Todd, I agree that contacting our congressman or senator to sponsor a bill to remedy the situation is a good idea. However it is not going to be enough by itself to effectuate the change. My experience with letter writing campaigns has been that you will get a very polite response from some assistant on the politcian's staff expressing concern for the problem, but offering little more than
a vague solution to the problem. You are right also that there are huge corporate finances hanging in the balance on the issue of out sourcing. These corporations all have lobbyists representing their interests in Washington and keep the issues in front of our elected officials. These corporations also make huge contributions to both party and individual campaign funds. In the absence of a voice expressing a contrary view to the issue of out sourcing, our elected officials respond favorably to the corporate interests. If those who oppose out sourcing are a wide based allignment of vocal, dissatisfied voters who are represented by a knowledgeable lobbyist. congressmen and senators are more likely to listen.

In so far as gaining information from local court houses is concerned, the federal freedom of information act has been a powerful tool we use here in Connecticut to get the information we need from State agencies. In so far as gaining information from private sources as to which companies are out sourcing, that is quite another matter. Rather than expending the time trying to seek out the identities of these companies, it is far more efficient to work toward making out sourcing in general unattractive for all of them. Trying to act through the state governments on an issue of national concern is a waste of time. It results in a patch work of inconsistent laws (example, state reulation of the insurance industry...solution seeking federal regulation through ERISA). If federal legislation is enacted to contravene out sourcing through various financial incentives and/or penalties to corporations, the state governments are forced to comply through the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

Should NALTEA elect to take up the challenge of opposing out sourcing, it needs to set its sights on whether it is going to work at the state or federal level. Either way it is going to need to cooperate with other industries in similar circumstanes (small business owners that have been put out of business or forced to lay off employees in order to stay in business). It is also going to be an expensive process, and some thought has to be put into how it is going to be funded.

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