High-tech layoffs cause furor over foreign workers

www.boston.com ^ | 11/25/2001 | Jube Shiver Jr.

[It'salmosttolate]

WASHINGTON - Amid a wave of layoffs in high technology, US companies have received government approval to bring in a record 163,200 foreign workers, under a program that critics say is being abused to hire cheaper overseas talent.

The number of approved visas under the program, known under immigration laws as H-1B, fell short of the 195,000 allowed annually. But the hiring binge in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 still has caused a furor in high-tech, where more than 600,000 people have been laid off in 10 months.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Has anyone heard of the Internet and telecommuting? Why import coders? Just leave them where they are and collect their code electronically.

[lelio]

''Every organization in the country has a need for information technology workers.''
And the solution is ... bring in foreigners that can be treated as slaves?

[HEY4QDEMS]

Working in IT, I have encountered many workers in the field who came here on th H-1B program.
The main thing about these workers, (Some of whom happen to be extremely intelegent) is that they are grossly underpaid for what they do.
This fact has led me to believe that the H-1B program is a farce.
There really has never been a shortage of high tech workers, only a shortage of exploitable workers hired at the expense of qualified Amiricans....IMHO

[Jack Wilson]

Time for the H1B guys to go home.

[EdReform]

H-1B Hall of Shame

[uscit]

The companies that are H-1B boosters desperately want to bring them here rather than have them perform their work in their home countries. They recognize the value of face-to-face contact in systems projects, and they want to take advantage of the infrastructure built by Americans and their ancestors, but they don't want to pay American wages. They are open-borders, post-nation-state one-worlders who are basically traitors.

Of the 100+ IT people in my firm who were recently laid off, only a handfull have gotten jobs, while dozens of H-1B workers remain.

[Walkin Man]

Where were all these PO'ed hi-tech workers when NAFTA, GATT, and WTO passed? They were cheering it on and telling the blue collar workers who lost their well paying jobs "Tough $hit, go to school for years like us, losers!" "Join the global economy or die, we are citizens of the world!", etc.

Now their ox is being gored and their whining about it and I say right back to them, TOUGH $hit guys, you should have been born in a poor, exploitable country! See you in the unemployment line LOSERS!

[HEY4QDEMS]

I say send them all packing.....except maybe the fashion models...;^)..hehehe

[disclaimer]

''The dot-com boom may be over, but we are still in the middle of a skills shortage,'' said Theresa Cardinal Brown, manager of labor and immigration policy at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington. ''Every organization in the country has a need for information technology workers.''

Hah!
Ha ha ha
ha

Hey, this isn't funny anymore! Just who is hiring?

[HEY4QDEMS]

Now now c'mon, don't hold back...say what's really on your mind. LOL

[eno_]

Lousy companies import H1B workers because they are cheap. Good companies import H1B workers becuase they recruit the best people worldwide. Figure out which kind of company you work for and decide if you still want to be there.

The smartest companies will hire the best people and have them telecommute, though it would help if payroll tax and regulatory compliance did not make that more expensive unless you already have a corporate presence in that country.

[tenderstone jr.]

Thanks for the link.

[RebelDawg]

Has anyone heard of the Internet and telecommuting? Why import coders? Just leave them where they are and collect their code electronically.

Trust me they are doing that and that is the BIGGEST part of the problem.

Have you ever tried to compete for a job against people telecommuting from India whose cost of living is a fraction of ours? There is absolutely no way that American IT workers can compete with the salaries required to hire an employee living in India.

This needs to be stopped NOW!

And don't give me that stereotype about Indians all being great technical gurus, thats garbage I work with hundreds of them. They're not good, they are cheap and thats the bottom line.

The company where I work brings people over from India for 6 months then sends them home to "telecommute". This way they can hire 4 or 5 foreign workers instead of one American worker. NO, its not about Indians being great IT workers, its not about Americans being overpaid, its all about entirely different economies and costs of living.

If you support an unemployed America then keep supporting this kind of garbage!

[RebelDawg]

The main thing about these workers, (Some of whom happen to be extremely intelegent) is that they are grossly underpaid for what they do.

You are right, some of them are extremely intelligent but most of them are not. They are grossly underpaid like you stated and American companies are eating it up. There is absolutely no possible way that an American IT worker can be expected to compete salarywise against someone working from India.

This fact has led me to believe that the H-1B program is a farce.

I agree, the whole thing is a scam to pay back IT companies for their political donations during the Clinton scandal years (this is when the number of H1-B visas exponentially expanded). This program needs to be scaled back now!

Its also interesting to note that the article above quotes the guy as stating that even now there is an IT shortage and Americans cannot fill the jobs... well then why are 600,000 American IT workers unemployed!!!

[RebelDawg]

There really has never been a shortage of high tech workers, only a shortage of exploitable workers hired at the expense of qualified Amiricans....IMHO

Ah finally someone besides myself states the truth ;-)

From one IT worker to another, I salute you for having the courage to state the truth!

[RebelDawg]

Wow! so all IT workers supported NAFTA, GATT, and WTO???

You sir, are an idiot and theres nothing left to be said about that fact!

[Osinski]

At a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are out of work, many employers are rubbing salt in the wound by hiring foreign workers

Luddites. Kwitcherwhinin'. This New World Order is good for you. Well maybe not for you, personally...