On Obama’s call for an end to outsourcing

We seriously doubt the sincerity of US Pres. Barack Obama in calling for an end to the outsourcing of jobs from the US to other countries. Obama has ardently supported outsourcing because it is profitable for big US capitalists who want to boost profits by exploiting cheap and repressed labor in countries like the Philippines.

We recognize, however, that public pressure is mounting on the Obama administration to resolve the record-level unemployment in the US. The American workers and people are clamoring for an immediate relief from the sufferings being caused by the severe economic crisis gripping the world economy. Obama was forced to make the call to boost his chances of getting reelected in this year’s elections.

Whether Obama matches his call with concrete actions or not, the nervousness which greeted his call in the Philippines is another wake-up call for the Filipino workers and people. We have to move beyond a crisis-wracked economy dominated by the US. We have to stop relying on the US, or any other country for that matter, to create jobs in the country. We have to stop pressing down workers’ wages and curtailing workers’ rights in order to entice foreign investors to come to the country.

While the Business Process Outsourcing industry, for example, provides the government with big tax revenues, it does not address the main needs of the Filipino workers and people. While call center employees enjoy salaries that are higher than those earned in many jobs in the country, they are extremely exploited and are subjected to highly-repressive conditions of work that damage their health.

We have to create decent jobs by implementing a program of genuine land reform and national industrialization. We have to create jobs not by offering cheap and repressed labor to foreign investors but by providing the basic needs of our people.