Domestic outsourcing puts squeeze on the middle class

ASHINGTON – For nearly 20 years Alfredo Molena made a middle-class living repairing bank ATMs in Los Angeles, despite being a high school dropout and immigrant from El Salvador.

By 2000 he was earning about $45,000 a year, enough to support his wife and two children in a spacious apartment and take periodic vacations to El Salvador and Hawaii. He had health insurance and a matching 401(k) plan.

But it all unraveled in 2005 after his employer, Bank of America, subcontracted the work to Diebold Inc., a firm specializing in servicing ATMs.

http://www.startribune.com/domestic-outsourcing-puts-squeeze-on-the-middle-class/386079631/