I found out the other day that my department has been outsourcing

[driver8]

work to India!!

I work for a major entertainment company (I've mentioned several times) and the idiots that are running our department have been outsourcing some of our work to India. Last year, they laid off about 30% of our union employees. I did find out that our do-nothing union did step in and now our management people are on thin ice and are laying low. Not only that, the work that came back from India was all f*cked up and had to be re-done!!

If management had their way, the union would be history around here.

[Deja Q]

1. Gee, Americans are stupid and Indians produce work as good or better than us. Bollocks!

Yet yours is NOT the first story I've heard about work coming back... in tatters.

[BlooInBloo]

2. That's why they're called "management".

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

3. Not looking for a fight or anything

but when you say 'do nothing' union, what exactly do you mean? As a union steward I find that many people don't actively participate in their union until the shit hits the fan......

[driver8]

5. Believe me, I appreciate the things we have because of our

union. However, we have had many battles here with management and the union always seems to give in. We lost 30 to 40% of our workers last year and they were promptly replaced by workers on a "daily hire" that work for less money. The excuse for the layoffs was that there was "not enough work." We didn't hear a peep out of our union regarding this.

Many of us don't participate in the union like we should, but shouldn't the union still stand up for us when we need them? They are always visiting and asking how things are, what we need, blah, blah, blah...but nothing seems to change.

[brentspeak]

4. I had a very frustrating time with Indian customer service people on the phone last week

I recently upgraded my cell phone -- renewal of my cell phone contract was supposed to provide me with a new phone that would only cost me $9.99. But the Indian customer "service" people who processed my transaction managed to extend my cell phone contract in a way I never requested: I asked that my existing agreement be renewed, but they unilaterally changed my plan to one twice as expensive as the previous one. When I called them again to have them reverse what they had done, they put me on hold for 20 minutes, only to tell me that I would now be subject to a $250 early-termination fee for "downgrading" my service contract -- a service contract I never agreed to in the first place, and which was entirely due to their own fault.

Calling a third time, a supervisor -- who, despite his obvious Indian accent, claimed his name was "Kevin Nelson" -- told me, after I carefully explained to him the whole story, that if I wanted to avoid a $250 early-termination fee, I "should not have agreed to the new plan in the first place."

:argh:

[mcscajun]

6. Wow. And did your head feel better *after* you stopped banging it against the wall?

We're all doomed, DOOMED, I tell you!

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

It does feel better when you stop. :hi:

Last time I did any changes to my cell phone/service, I did it myself on the phone company's own website. Let's face it, whatever the customer service folks can do, most of us can do as well...or better. Same system, same inputs; the difference is, you're in control. Of course, I don't know that every cell phone provider allows changes through their web site :shrug: something to think about, though.