Legislation aims to keep jobs in state

By Journal Times staff

Saturday, January 3, 2004 12:02 AM CST

Journal Times staff MADISON - State Sen. Bob Wirch, D-Pleasant Prairie, is supporting the American Jobs Act, legislation drafted to require all contractual services purchased by state agencies to be performed in the United States.

The legislation was drafted by state Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, and state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, in response to what they described as the continued outsourcing of jobs by American companies to other countries.

Wirch said the principles of the American Jobs Act would be applied to companies like Citicorp Electronic Financial Services, which contracts with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services to issue the Quest debit cards that replaced food stamps.

When a recipient has a problem with their Quest card and they need to call service center, they are not speaking to somebody in Wisconsin or even the United States, but rather somebody from either India or Mexico whose wages are paid by Wisconsin taxpayers.

Green Bay experienced a similar loss of taxpayer-supported jobs last year when eFunds Corp. moved its call center to India. The state of New Jersey contracts with eFunds to provide customer service for a New Jersey state program.

Wirch, whose district includes Kenosha County and the Burlington area in Racine County, said the legislation would apply only to future contracts. Existing state contracts would be reviewed when they expire and either be re-bid or re-negotiated on the principle that Wisconsin will only be allowed to contract for services performed within the United States.

Business journalist Lou Dobbs recently commended Robson on his CNN show for her efforts to bring food stamp customer service jobs back to Wisconsin.

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