Posted on 07/08/2014 4:39:20 PM PDT by upchuck
Maybe it’s time we re-think what a proud American brand the Harley Davidson motorcycle company is. Not too long ago I told you about the man whose warranty claim was rejected by the company because he was flying an American flag on his bike. And who can forget their new addition of an all-electric motorcycle (seriously?) But those things pale in comparison to a story I just found: Harley Davidson uses the services of a company that helps them replace fairly paid American employees with cheap foreign-born workers through the H-1B visa program.
The LA Daily News tells us about Kelly Parker, a divorced mother of three, who landed her dream job at Harley Davidson in tech support. That dream turned into a nightmare when she was laid off less than a year later, replaced by an H-1B “guest worker” from India. The biggest indignation: Parker had to train her replacement before she was fired.
The company that helped Kelly Parker to the unemployment line is the India-based Infosys Ltd. What they do is help companies like Harley Davidson ditch their American workers in favor of lower cost Asians and Indians. They do this through the H-1B visa program, which allows foreigners special access to America if they can fill jobs that no American is capable of or willing to do.
Of course, the H-1B program has been completely abused by companies that want to cut labor costs. Instead of shipping jobs overseas, they bring overseas here to take American jobs. Different scheme; same results. Americans lose jobs.
The H-1B program is supposed to be for filling skilled and tech jobs, but what this government created clusterf**k really does is get Americans fired and keep them from ever getting hired in the first place. Companies do not have to prove that there are no Americans available for a given position, and, as we’ve seen with Kelly Parker, are perfectly within their rights to can an American that already holds a position.
Hey, Obama was right. The immigration system is broken and badly in need of repair. However, the problem isn’t that we aren’t letting millions of illegal aliens become citizens, it’s that even with legal immigration Americans are getting screwed.
It should be noted that Obama and the democrats are not only pushing amnesty, but also a massive expansion of the H-1B program, which will put even more Americans out of work.
This is how messed up things currently are: no one even keeps statistics on how many H-1B workers there are in the US. The best estimates put the number at around 600,000. Let that sink in for a moment. Well over a half a million mostly skilled and high-tech jobs are occupied by foreigners while a record number of Americans can’t find work. And Obama wants to expand this? What an a$$hole.
So while the federal government and apparently Harley Davidson are working against the interests of American workers, Kelly Parker is doing something uniquely American: she is fighting back. She has joined a federal lawsuit that claims in part that Infosys Ltd. has discriminated against workers based on their country of origin by replacing Americans with foreigners. I hope like hell the lawsuit succeeds. It won’t end the H-1B visa scam, but it might make companies a little more reluctant to abuse the program.
So Harley Davidson is just like any other corporation where the bottom line is the only important thing. They are not unique is this cold heartless approach to running a business. However, Harley sells itself as a brand that represents freedom and the American way. I guess now we all know that’s just an image cooked up by some ad agency, because their recent actions tell a different story.
Maybe it needs to be changed... to "Redskins!"...ba-da-bing!
Rather walk twenty miles over broken glass barefooted.
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I was going to write something snarky about AMF but I decided it was too easy and wouldn’t be funny.
The biggest indignation: Parker had to train her replacement before she was fired.
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This is referred to as “digging your own grave”.
Any details on the firing? Reasons given?
Here in York (PA), there’s a BIG Harley-Davidson Assembly/Shipping plant, and that crap’ll go over badly. I find it hard to believe the unions will let it just happen.
Something doesn’t sound right with the article.
No, really, it would have been.
First thing I could think of is, Ah, Harley bowling balls...finest in the world. lol
Heard the new name of Indian will be Cactus Cycle and Tumbleweed. /S
Does it matter? The important questiin is WHO WILL END IT?
I believe the unions won’t care... anything to screw management... and when the craft gets a bunch of know nothing supervisiors and engineers in the plant they can just flim flam them... I have seen this before.
bump
“It should also be noted that Republicans are pushing for an expansion of H-1B just as hard. “
Treason, it’s not just for Democrats anymore.
Are they subsidized? If not, who gives a crap? Nothing wrong with electric as long as the gov't stays out of it. The free market will decide.
I’m always skeptical when I read stories like this anymore. With the regime constantly undermining everything that is the heart of America, this could be just another one of their misinformation “plants” to turn us away from the institution that is Harley Davidson. I don’t trust these pricks (jugears) for a second!
Train your replacement? I never met anybody dumb enough to do that.
The Unions have nothing to do with tech support people as they do not represent them.
H-D did outsource some tech support time to an Indian company. Can’t say about this specific case, but this certainly isn’t new in the American corporate scene.
H-D is a company with the goal of making money like any other. They will look for ways to cut costs the same way any other would. Why is anyone surprised by this?
The electric bike (not in production BTW) is just a response to their view of the market demand. If they think it will make money, they’ll manufacturer and sell them.
Ok so I get why on Fox news CAvuto, he talks of Corporations wanting to reform H1 visas...its all for low wage nonAmericans replacing American white collar employees.
So it looks like the American worker has no one on our side. The DNC want illegals, the GOP wants big Corp money and Unions want illegals.
Never! Until they make seamless gas tanks!
It’s just an experimental unit.
I thought H-D was an “employee-owned” company.
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