Letters

NOTE: The online edition of this column has been edited to comply with Federal Election Commission regulations.

The Fruits of Outsourcing

Allow me to comment on "Outsourcing" (May/June 2004). In the customer service area, foreign workers who do jobs lost in the United States have access to our personal information. That defeats the purpose of the Bush administration's national-security efforts. Outsourcing mocks national security while it's also putting Americans out of work.

I have seen this kind of job pressure in action. About a dozen years ago, I was a union member working for AT&T, doing customer service at the Pennsylvania Relay Center. The company was constantly threatening to eliminate our jobs by "the flick of a switch," that is, by hitting a switch to divert calls anywhere.

We were told that because MCI and Sprint weren't union, it was much less costly for them to run their centers. Even with all we gave up, agreeing to a lower salary structure and so forth, it was never enough. The bottom line was: AT&T didn't want union workers. So I left.

Now, as a union member employed by the City of Philadelphia, what concerns me most is privatization.

— Shirley Bowser
Local 696 (Council 33)
Philadelphia, Pa.

Tax Stock Dividends? Think Again

While I understand your position on eliminating stock-dividend taxes in the March/April issue, I feel that some issues are being overlooked:

Stock dividends come from income that has already been taxed once at the company level. Then the stockholder gets taxed, too, if the dividend exceeds the IRS exclusion amount.

Stock ownership can be part of a person's diversified savings program.

Buying stock in a local telephone or utility company to which you pay your bill is an easy way to increase the probability that the company does pay dividends and has a dividend-reinvestment program.

Company-executive compensation has become blatantly excessive.It's unfair to stockholders and the average company employee who may face a layoff to pay for it.

— Daniel E. Withey
Local 3641 (Council 92)
Sykesville, Md.

How to Improve Medicare Drug Benefits

In July, I attended a press conference at the U.S. Capitol regarding a petition to bring H.R. 3767 to the House floor for a vote. The bill directs the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate for lower drug prices and, and creates a guaranteed Medicare prescription-drug option for all Medicare beneficiaries. That type of system will be a lot less confusing for seniors.

With HHS negotiating for the lowest prices, that system will be a lot less expensive for the government and for beneficiaries. But the Republican House leadership will not allow H.R. 3767 to come to the floor for a vote. Call your representative in Congress and ask him or her to sign the petition to bring up H.R. 3767 for a vote.

Your voice should be heard, not the voices of the House leadership and the pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

— William Stevens
Vice President
Retiree Chapter 1
Westminster, Md.