Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) introduced the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAAIA) Improvement Act Oct. 27, which if passed would extend benefits to displaced service workers, including software programmers and other high-tech workers. In November the bill, HR 4156, was referred to a House subcommittee for review. Smith’s bill has 75 original co-sponsors, including U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), the Ranking Member on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight of American trade policy.

Created in 1962 to assist U.S. manufacturing and agricultural workers who lost their jobs due to reduced tariffs and global trade expansion, the TAA provides benefits for workers whose jobs have been offshored to countries with free trade agreements with the U.S.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As a high-tech worker, I am greatly alarmed at the pace of outsourcing and offshoring of our jobs. I am writing to encourage you to sign onto bills that have been introduced in the House (H.R. 4156) and the Senate (S. 1309) that would extend TAA benefits to all service sector workers who have lost their jobs due to trade, including information technology (IT) workers, engineers, customer services and call center employees.

Right now, only manufacturing workers are able to qualify for TAA benefits which include tuition assistance, job training, extended unemployment benefits, and health care assistance.

In the House the bill was introduced by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Charles Rangel (D-NY). The Senate versions were introduced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and sponsored by Sen. Cantwell (D-WA).

In a recent press release Cantwell said, "This is fundamentally about fairness," said Cantwell. "In today's global market where so much of our economic growth is in the IT sector, we need to make sure that IT workers have access to the same retraining opportunities when they are displaced as other workers currently do. Every American worker deserves access to additional training and education so they can update their skills and continue to contribute to the growth of our economy."

"Extending TAA benefits to all service workers must be a priority," said Smith in the same press release. "Hard-working Americans will be better able to compete in the global marketplace if we make a real investment in education and retraining opportunities."

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 31, 2006