Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Outsourcing at SIU, article about IU.

I wrote that SIU should consider outsourcing everything not long ago (there are about 5 or 6 posts about it, so read everything, it is good stuff). Got a comment from someone in the wrong entry with this article about Indiana's move to outsource.

In summary, Indiana University is going to outsource its motor pool and kick a few employees off the state tit. People are complaining that those jobs will go to lower paid workers, and they will.

I guess I have two questions about this -
First, can IU use the money they save to make something of value to society, instead of funding a few petty bureaucrats? If they had unlimited money, they should keep those people on, but they don't. So, should they continue to waste that money on employees that have to produce a poor result or should they shift the money into something else? What happens if the area they switch the money into takes off and produces 100 good jobs? There is no chance for 100 good jobs out of a motor pool.

Second, where were all these complainers as the big box stores moved into town and killed all the small businesses that did retail? Don't the big box stores convert good jobs into bad jobs, but produce cheaper products? How is this different? I'm going to guess the people complaining are effected by this and got lower prices from the big boxes?

Reminds me of that World War 2 story, when the Nazi's took away the gays, I said nothing. When they took away the Gypsy's , I said nothing. When they hauled away the Jew's, I said nothing. Now they have come for me and there is no one left to help.

SIU must stop wasting money on areas that will not help them succeed and reinvest that money into areas that might help them. Indiana is a much better managed university then SIU and they have started already. There will be a little pain, but what can you do? Should SIU fail so a few transit employees and the like, who do very little to help the cause, can keep their jobs?

Your comments are always welcome.

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