Free Republic

"…In 1995, the GATS agreement borrowed a World Trade Organization (WTO) term that describes the process of moving human capital across international borders. This process is called the ìMovement of Natural Persons,î(1) which refers to the entry and temporary stay of human laborers for the purpose of providing ìservicesî for employers. The term ìnatural personsî is an Orwellian euphemism used by the WTO to describe working class people who are considered to be nothing more than mere commodities. Immigration policies restricting the flow of ìnatural personsî would be considered a violation of the WTO rules because borders must be kept...

NEW DELHI, JUNE 16: Washington has offered full access to Indian investors in computer and computer-related services under Mode 3 (pertaining to investment policy) of World Trade Organisation. The offer pertains to two digit level of access which, according to experts, suggests a full-scale opening up of the sector including services that may arise out of future technological innovations and advancements. If these offers, made under the Doha Round of WTO, materialise the US government would not, at any point in future, deny an Infosys or a TCS or even an aspiring Indian entrepreneur, permission to invest in any conceivable...

...Hundreds of thousands of American IT workers have lost their jobs in the past several years to foreign replacements through the L-1 visa loophole, or the similar H-1B visa program. American software engineers, computer designers, technicians, electrical engineers, and other hi-tech employees are feeling the downside of globalization. These professionals who invested in education and thought they had secure futures in the tech and service industries have had a rude awakening. They have been getting pink slips and joining the unemployment lines, along with auto workers, steel workers, assembly-line workers, loggers, and other low-tech workers. They are being replaced by...

‘‘Outsourcing," "offshoring," "human resource realignment," "training your replacement." These are words that send chills through millions of workers in IT ("information technology") and other hi-tech industries. They also send waves of anger and depression. In the tragic case of Kevin Flanagan, they are being blamed for his suicide. For months, the 41-year-old Silicon Valley software programmer had been anticipating a layoff announcement from his employer, Bank of America. "He knew that Bank of America was sending jobs overseas," Contra Costa Times reporter Ellen Lee wrote in a May 13th article. "He had seen his friends and coworkers leave until only...