And your source IS ?

Yes, it is. All the employer has to do is tell then H1B worker that if they don’t like the conditions, they will be replaced with someone more compliant.

Source of what?

Yes, but not for the H1B visa holder but for the people whose wages the visa holder is keeping artificially low...and as low as $0.00 which is really more than indentured servitude.

The Jeff Kuhner program, WRKO today.

I usually listen to Kuhner in the morning coming from NH to Mass for work. Wish I heard this one today.

H1B’s have been abused horribly. It was not intended to replace existing STEM employees here in the US but with any gov’t scheme the true nature of the program is eventually reviewed.

These companies will eventually realize “you get what you pay for” when they see the quality - or lack there of - of the work these people produce.

Foreign workers can do well with low complexity - rote tasks. But when things get complicated or unusual it screws the organization or the clients.

They tried it at my work and had us train our replacements then tried to hire us back when it failed. The customers got really pissed off and a lot of business was lost.

H-1B was always a terrible idea.

Its like a second or third rate citizen thingy.. a maid/butler arrangement that appears symbiotic until the lights go out.

I have often wondered whether the H1B law is actually broken in a case such as Disney’s. The law was meant to provide labor in a situation where no skilled citizen labor was available, which would not hold for Disney’s case.

This H1B visa program seems to have become a modern form of indentured servitude.

Kind of. A company gets an H-1B and hires Gunga Din from Mumbai to fill the slot. Gunga Din is in the U.S. only because of the visa and he can't move to another job unless that company is willing to get their own H-1B for him. So he either works for the company and enjoys the blessings of America or he gets his butt sent back to India. Pretty near to the definition of indentured servitude.

The H-1B visa program is inherently corrupt and immoral. Companies are allowed to bring in these workers because of an alleged shortage of American STEM workers. But how can there be a shortage when the H-1B workers are used to REPLACE American STEM workers (like in the case with Disney)?

It is a provable fact that each and every person brought in with an H-1B visa causes one American worker to go unemployed. (Or to work in a lower job, which displaces someone else to unemployment, and so on down the line.) And if you bring in half a million, they will cause half a million to go unemployed in America. These visas are utterly immoral - and based on a lie.

Our representatives are supposed to work for the American people, not their corporate cronies, and not for foreign nationals. I cannot vote for any presidential candidate who would support the outrage the program represents.

The law was meant to provide labor in a situation where no skilled citizen labor was available, which would not hold for Disney’s case.

Disney outsourced its IT functions to a third party, in this case an Indian firm called HCL. So it's not like Disney is firing Disney employees and replacing them with H-1B Disney employees. Disney is firing Disney employees because they no longer have a job for them. HCL is doing that work now and that company happens to be filled with H-1Bs.

I work for a very large publicly held company that is moving its finance work below the management level to India. They are letting people go with years of experience that make 50 - 70K per year, and hiring people in India for 4 - 5K per year. We are having a horrible time getting people in India who can do the work, even if the tasks are thoroughly documented. We are also having a hard time actually getting people to stay on the job. It’s like a revolving door. But the 5 year deal with Genpact is done, and we are told we have to make it work.

Genpact (division of GE that manages Indian workers and transition project), treats the Indian workers like dirt, refuses to buy them supplies, including even trash cans and paper for the office.

The Democrats complain that the middle class is going away and we are becoming a nation of only rich and poor. Well, this is why. We are sending our middle class jobs offshore, where the workers are treated like slaves. Pretty soon there will be no one left in the U.S. who has the income to buy our companies’ goods and services.

I hate government interference, but I wish companies had incentives to keep work in the U.S. I think companies that are doing this need to be exposed, but as management we would have to quit before we could let the media know this is going on.

You’re paying too little in India. The salaries there are now about 50% of US salaries, so you would have to pay $20-30K to get qualified people who will stick around.

Slashdot is covering it
http://it.slashdot.org/story/15/04/29/2146247/disney-replaces-longtime-it-staff-with-h-1b-workers

And it is part of a bigger trend:
Southern California Edison IT workers ‘beyond furious’ over H-1B replacements
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2879083/southern-california-edison-it-workers-beyond-furious-over-h-1b-replacements.html

My experience is limited to two immigrant friends. One who does IT & his (now) wife who does research & some admin work. Both for different, large universities.

No horror stories from either. They are both paid very well, comparable to others in their departments. Both have also been recruited for other jobs but like where they are.

And that stats showing that STEM wages are not growing as one would expect if demand was higher than supply, and a large number of STEM graduates work outside of those fields because there aren’t as many jobs as expected.

H-1B ping. Let me know if you're not on the list and want to be added (or are and want to be removed).