Cindy Axne: “As written, my colleague's amendment would severely limit the Outsourcing Accountability Act and continue to leave…”

“As written, my colleague's amendment would severely limit the Outsourcing Accountability Act and continue to leave companies in charge of whether or not they tell the public about outsourcing. Corporations are already going to great lengths to cover it up, and if they are moving jobs overseas, why would they voluntarily disclose it in their annual report? My colleague mentioned that this is the straw that broke the camel's back. I can tell you that these companies are already tracking this information. We have to pay workers; therefore, they know exactly where they are located. I have done this work in my past. I have been involved with human resources and organizational development for my entire career. I have tracked this kind of information. All it takes is programming and a push of the button to make sure that that information comes out. I would like to also talk about the WARN Act because the WARN Act does not require disclosure of whether layoffs are due to outsourcing. That is exactly why we need this information, so workers can get that Trade Adjustment Assistance they need to put food on the table to feed their children and keep their lights on. These disclosures are intended to find out if a corporation is truly creating American jobs or if, instead, they are just moving them overseas. This amendment, just like the last one, would leave things just as they are now, with corporations able to share that information only if they decide to do so.…”