NEW WEB AD: Charlie Baker, Award-Winning Outsourcer
The Democratic Governors Association today launched a new web ad exposing how Massachusetts Republican Charlie Baker helped ship Massachusetts jobs overseas as a private executive as his own salary tripled. Just yesterday, Politico reported that Baker won the Outsourcing Excellence Award at the “Oscars of Outsourcing” for his work destroying jobs here at home.
“Charlie Baker claims to be a leader on jobs. Unfortunately for the people of Massachusetts, those jobs are in India,” said DGA Communications Director Danny Kanner. “But it gets worse. While Baker was collecting his ‘Oscar for Outsourcing,’ his own salary tripled. That might be something Baker’s proud of, but it’s certainly not working for middle-class families across the Commonwealth.”
Watch the ad here: http://youtu.be/tm-GQm43DE0
AD BACKUP:
| Audio/Video | Backup |
| Video: Charlie Baker’s ads describing him as a “leader on jobs” |
Baker Ad Lauded Him As A Leader On Jobs. “Republican Charlie Baker, returning to a core message of his campaign for governor, plans to release a new television ad on Saturday that argues he can help create jobs just as his mentor, Governor William F. Weld, did in the 1990s… Baker himself then pledges to make Massachusetts a leader on jobs, education and welfare reform. The ad closes with a diverse array of workers saying, ‘It’s about jobs. Good jobs. Better jobs,’ and shows Baker high-fiving a female employee in what appears to be a factory.” [Boston Globe, 10/10/14] |
| Text: But that’s not the real story. |
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| Text: August 2008, Charlie Baker attends the “Oscars of Outsourcing” |
Outsourcing Center Calls Its Awards “The Oscars Of Outsourcing.” A January 2009 nomination page for the Outsourcing Excellence Awards notes that “Next month is our Awards issue where we highlight the 2008 winners of the Oscars of outsourcing–the Outsourcing Center Outsourcing Excellence Awards, sponsored in part by Forbes. In addition to sharing each winning relationship’s story, the Outsourcing Journal will have some winners share the benefits of winning an Outsourcing Excellence Award. Winning an Outsourcing Excellence Award is a PR department’s dream.” [Internet Archive, 1/29/09] |
| Text: Charlie Baker wins the big award. |
Harvard Pilgrim Won “Outsourcing Excellence” Award For Its Contract With Perot Systems. In 2008, Outsourcing Center – then an Everest Group Company – awarded its “Best Partnership” award for Outsourcing Excellence to Harvard Pilgrim and Perot Systems. The award citation noted that “U.S.News & World Report named Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC), the No. 1 commercial health plan for the last three consecutive years. That’s a dramatic recovery from the deathbed days of 1999 when the insurance company lost $227 million and fell into receivership. Outsourcing turned out to be the transfusion it needed… Today, Perot has 640 employees processing over 10 million claims annually for HPHC. Harvard Pilgrim also outsourced its IT operations and application development to Perot Systems. The service provider is supporting over 2,000 end users.” [Outsourcing Center, 8/1/08] |
| Text: But the award was for outsourcing jobs to a company that has shipped hundreds of jobs to India. |
1999: Harvard Pilgrim’s Information Systems Employed 1,100 Workers When Baker Approved Outsourcing Contract With Perot. “Baker promised an eventual end to the technical snarls that have plagued the health plan for years. His plan involves outsourcing tasks to Perot Systems Corp., based in Dallas. The $300 million, five-year contract calls for Perot Systems to take over Harvard Pilgrim’s computer systems, process all claims, maintain and upgrade the computers, and manage the large databases containing the company’s medical and financial information. It remains unclear whether the 1,100 Harvard Pilgrim employees currently working on the company’s information systems will become Perot Systems employees, remain on Harvard Pilgrim’s payroll, or be laid off.” [Boston Globe, 7/29/99] By 2008, Only 300 IT Workers From Harvard Pilgrim Remained At Perot. “Harvard Pilgrim Health Care plans in June to slash as many as 84 jobs relating to back-office technology work. But most of those employees will be transferred to longtime outsourcer Perot Systems Corp… Perot Systems, in announcing the contract extension last month, said the move would save Harvard Pilgrim about $150 million in administrative costs over the life of the agreement. The company now employs 500 people to handle IT work for Harvard Pilgrim and most are based in Quincy. Of that number, 300 were Harvard Pilgrim positions at one point but they’ve been gradually shifted to Perot over the last nine years.” [Boston Business Journal, 5/13/08] Award Citation Noted That The Relationship Between Harvard Pilgram And Perot “Includes Some Offshoring Components” In India. The citation continued that “This relationship includes some offshoring components. [Harvard Pilgrim deputy CIO Bob] Trombly explains that healthcare insurance is a low-margin business; ‘a one percent annual fluctuation can make or break us. There is constant pressure from employers and regulators to reduce administrative costs. In our recent contract renegotiation, we challenged Perot Systems to help us aggressively reduce costs. One of the things they brought to the table was a proposal to reduce administrative costs by sending some of the work offshore.’ […] Trombly is the first to admit he had ‘fears and misgivings’ at the outset. But his view changed when he visited Perot Systems’s facilities in India. When he came home, he told his oldest son, who is heading to college this fall, ‘You better get off your butt because the rest of the world is ready to compete. It’s one thing to read The World is Flat; it’s another to see it in real time.’ He says ‘the staff in India is very well trained, doing great work, and eager to take on more. I think that’s a sobering lesson to everyone about the global marketplace.’” [Outsourcing Center, 8/1/08] 2010: Dell/Perot Shipped Rhode Island Jobs To India. A 2010 investigation by the Department of Labor’s Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance determined that Dell Healthcare Services – including reported wages under “Perot Systems Healthcare Services, LLC and Perot Systems Business Process Solutions, Inc.” had shifted jobs from Providence, RI to India: “the shift of supply of information management, application development and maintenance, member administration and claims processing services to India by Dell contributed importantly to worker group separations at Dell.” [TAA Decision 74847, U.S. Dept. of Labor Employment & Training Administration] Previous Department Of Labor Investigations Confirmed That Perot Systems Outsourced Arizona, Texas Jobs To India. In two 2009 cases, the Department of Labor’s Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance determined that Perot Systems had outsourced jobs to India from their Data Center Operations Department in Plano, TX and their Healthcare Business Unit in Phoenix, AZ. The decisions affected workers release between late 2008 and 2011. [TAA Decision 72453, 73007, U.S. Dept. of Labor Employment & Training Administration] Nebraska State Petition Said Dell/Perot Systems Moved 250 Jobs From Lincoln To India. “Dell’s Perot Systems has cut 250 or more jobs in Lincoln and moved the work to India, according to a state Labor Department petition the company says is inaccurate. The petition, which seeks training and financial help for those losing work, showed a total of jobs lost that the company has not disclosed publicly and would not confirm. ‘The worker group is made up of business analysts and programmer analysts,’ the petition said. ‘Many employees have trained their Indian counterparts before being laid off from the company.’ Asked on the petition whether the company or any part of it is closing, the Labor Department responded: ‘Yes closing, early 2011.’” [Lincoln Journal Star, 10/30/10] 2009: New Perot Systems Call Center Brought The Company’s Employment In India To “More Than 7,000.” “Perot Systems Corp. is opening an IT call center in Chennai, India, that initially will employ a few hundred but has a capacity for as many as a thousand new jobs. Plano-based Perot Systems said the new location will handle business from Perot’s worldwide business process operations, and brings the company’s employment in India to more than 7,000. The new facility, comprised of 23,617 square feet on a single floor, is slated to open in late March.” [Dallas Business Journal, 3/11/09] |
| Text: All while Charlie Baker tripled his own salary. |
Baker’s Salary Tripled From 1999 To 2008. “Baker’s salary as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim surged from $548,351 in 1999 to a high of $1.7 million in 2008. He earned $1.3 million in seven months in 2009 before he resigned to run for governor last summer, filings with the state Attorney General show.” [Boston Gloobe, 3/15/10] |
| Text: Charlie Baker: An award-winning outsourcer, that hasn’t worked for you. |
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