartments or places of
residence. The nurses, MD's, technicans, hospitals MUST
ABSOLUTELY BE LOCATED in the cities of the customers or
patients. You cannot ask a American , to
take a $1,000 ticket trip to a hospital in India or
Pakistan, with MD's or nurses making $10 per hour, for
example. It would be impossible. And even if it were
possible, through a Star Trek method, Americans would
ask for treatment from citizens of their own country.
Therefore, this is an activity that must be paid in US
dollars, in US territory. As a result, the
employee wages and costs are high.

In conclusion, (and I'm sorry it took
so long to get to this point) the
reason that the health care system, politicians, public
servants and education systems together COST SO MUCH is
because of the way those sectors are organized, in
general, and the way that labor is privileged, as well.
specifically. However, does this necessarily imply that
health care workers are more intelligent, hard working,
or have better instincts than high technology workers?
The latter are driving a Yugo or a Hyundai .. the
others, a BMW, Lexus or Mercedez Benz. For how long ?

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