Niyamath Parveez

One of the major problems when trying to implement an outsourcing activity is dealing with the complaints of the existing staff who may find their job altered or indeed made redundant. One of the problems for many firms is that they are being held back by the notion of what jobs were and being unable to move with the times. This is exactly the case with the Fairpoint Communications workers whose main gripe about the outsourcing work being the fact that they believed they had jobs for life.

The number of job losses isn’t really relevant because it should be viewed as the total impact within the community but 40 job losses, which is the proposed number of outsourcing jobs being taken from Fairpoint Communications employees in Maine, can be enough to make people stand up for themselves. Which is fact that is known by trade union people and there seems to be a move by the trade union to make these potential job losses known, although the firm are at pains to stress that no plans for this have even been submitted yet.

This suggests that trade union workers are more than happy to peddle the myths and fears of outsourcing in order to swell their own numbers and popularity, making outsourcing an unwitting partner in the propaganda for trade unions. There is no doubt that trade unions do a lot of great work for many people and an employee should give the matter serious consideration as to whether they would benefit from joining one but there is a great need to uncover the truth behind the rumours and stories and to determine what is really driving their actions.

When trade union officials make remarks about the jobs should not be outsourced because they have been around for decades and decades and the jobs have been cradle to the grave jobs, it is obvious that there is some seriously outdated opinions in the current workforce. Admittedly, this is the sort of thinking and opinion that will keep trade unionists in power so it is not as if this approach or attitude is a surprise but considering the current economic climate, a firm would be mad to not consider doing everything they can to ensure that their business is running as smoothly and efficiently as possible. The loss of jobs is highly regrettable and there should always be other steps taken to preserve work but if that cannot be arranged, it may be the case that outsourcing is required to preserve the future of the entire firm. With this in mind, it is apparent to see why outsourcing can be of great benefit to the organization as a whole and could provide a longer term benefit to the local economy. With every business decision, there will be positive and negative aspects involved and striking the right balance is a difficult task for all concerned. There is every justification for people to be annoyed with outsourcing if it actually does cost them their jobs but there also needs to be an acceptance that certain people will benefit by making outsourcing out to be a big, bad monster that wrecks communities.