Members of the Engineering Association – plus 220 cardboard silhouettes representing TVA tech workers slated to lose their jobs – will stand in Chattanooga’s Miller Park on Wednesday to protest announced layoffs at the nation’s largest publicly-owned utility.
The protest will be from 10:30 a.m.-noon.
TVA is planning to outsource as many as 220 information technology jobs to Cap Gemini, a Paris-based firm with more than 100,000 employees in India, along with two other firms headquartered overseas, the group said.
TVA denied that assertion.
Officials said, "Specifically, only 62 individuals are impacted, not more than 200. In addition, the jobs are not being sent outside the U.S. In fact, TVA has very specific contractual language that requires all work to be completed in the U.S.
"All three of the companies involved have very large U.S.-based workforce’s and many have U.S.-based subsidiary headquarters. All three currently perform similar IT work for other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice and Department of the Navy, all of whole have the same contractual requirements for U.S. based work.
"While we fully understand the impact of this difficult but necessary decision, our focus remains on treating those impacted with respect and professionalism during this difficult time."
Gay Henson, a TVA worker and president of the Engineering Association, IFPTE Local 1937, said, “It’s outrageous that at a time of massive unemployment, with Congress spending trillions to get Americans back to work, a federal utility is sending jobs overseas to India, France and elsewhere.
“Sending crucial IT jobs overseas – and possibly compromising the security of our nation’s electrical grid – would be a dumb idea any day of the week. To do it now, when millions of Americans are desperate for work, is worse than dumb. It’s irresponsible. Keeping good-paying IT jobs here in Tennessee won’t cost anyone a penny. The TVA has admitted that ratepayers will not save a single dollar if our members lose their jobs. TVA needs to stop these layoffs now.”