Posted on 02/10/2016 9:36:21 AM PST by ConservingFreedom
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is calling for a Justice Department investigation into allegations that a northeastern utility company fired hundreds of workers and forced them to train their less expensive foreign replacements.
In a story that has become more common, Eversource Energy has been accused of contracting with outsourcing firms to import lower-paid, foreign workers on H-1B visas to replace their American information technology staff. In the process, the 200 workers who lost their jobs were allegedly made to train their replacements and remain silent about the matter.
"I am greatly concerned about whether Eversource has violated current law," Blumenthal wrote in a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch last week. "In light of these highly suspicious actions, I urge the Justice Department to use all necessary resources to investigate Eversource's conduct with regard to these workers and determine whether the company has abused any of the nonimmigrant worker visa programs, relevant employment laws, or other rules or standards governing its behavior."
In addition to pressing the Justice Department for an investigation, Blumenthal also expressed his "outrage" to Eversource CEO Thomas May and called on the company to offer "your former employees and the people of Connecticut a full accounting of these events."
"According to a news report, which Eversource has not appeared to deny, your treatment of roughly 200 American IT workers in Connecticut and Massachusetts was shocking," Blumenthal wrote in a letter to May.
"This report indicated that in the process of laying off these employees and replacing them with cheaper foreign workers who entered the US through nonimmigrant worker visa programs, you also forced them to sign non-disparagement clauses and even train their own replacements as a condition of receiving severance pay," he added.
Blumenthal is the latest in a string of bipartisan calls to investigate [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Yup ... H-1B is corporate welfare.
They didn’t violate the law because the current law is so poorly written that corporations can get away with just about anything. The H-1B bill needs to be repealed and replaced with something that takes the possibility of abuse out of it.
I think you're being too kind to those who wrote the law - I think it was their INTENTION to let corporations get away with just about anything.
The H-1B bill needs to be repealed
Agree 100%.
But hey, to each his own. I'm not worried about the people selling out their country to the highest foreign bidder, I'm worried about the millennials and how your actions are driving them to hardcore socialism. They're going to be the next bolshevik revolution. If you're lucky, you won't be around when that SHTF.
You'll never get down to the true minimum wage
Every unemployed person gets the true minimum wage - and "minimum wage" laws have been shown time and again to increase unemployment.
(I agree!!)
“a northeastern utility company fired hundreds of workers and forced them to train their less expensive foreign replacements.”
They fire them and then force them to train the people?
That’s about five felonies right there. How were they
forced to train them? At the point of a gun?
Connecticut is one of the heritage states of the
Northeastern Communist block USA and it’s to be expected
that the proletariat would bend over and take it but
this display of spineless cowardice is pathetic.
So bad even their commie leader Blumenthal is embarrassed by it.
Indians program like crap.
It depends on your definition of “minimum wage. The real minimum wage is what people can realistically afford to earn and break even. If you can afford to live like a chinese farm peasant, then you can afford to work for a buck or two a day. If you live in the US, you have to earn more than that just to cover taxes. If you can convince people to work for you (outside of illegals and H1-B workers) for less than minimum wage, then go for it. But you’ll get what you pay for.
“America basically has two corrupt political Parties. One wants to import the world and other other wants to export our jobs. One works for global corporations that want our sovereignty destroyed, and the other wants Americans poorer and dependent on their political Party hacks. Neither Party serves the middle and working class of America.”
This should be spread far and wide! Our country has complete scum running it from both the Left and the Right! The first thing that needs to be done is to take all the money out of the game, and that includes organized labor, and ALL PACs of any kind whatsoever. And take the MSM and force them to simply report facts and provide free air time to all viable candidates in an equitable fashion. These “debates” all need to be done away with, and replaced with real discussions on the issues w/o all the “moderators” trying to provoke a series of fights.
Their severance package was made conditional on their training their replacements.
It depends on your definition of "minimum wage.
Already given (see above).
The real minimum wage is what people can realistically afford to earn and break even.
That could be called a 'necessary' wage, but in no sense is it a minimum.
Love your tagline!!
I’d like to be added, please.
Who wanted to increase H1b’s by 5 times? Cruz
Amend the H-1B visa program to fulfill its original purpose: Work with Congress to pass reform legislation for the H-1B visa program that will:
"Ted Cruz, Jeff Sessions Roll Out Antidote To Broken H-1B Program: American Jobs First Act" - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3371276/posts
"Ted Cruz Explains why His Position on H-1B Visas Has Changed" - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3376485/posts
Then they aren't free traders, they're crony capitalists.
I think the point that I’m trying to make is that the wages that an employer is willing to pay have to meet a threshold where the people who are willing to work for that wage, will work in lieu of collecting government benefits or even be able to afford the day to day costs on that wage.
Now, I understand that in the past, minimum wage jobs mainly went to part-time, low skilled, or teenagers in school. I know, worked those jobs when I was a teenager.
What’s different now is that minimun wage has crept up the career ladder. Jobs that used to pay good, no longer do. Jobs that used to pay good, now get outsourced, or insourced with foreign nationals on work visas. Productive workers are displaced by cheap workers from foreign countries.
Of course - no law or government involvement is required to impose that minimum.
or even be able to afford the day to day costs on that wage.
Again, that may be necessary to the employee, but in no sense is it a minimum. A "minimum wage" law doesn't prevent an employer from leaving a job unfilled - and another worker unemployed and making the true minimum wage of zero.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.