Voice of America to Outsource Work to Chinese

WASHINGTON, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Led by Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), 14
prominent lawmakers on the Foreign Relations Committee and the State, Foreign
Operations Appropriations Subcommittee have urged the Voice of America (VOA)
not to contract out to China English-language news writing work that currently
is performed by Americans.

Tim Shamble, president of the American Federation of Government Employees
(AFGE) Local 1812, has led the fight against VOA's Chinese outsourcing plan.
"As noted by the senators in their letter to VOA Director David S. Jackson,
VOA must 'present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively'
and 'represent America, not any single segment of American society' so that
the agency 'can present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant
American thought and institutions,'" he said.

"It's almost impossible to imagine how VOA intends to accurately report on
U.S. policies and issues with reporters living half way around the world. VOA
management seems to have forgotten what the "A" in VOA stands for," said AFGE
Legislative Representative John Threlkeld. "Additionally, it is unthinkable
that VOA would try to do this with contractors who live under a totalitarian
government and whose impressions of the United States may be based more on
anti-American propaganda than real-life experience.

"This privatization plan is completely contrary to OMB Circular A-76,
which requires public-private competition for work performed by federal
employees before it is given to contractors, regardless of whether the
adversely affected employees may be reassigned," Threlkeld added. "The only
way VOA can go through with its Chinese privatization system is if the
competition requirement is waived by OMB, which leads to the bigger picture.
AFGE firmly believes that OMB's privatization system is nothing more than an
attempt to replace hard-working federal employees who perform critical work
for the American people with poorly-compensated contractors, even foreign
contractors."

AFGE is the largest federal employee union, representing 600,000 workers
in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees
Web Site: http://www.afge.org