U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith Call for Expanded TAA Benefits
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith Call for Expanded TAA Benefits
Today, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) along with U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) sent a letter to the Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao applauding the Department's decision to "allow, for the first time, workers who produce 'intangible products,' like software, to benefit from TAA [Trade Adjustment Assistance]," that "represents an important and long-overdue change in the Department's policy."
However, the letter notes that the decision to extend TAA eligibility to workers who produce software "was made only after several years of litigation and represents just a small step towards ensuring that the TAA program meets the needs of today's diverse workforce."
"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."
The letter also notes that legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Baucus and sponsored by Cantwell (S. 1309) and introduced in the House by Smith and Rangel (H.R. 4156) to extend TAA benefits to all service sector workers adversely impacted by foreign competition, "including information technology (IT) workers, engineers, customer services and call center employees."
"Extending TAA benefits to all service workers must be a priority," said Smith. "Hard-working Americans will be better able to compete in the global marketplace if we make a real investment in education and retraining opportunities."
The letter also urges support for efforts to broaden the eligibility criteria for TAA to include all service workers.
"It is time for the U.S. Government to recognize that the global economy is changing," said Marcus Courtney, President of the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a local chapter of the Communications Workers of America. "Today service sector workers, like their manufacturing counterparts, need TAA assistance to retrain themselves to meet the changing demands of the labor market. Congress should use the new decision by the Department of Labor as the guide post that TAA program does need to include more workers and pass TAA reform legislation this year"
[The complete text of the letter follows below]
May 25, 2006
Dear Secretary Chao:
We are writing to you in response to the recent decision by the Department of Labor to certify three groups of software workers for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) benefits, as reported in the Federal Register on April 11, 2006. The Department's decision to allow, for the first time, workers who produce "intangible products," like software, to benefit from TAA represents an important and long-overdue change in the Department's policy.
The Department's decision to extend TAA eligibility to workers who produce software was made only after several years of litigation and represents just a small step towards ensuring that the TAA program meets the needs of today's diverse workforce. In light of the Department's decision to cover these workers, there can be no reason why the Department should not finally support extending TAA benefits to all workers specializing in intangible goods or services.
We have sponsored legislation (H.R. 4156 and S. 1309) to extend TAA benefits to all service sector workers adversely impacted by foreign competition, including information technology (IT) workers, engineers, customer services and call center employees. As globalization continues to spread and the demand for various services and intangible goods continues to change, we urge you to support our efforts to further broaden the eligibility criteria to include service workers.
We look forward to your timely response.
http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=256217&&days=30&