Free Republic

Last week Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley hit back against Obama’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the agency pushed through, during a congressional recess, a major immigration item that has long been on the technology lobby’s wish list. According to a new “policy memorandum,” Obama’s immigration authorities will now be redefining the term “specialized knowledge” as it applies to the L-1B visa, a program previously aimed at bringing over highly sought-after “intracompany transferees” from American firms’ affiliated companies abroad. No doubt burned by Congress’s “stubborn” refusal to raise the cap on annual cap on H-1B visas (which are...

When techies consider unions By Aliza Earnshaw, The Business Journal of Portland The very notion of a labor union for software developers and other information-technology workers may strike some as paradoxical, or even ridiculous. After all, techies are thought of as well-compensated, highly skilled workers. So the beginnings of a techie labor union here in the Portland area, called ORTech, may come as a surprise to many who work with or are themselves high-tech workers. "THEY [TECHIES] THINK of themselves as highly skilled individuals who are valued for what they are," said Ilya Ratner, a programmer with years of experience...

‘‘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...

Everyone in the room, from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello, was beaming at last week's announcement. The news was that Asia's largest computer consultant has become a deep-pocket partner of the University at Buffalo. Under an agreement signed Monday, Tata Consultancy Services of India will partner with local researchers and help transform their discoveries into money-making products. Products mean jobs, the strongly desired byproduct of Buffalo's $140 million Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics. But jobs where? Advocates say the Indian company's capital and business links will mean economic spin-off benefits in Western New York and abroad....

<p>PLEASANTON -- PeopleSoft Inc., whose software is used to process payroll and track inventory, will shift some consulting work to India to lower the costs of customizing programs for clients. Pleasanton-based PeopleSoft is working with Hexaware Technologies Ltd., an Indian consulting company, to open an office in Bangalore in June. Hexaware consultants will configure PeopleSoft programs for customers' specific needs, said Bill Henry, a PeopleSoft vice president of strategy and marketing.</p>