Microsoft is shifting high-level work such as the next version of Windows Operating System to foreign contractors, including Indians, a Seattle-based labour union has claimed.
The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech) said it has obtained internal company documents that show that Microsoft now employs nearly 2,000 workers in India, double the 970 number it previously acknowledged.
Microsoft, however, disputed the notion, saying it doesn't use contractors for core development.
WashTech alleges the documents show that while Microsoft employs 970 full-time direct employees in India, there are an additional 1,100 people working for the company in India under contracts with outsourcing firms, bringing Microsoft's total presence in the country to more than 2,000 people.
WashTech, which wants to unionize Microsoft employees, is one of the most vocal critics of offshore outsourcing, a hot-button in the current presidential campaign.
The documents include wage lists and projects for Microsoft at Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and Tata Consultancy Services.
The internal documents, WashTech said, suggest that the contractors and employees are involved in high-level development projects and not just low-level work such as call center customer service.
"They clearly have not been forthcoming about the extent of their offshore outsourcing," said Marcus Courtney, WashTech president and organiser.
Microsoft said it doesn't disclose the size of its contract work force in India or anywhere else, because the figures can fluctuate significantly. But the company disputed the union's broader assertions about the role of its overseas contracts.
"These accusations don't reflect an understanding of the global nature of our business," Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake was quoted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as saying.
"As a global company with operations in more than 80 countries, we absolutely work with partner companies around the world."
She noted that top Microsoft executives have said repeatedly that they plan to keep the majority of the company's core software development work in the US.
Of the $6.9 billion spent on research and developing new products in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 4.0 per cent was done by outside companies and 1.0 per cent was done by outside companies based overseas, she said.
WashTech's Courtney, however, pointed out that the documents leaked to the union include long lists of outsourcing contracts that refer in two instances to Longhorn, the next version of Windows that's due around 2006.
One contract with Infosys Technologies is described as 'Longhorn Migration Guide,' and one with Wipro Ltd describes testing for Longhorn and other products.
"The notion that next-generation technology is going to be the exclusive domain of domestic-based employees of the company is rapidly fading away with the disclosure of these documents," he said.
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