High-Tech U.S. Workers Forced to Train Foreign Replacements; Bipartisan Senate Group Urges Federal

[midnight]

"A number of U.S. employers, including some large, well-known, publicly-traded corporations, have reportedly laid off thousands of
H-1B Investigation.


American workers and replaced them with H-1B visa holders. To add insult to injury, many of the replaced American employees report that they have been forced to train the foreign workers who are taking their jobs. This troubling practice seems to be particularly concentrated in the information technology (IT) sector, which is not surprising given that sixty five percent of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2014 were for workers in computer-related occupations. Though such reports of H-1B-driven layoffs have been circulating for years, their frequency seems to have increased dramatically in the past year alone.



In many cases it appears that the H-1B workers are not employees of the U.S. company laying off American workers, but instead are contractors employed by foreign-owned IT consulting companies. This increasingly popular business practice by U.S. companies and foreign-owned IT outsourcing firms raises several questions. For example, have the U.S. companies that have laid off American workers and replaced them with H-1B workers and/or the IT consulting contractors the companies retained engaged in prohibited citizenship status discrimination against U.S. citizens? Did the Labor Condition Applications certified by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration and the petitions approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for each H-1B visa holder who replaced a U.S. worker at these companies accurately reflect the scope and location of their work? Did such labor condition applications or visa petitions show any evidence of misrepresentation or fraud by the employer-petitioners? Did the employer-petitioners maintain a true employer-employee relationship with the H-1B workers after they were placed at the U.S. client company? While media reports indicate that the H-1B visa program is the principal visa program at issue in the layoffs, were other visa programs, such as the L-1B or the B-1, also used to displace American workers at U.S. companies?



We respectfully request that you investigate the unacceptable replacement of American workers by H-1B workers to ascertain whether SCE or any other U.S. companies that have engaged in this practice, or the IT consulting companies supplying those companies with H-1B workers, have violated the law. Additionally, please notify us of any obstacles in existing law to conducting such an investigation."

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Corporate-Greed/High-Tech-U.S.-Workers-Forced-to-Train-Foreign-Replacements-Bipartisan-Senate-Group-Urges-Federal-H-1B-Investigation

[antigop]

1. Hillary Clinton reaffirms support for more H-1B visas

[midnight]

11. Looks like she is reading a script. Americans already have the skills-lets reward them.

Let's keep them employed.

[antigop]

18. yes, the STEM "crisis" is a myth. nt

[antigop]

2. Hillary's support for expanding h-1b visas

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090702780.html

High on the agenda of union officials is an explanation of how each candidate will try to stem the loss of U.S. jobs, including large numbers in the service and technology sectors that are being taken over by cheap labor in India. During the vetting, some union leaders have found Clinton's record troubling.

"The India issue is still something people are concerned about. Her financial relationships, her quotes -- they have both gotten attention," said Thea M. Lee, policy director for the AFL-CIO.

Facing a cool reception, Clinton and her advisers have used closed-door meetings with labor leaders in recent months to explain her past ties to Indian companies, donors and policies. Aides have highlighted her efforts to retrain displaced workers and to end offshore tax breaks that reward companies that outsource jobs.

But the Clinton camp has been pressed by labor leaders on her support for expanding temporary U.S. work visas that often go to Indians who get jobs in the United States, and it has been queried about the help she gave a major Indian company to gain a foothold in New York state. That company now outsources most of its work to India.

[valerief]

3. This has been happening since the "globalization" boom in the 90s. nt

[antigop]

4. April, 2014...Hillary presses for an increase in the H-1b visa limit

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2014/04/08/hillary-clinton-comes-to-san-francisco-talks-tech-immigration-and-whether-shell-run-for-office/

Hillary Clinton came to San Francisco Tuesday and filled the house at a marketing conference, where she was the keynote speaker. Clinton discussed topics ranging from immigration reform and Vladimir Putin’s misdeeds to incorporating social media in the State Department and instilling a willingness at the Department to take risks.
....
Asked by Marketo’s Fernandez about how she would deal with the shortage of H-1B visas, which tech companies rely in to bring in non-U.S. workers such as computer engineers, she suggested thinking longer term and working with colleges –using cash from Silicon Valley – to train people in the U.S. to fill those jobs, while in the shorter term pressing for more H-1B visas.

[midnight]

5. I'm wondering with the TPP being fast tracked if it is creating this disparity for American tech.

workers.

[Thor_MN]

6. Been there, done that.

[midnight]

8. Do you mind telling me about the tech job you did?

[Thor_MN]

13. I programmed for and supported an expense report app for a large corporation.

I was not an employee of the corporation, but was there for 6 years as a contractor. The consulting company I worked for changed hands and and the new management were idiots. Corporation tried to hire me, consulting company demanded 15% of my annual bill out, corporation was willing to go 12.5%. Had I known, I would have bridged the gap out of my own pocket just to get rid of the consulting company.

By the time I knew what was gong on, the corporation replaced me with an H1-B visa worker, I trained her and got a two week notice from the consulting company when the contract ended. The consulting company went from over a million dollars of annual revenue with that corporation to not being able to even present candidates within three years.

The owners that I started with were wonderful, my account exec said he never had to even push to get a rate increase for me. New owners came in and pissed it all away.

So not the typical, H1-B replaces employee story. My replacement's last name was Pu, so I can say that I was replaced by Pu.

[midnight]

15. New management for your consulting company was not going to let you in on what was

happening-what a waste.

Pu is right.

[KoKo]

20. +!..and its still happening.

As companies Merge and Hedge Funds do Buy Outs...workers are being replaced by H1-B Visa workers or work is offshored to another country or the company is downsized leaving no work for anyone except a few until the company is sold off or split up.

Its getting worse instead of better.

[Wilms]

7. .

-1B

[midnight]

9. Wilms what does the arrow on the blue mean.

[Wilms]

10. No idea.

But one of my problems with Clinton is the H-1B issue. I was being snarky with the logo.

[midnight]

16. Impressive look. Some times snarky is the best thing you got.

[aggiesal]

17. Try this

[Font size=50 color=red]-[\b][\font][Font size=50 color=blue]1B[\b][\font]

[Wilms]

19. There ya go. n/t

[MisterP]

12. well, at least Hillary opposes H-1Bs and their expansion, as seen in all the links and videos above

[Dragonfli]

14. Our champion!