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Where's the Equal Opportunity?

Offshoring is the ultimate weapon that U.S. based companies are using to increase profits at the expense of American workers. I work for Computer Sciences Corporation on the AT&T account in Dallas, TX. I am a Systems Engineer with 15 years of experience and a Computer Science degree (the value of both is quickly becoming questionable). We are in the process of being off-shored to India. CSC's goal is to reduce our shop from 830 employees to 150 with layoffs and offshoring 

The process has already started. Currently there are several people from India (I'm assuming they have H-1B visas) on-site at our account. Several of us have been asked to begin training these people on how to do our jobs. We sit with them, one on one, and tell them everything we know so that they can begin to do our jobs. There is even a period where we hold their hands while they become proficient (the ultimate insult). The plan is to have these folks, in turn, pass what they learn onto someone in India. Then the people in India (who I understand can make as little as $5.00 an hour) who have been given access to portions of the AT&T billing system network (security issues have started to surface and it does seem to be slowing things a bit), will begin to do the jobs of the displaced Americans for a lot less money, and month by month the American workers will be laid off. This past month we lost 40. 

Some of us, per CSC, will be retained to act a intermediaries between CSC and our AT&T clients. This is an attempt to make the offshoring transparent. Usually it's the intermediary that trains the person from India. As of yet, I don't know if I will be asked to be an intermediary, but I would feel like a "sheep killing dog" to help lay off my colleagues. Too bad management doesn't have such pangs.

We need to get the word out about companies that practice offshoring. The worst thing is public opinion for companies like AT&T that rely on a "brand name". For one thing, AT&T's database has a lot of names, addresses, credit cards, and social security numbers of American citizens that will now be accessible to foreign nationals. As a customer of AT&T I don't think I like that. If they place a higher value on people in India, some of which have never set foot in this country, vs my "American citizen" welfare, they can't be too concerned about the level of service they provide to their American customers (given that I'm one of them). Don't support the companies that are offshoring. 

SHAME on AT&T, and CSC

I'm one of those workers!

I am an H1B worker from Canada, that worked for a company in Canada as a Quality Technician, for two years. I was brought over to the USA with the same company, on a TN classification, in 1995 and my visa states, I'm a Scientist Tech Technologist for 1995 and 1996, but my job title has always been Quality Engineer B since in the USA. In 1997 - 2000, my visa does not state anything other than H1B1. Again in 2000 - 2003, renewed under H1B1, although, I work as a Quality Engineer. At present I have disputes with my employer for harassment, national origin and intentional infliction of emotional and financial stress. 

I went off work in 2000 due to severe anxiety and the company is paying me disability benefits still. I've seen their independent medical examiners and all agree it's not in my best interest to return to that working environment. HR didn't address my concerns until four months later dismissing my issues as paranoid. I was not even made aware of the companies, ADR program until eight months after I was on disability, but have to go through it now, now that I have a lawyer and the judge requested. I am now in the status of the companies, ADR, Alternated dispute resolution policy, Mediation, the company offered little. I took deposition and the next step is Arbitration which is nonbinding. If not settled I can take it to court. Since with this company, I have endured sexual comments, humiliation, my supervisor purposely held meetings without me, gave my job responsibilities to others, offered my job to another behind my back and in front of coworkers, and hoping I would get married or leave if my visa was not renewed , which they renewed late, this prevented me from visiting my home in Canada, isolating me from my co-workers, reduced my wages, the last two weeks on the LCA the company did not pay me that wage, my disability is based on a lower wage, I was paid less than other Quality Engineer B American employees, when the company advertised for the job to the rest of the company and their union, per LCA regulations, they embellished my credentials and offered more money than I was being paid, the company held back wages, their insurance company harassed me, paid me every three months and told me if I didn't like my job to quit, recently dropped my husband off my benefits, I can go on and on...............

I couldn't leave, I was trapped, a hostage!, where would I go? I was settled, had a home, etc....If I left before five years I would loose my 401K contributions. I would like to say, that upon being hired into the USA, I did not know that it's these corporations intentions to hire foreigners for cheap labor and take US citizens jobs away. We are both the victim here, I would like to help stop these companies from violating the rights of non citizens and US citizens. I am now married, still an employee, still on disability, and going through the ADR motions, Arbitration should start in Sept. I would like to nail this company, they have put me through hell, ruined my carreer along with my health. I have proof, prior to a lawyer, I went through the Civil Rights Commission, and they were no help other than sending me very confidential documents that prove my case. If other H1B's came forward with my company, it could turn into a Class Action case. 

I would like to say, please don't think of the foreigner's as the enemy, it's the corporations, and they need to be stopped. Thanks for having such a great website, you have my support. I'd like a response from you, and any information you can contribute to my circumstance. Although, at this time, I would like to be kept anonymous and my email private.

Thank-you for your time.

signed Used and Abused in the Land of the Free!

Here is my personal story

I live in Phoenix, AZ and have been unemployed for eight months now, simply because myself and hundreds of my coworkers from AMEX (how ironic is the company's name?) after three years I replaced with cheep IT labor. To add insult to injury, we were told by AMEX's management that "we could hire two or more Indians for the same amount of money we are currently being paid".

We were also instructed that we have to transition (train) our replacements H1-b visa holders in three months as it turned out we were extended twice for a total of one year. The H1-b's could not even use the phone system, they had no IT experience at all and they could barely speak. We had to train them for programming, application development and support.

AMEX had to have a 50% turn over so they could luck upon some H1-b's that could pick up what was going on. Many of the folks have lost everything and or have taken jobs that pay less then half of what they were making in unrelated fields.

Marvin - 19 Years of IT experience

My Congressman Thinks I'm An Idiot

Last year I lost my job in Phoenix along with about 20 other American citizens when CBSI closed their doors in that city. Several Indian programmers with the same skill set got to keep their jobs and were placed under the Glendale California office. Eventually I found a job in Tucson AZ but I lost 1/3 of my salary and the benefits suck. When I heard that the ITAA was asking for additional H1B visas, I wrote my congressman Jim Kolbe and explained my story and asked him not to support additional H1B visas. He responded by throwing a bunch of statistics at me and explaining how the companies that sponsor H1B workers pay a user fee and the user fee is used to train American workers to do those jobs - he did not reply to the request to withdraw support for the program. I wrote back to him for clarification:

"...so what you are telling me is that I lost my job to an H1B so that employers could pay the Federal Government a user fee and the user fee would be used to train an American worker to to the job I was already doing."

I have yet to receive a reply. Just wait until Congressman Kolbe comes home to Tucson for one of his town meetings during the upcoming election cycle. I plan to read his ridiculous explaination aloud to the audience.

Mark Taylor

I got laid off while the Indians stayed

I consider myself a highly skilled professional in my field (UNIX Engineering) with 12 years experience in the field. About 10 months ago, I was hired to fix an architectural mess this company had. I did very well, saved the company about $70,000 a month and completed the project early. I was also in charge of about 30 H1-Bs in the Software Engineering Dept. 30 programmers for a job that only need 3 or 4? I said to myself. Well, they were ALL from India. Every one of them. They could hardly speak English, and to boot, they couldn't even speak amongst themselves since they all spoke different mother tongues. Well, when the company laid off 300 (!) of their valuable employees, myself included, they kept all 30 of the Indians! They let network engineers go, senior developers, UNIX admins, etc. They made the H1-B's do their job. So, now I've been unemployed for 6 months, w/o a job insight because I'm asking for too much money. All the ads say "We accept H1-B visas". As as ide note, I remember when they were doi

So, my house is being foreclosed, and my wife and kids are pissed. 

Want fries with that??

A Ehrhardt

I just read your horror story about GTE

I just got finished reading your last entry on your web page about GTE/Verizon merger and how US employees are getting laid off. I used to be a contractor at GTE in Irving/Dallas, Texas for about 8 or 9 months doing Visual Basic and Oracle work as team lead with 6 or 7 other Indian Programmers who were brought in on H1B contracts. And there is one image that indelibly sticks out in my mind till this day. It is something like this: I remember me and the other members of my team had all been working very hard that day and I so I decided to give rides to my team members H1B's back to their so called "guesthouse" where they were staying while living in the US. Eight H1B's lived together in a squalid, little, shabby house. I did this because it was late and cold and they at that time didn't have a car or any ground transportation at that time. So I was nice enough to extend the milk of human kindness and give them a drive home, so that they wouldn't have to be left out in the cold in the snow and rain waiting at the bus stop to get a ride back to their guesthouse. After I had dropped them off, I then realized that I had forgotten my briefcase back at the office, and I decided to go back to the office to pick it up. I went up to my office at GTE headquarters (in Irving,Texas) and picked it up and started walking out of the building back to my car when I noticed that all the major big shots from corporate headquarters were all adjourning out of a late night meeting that evening and were walking to their cars outside in the parking lot(porsches, and BMW's and Mercedes Benzes) or in some cases chauffered driven limos to go back to their motel rooms or to the airport at DFW. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I noticed a rather large group( I would say close to about 30 or so) of Indians H1B programmers all huddled together in the rain, and snow freezing their tale -ends off at the bus stop. It looked like a bus stop in New Deli or Bombay or something. They looked pathetic. They were all shivering and huddled together as they were being pelted with rain and snow, and getting sopping wet. They didn't have adequate clothing for the elements that day. No heavy coats or sweaters or rain capes or umbrellas or golashes or anything at all that would protect them from the rather bitter elements of the weather for that day. They all just stood their cold, shivering and helpless as the big shots of GTE just rolled on past them in their fancy SUV's and BMW's and Jaguars and Stretch limos. Then one of the guys in a Jaguar went through a puddle of ice, and snow water close to where they were standing and splashed about half of the Indian guys who were standing there in the cold and this guy knew he what he had did and he didn't care.I can't help but think that is what the corporate big shots think about their indentured H1B servants. It made me very sad and then angry when I saw this thing happen.

Verizon - merger job elimination (NO) - cheap foreign labor replacement (YES)

When GTE and Bell Atlantic merged (best for the employees and company - ha ha), under this disguise, this was the beginning to the end of many American employees. Even before the merger, GTE was trying to eliminate high paid non-upper management people by doing OFFSHORE with India and other foreign workers. The reason is that they can get 3 to 4 of these people for one of the current American. DON'T be fooled by the hoopla these company's have made after the 911 tragedy trying to show their patriotism. The only thing that is important is to cut costs and raise profits so the higher ups can make more money and the stock price goes up. Proud to be an American is only cover-up words. Many of these decision makers are foreigners who have made there way into these positions and are now making the decisions to hire more of their people and move out the older, dedicated and higher paid American employee. WE ARE CONTROLLED BY FOREIGNERS. The disguise is merger cutbacks where if you really dig into it, more employees are being hired to get the work done but from foreign countries so there are really more people being hired to replace the few laid off. Verizon has made the goal of 20% of all new positions will be by OFFSHORE. I have seen one group at Verizon that had 120 employees be cut back to less than 60 Americans and over 40 contractors from India, that we can see here. Who know how many in India are doing the work also??? There will be more as time goes on. I was 100% against the merger and complained about the OFFSHORE replacement of US Jobs. Companies like Verizon are selling our country to foreigners and the good old USA will eventually be controlled by third world countries because of it.....

SHAME ON VERIZON.

Hall Of Shame addition

Please add First Data Corporation (FDC) to the Hall Of Shame list. 

First Data Corporation processes 60-70% of all credit card and debit card transactions in the USA for scores of banks. About 4 months ago contractors were told they are going to be replaced by a foreign out sourcing group (FOSG) from India because "American contractors are too expensive and FDC can hire FOSG for 1/5 to 1/4 of what we get paid." As of today, scores of contractors and employees have been replaced with FOSG after training. Never were we asked to take a cut in pay. In addition, I feel Americans are unknowingly put at risk because the FOSG employees have access to our personal and financial information here and off shore. According to the application process of the H-1B, the LCA forbids undercutting American workers while the FOSG employee works in the USA. Yet FDC continues to let contractors go on a weekly bases after the training is complete. I am now unemployed for the second time in less than 13 month, root cause is the H-1B. FDC has held many meetings before and after my termination and threatened workers with immediate termination if they discuss H-1B at work. FDC has also contacted the American consulting companies they do business with and threatened to terminate all their contractors if any one of them discussing the H-1B. 

I worked for American Express from 5/15/95 to 3/02/01 and 100s, if not thousands, of employees and contractors were replaced with FOSG. Many of them are still here working while many American are witness to a shrinking IT job market in South Florida and around the country. I sent e-mails to Dept. of Labor and several elected officials to address this issue and got few responses. One Congressman of FL suggested I retrain myself. The average age of a FOSG employee is around 24 ld and most IT professionals I know have 20+ years experience. We don't see a shortage of IT workers, just cheap foreign labor. 

I have been spreading the word, if I can be of any help please e-mail me. 

Ivan Suarez 
IVANOSUA@aol.com

 I thought I would add to this particular e-mail and note that I worked with Marv [see letter below] for about two years. The group we worked with, as well as the groups that shared the same area that we did, outsourced everybody but the management and leadership positions over about a years time. All of the American contractors and many full time employees were done away with. Some of the full time employees found other groups to move to and some simply saw the handwriting on the wall and moved on to other companies as soon as they could.

I also took a short term contract with another group in Amex and discovered that the only full time employees in the group were the management and leadership positions. Everybody else in the group was there on an H-1B visa. I wasn't in that group when it was put up to the lowest bidder but I am sure several full time employees and contractors lost there positions over it.

It was quite evident that many H-1Bs were involved in both of the Amex sites I worked at making it obvious that here is a company taking full advantage of "cheap labor".

Obviously as a contractor I don't have the luxury of being out of work every few months for a few months while someone on a visa enjoys my job. Not only has it gotten old but this country needs to wake up and smell the coffee and stop selling it off one area at a time. Look at the computer want adds in this weeks paper and you find about one column as compared to the two or three pages it used to be just a few short years ago. "Take care of your own first" - then worry about what you can do to help some of these third world nations out of the situation they put themselves in.

I could talk about this whole situation for hours but instead I'll just pass on the pieces of the puzzle that I'm directly aware of at American Express. I'm sure this situation is being repeated at hundreds of other companies and certainly needs to stop.

Ken....

Great site, please keep up the great work

I live in Phoenix and have been unemployed for six months now, simply because myself and hundreds of my coworkers from AMEX (how ironic is the company’s name?) were replaced with cheep IT labor. To add insult to injury, we were told my AMEX’s management that “we could hire two or more Indians for the same amount of money we are currently being paid”

We were told that we have to transition (train) our replacements (H1B Visa holders) in three months so we could be let go. Us the displaced workers had to be extended twice because the H1B workers, were so under qualified. Some of our replacements could barely speak English and had no computer skills or experience at all.

Marv

H1-B Visas

I retired from the US Air Force as a Senior Master Sergeant in 1993 after 20 years of service. While in the USAF I performed duties in a high risk, special operations, pararescue position. 

When I left the USAF I had no real skill to translate into a decent civilian paying job. However, while in the service, I had taken several computer science classes, enjoying the challenges that programming and the associated analytical thinking provided me. So, on leaving the service I went on to obtain an computer technology degree at a local community college. After graduating in August of 1994 I was quickly hired by First Data Corporation (FDC) as an entry level programmer. 

I didn't take this career change lightly. To ensure I was going into the appropriate field of endeavor, I went through a battery of tests to verify that I had sufficient apptitude and that the IT career area was appropriate for my personality type. 

Since working in IT, I've advanced to the position of Application Architect. I feel I provide my company good value for the pay I recieve. 

Recently, FDC has been letting go experienced programmers. Some times the pink slips make sense, other times the dismissals seem capricious. 

But, underlying my personal concern, for my future with this company, is that FDC is now bringing many H1-B IT contractors mainly from India. In most cases, these H1-B programmers work long hours and are competent in learning our complex subsystems. I also realize that these workers are generally good people who find coming to the USA a tremendous opportunity. My company has aked me to work closely with these H1-B contractors, ensuring they are guided correctly through their code development. These contractors are willing to work long hours in meeting coding objectives. And, they don't work alone, they are in constant contact with their Indian counterparts loacted in an extended FDC Indian code development facility. While teaching them our sub-system, it becomes apparent that they will soon be compentent enough to replace me in my position in the company. 

I think, from a myopic business perspective, my displacement from the company makes some sort of short term sense. Presently, the H1-B contractors, I'm told, are slated to return home after a 6 month contract stint in the states. It is so much cheaper for our company to pay Indian IT development in India than it is to pay American workers. 

During my military career, I've considered loyalty and devotion to duty as basic tenets to success and fulfillment. I now fear that my country is letting me and other citizens down. After 9-11 a great cry for patrotism and rallying-around-the-flag was evoked -- the cry for unity can and will appear cynical to many if Americans are now given second class considerations in their own country.

H1B fraud is the rule

As a Long Term Substitute teacher of Physics/math, I had a semester-long slot at a high school near my house in F98-spring 99, and asked repeatedly for a steady job from the San Francisco Unified School District, but heard again & again "no jobs available". In Sept 98 the Pilipino head of personnel for the District filled out 30 H1B forms for her home-town friends in the Pilippines, each of which says, "I hereby certify there are no local workers available for this job" under Federal felony penalty, over Ms Alvarenga's signature. 24 of the H1B forms were for Science/Math teachers. I got cc of these forms from an attorney who got them in Discovery proceedings for his Pilipino/Chinese client who got fired from the District and charges anti-"igoroto" prejudice. "Igoroto" is the Pilipino perjorative for half-Chinese. The United Educators of San Francisco, the Local for the Calif Teachers Assn said (I taped the phone conversation) the District didn't mean any harm by falsifying the H1B forms, and anyway the jobs only were for 3 years anyway so we're not going to contest for you.

Michael Smith, M.A.

First Data Merchant Services sends 40% of systems offshore 

Dear Shame: 

7 contract COBOL programmers where given their 2 week notice last Wednesday to be replaced by H1B Visa programmers from India. Several of them will stay onsite, while the others will be going back to India after being trained on the applications they will support. Additional layoffs will occur with in the next 2 weeks, for a total of up to 20 Americans losing their jobs. 

First Data Merchant Services, (FDC stock symbol) who process credit card transactions for merchants, made nearly 1 billion in profit last year. This is not a corporation that is being hurt by the recession, this is a corporation driven by pure greed. Their patriotism is not to America but to the almighty dollar.

Over 40 Engineers

I totally identify with your assessment that companies routinely 'retire' the over 40 engineers and replace them with Hi-Bs and/or younger engineers. The cry of "There are not enough engineers available to meet the hiring needs of the high tech companies!" is a load of *&*^%*& (you know what...).

My husband and I are over-40, laid off engineers. Please add us to your mailing list.

The San Jose Mercury news has in this morning's issue (March 13, 2002) opened up a discussion regarding the "scarcity" of engineers and the lack of engineers in the pipeline. I want to push for retraining of existing engineers and would be very interested in finding out just how many of us are out there...

Please respond to:
Terry Sandhu (my husband's name is Dale Sandhu)
tcsandhu@hotmail.com
San Jose, CA

 I worked at GTE as a lead programmer for about 8 months on a Visual Basic program/Oracle 8i database warehouse inventory tracking program. Anyhow, I was put in managerial charge of a group of about 7 or 8 Indian H1-B programmers who worked directly under me. 

What surprised me was that all these guys had degrees in Electrical Engineering, or Mechanical Engineering or Chemical Engineering, but all of their software training on software applications like Visual Basic and Oracle were provided to them (they told me this) were from attending an elite training academy in Hyderbad, India for about one year (or longer) that took technically elite students and gave them advanced specific training in software packages such as Oracle 8i DBA and Visual Basic 6.0 using ASP and MTS with 3 tiered DCOM. This type of narrowly defined, specific training that these guys got was not available anywhere at any of the colleges and universities anywhere in the North central, Texas area. I know this because I exhaustively checked for myself to find out. The only place that I could find that taught in a classroom environment the skills that these guys already had received, was at a private training academy located in the InfoMart in Dallas, Texas. The training that was available at this private training academy was not nearly as extensive as to what the Indian guys had received and was absolutely, outrageously expensive. They (the Indian guys that worked under me) then told me later on that the training center that they attended in Hyderbad, India had been partially or completely funded by the US Government. 

When I heard this I was just nearly floored. How could our government be giving advanced technical training to technical students in India, that was almost totally not available here in the United States so that they could come over here and take our jobs? Then I heard from a recruiter in Corpus Christi, Texas that this same kind of scenario was going on with a training center for potential H1-B's in the Haiti and the West Indies. The whole thing smaked of a really nasty Corporate welfare giveaway. Our government is spending OUR tax dollars to fund technical training centers in foreign third world countries, to give advanced, narrowly defined job skills set training to potential H1-B's to come to our country and take our jobs. I was just disgusted. It seemed like our government was working hand in hand with big multinational corporations using our tax dollars to train foreign  nationals (in advanced job skill sets that were not available in the US) so that they could take our jobs away from us. 

Thanks
Brendan

After 23 years of self employment, I fell for the IPO advertisement and took a direct employment position with stock options. Eight-teen months later I find myself unemployed at the age of 47 and challenging the company for my stock options. Out of approximately 45 developers only 5 were U.S. Nationals. Another American was terminated shortly afterwards. Looks like all of the Americans will have to be let go before the company digs into the "temporary workers".

Thanks for the information on the website. 

Thanks,
Jim

I lost my job in a lay off in October, 2001. An H1-B visa holder who hired on after me, doing the same job as me, kept his job. I called a man at the Department of Labor(DOL) to see if there was any law to protect my job. He said, your job may be protected by law if the employer is H1-B. "H1-B dependent" means more than 15 percent of their total workforce is H1-B. My next question for the DOL man was, "How can I tell if the company is H1-B dependent?"

That's when I learned about the LCA (Labor Condition Application) Form number ETA-9035. The employer must first submit an LCA if it wants to hire an H1-B employee. The employer should indicate if they are H1-B dependent on the LCA. These LCA's are public access information. Anybody can go into any company that hires H1-B's and request to see the LCA files.

When I first called my former employer to see the LCA's, I couldn't find any one who knew what an LCA was. So I went to their headquarters and asked the receptionist for the LCA's. After almost 2 hours of waiting in the lobby, they gave me a phone number where I could leave a message. After a few days of phone tag they gave me an appointment to see the LCA files on a Wednesday. They gave me about one and a half hours to look at the files. That wasn't enough time for me. But, I had to wait until Monday of the next week to see the files again. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an LCA that indicated the employer was H1-B dependent. However, I did learn a few things about these LCA's.

There are two versions of these LCA's. One expires in 1998 (98-LCA) and allows you to file one LCA for multiple employees. I saw one LCA filed for 50 employees. My previous employer called that type of LCA a blanket LCA. The other LCA form expires in 2002 (02-LCA). This form requires one LCA for each employee. The 02-LCA requires the employer to state if they are H1-B dependent or not. That information is not required on the 98-LCA. Why is the employer still using the 98-LCA in 2001? I don't know, yet. Also, the employer is supposed to post the LCA in the workplace for 10 days. I plan to make more trips to the LCA files to see what I can find.

Maybe looking through the LCA files won't get me my job back, but I have to do something. Looking through their files at least let's them know that somebody is concerned. It tells them that not everyone is willing to give up their jobs to foreign guest workers. It let's them know that somebody is watching them. If more people are poking around in their files, they are less likely to keep replacing American workers.

I'm not happy with the current situation. Changes need to be made and one thing is certain... if nobody complains, nothing will change. And the complaints will only come from the people who are hurt by the H1-B policy. If you are not ready give up your job and lower your standard of living, here are some things you can do:

1) Go to these H1-B hiring companies and request to see these LCA's. There is quite a bit of other information the employer must show you. Ask to see it all. Check this link for details: http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_20/Part_655/20CFR655.760.htm

2) If the company doesn't provide you with the information you require, file a complaint with the Department of Labor.

3) If the rate of pay of H1-B workers is supposed to be public access information, do your part to make it public knowledge.

4) Tell your H1-B story to your local newspaper.

5) Write your Senators, Congressmen and Governerors.

We need to take the whole H1-B visa process out from shadows and put it in the public spotlight. Do what you can. The job you save could be your own.

ChicTrib's H1B Article

As an unemployed computer programmer that hasn't gotten a single job interview for the past few months, it is quite clear that what the Chicago Tribune's belated "The Horror, the Horror!" H1B article of Feb. 10  (www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0202100430feb10.story ) fails to mention is that the H1B visa program is functionally a "STEALTH GLOBALISATION" program.

We have here the global movement of workers into professions that American industry considers "plug and play" - every programmer and engineer is instantly replacable by an H1B holder. I note with amusement that the Chicago Tribune recently reported that a Chicago-area programmer makes $45K/ year, hardly what you call a high-paying job!

What is going on here is that FOREIGN PROGRAMMER SCABS are being imported under the aegis of alleged "tech skills shortages". They serve a dual purpose: (1) To threaten American citizens with the lost of tech jobs and (2) To be the cutting edge of "expense reduction" i.e. SALARY SLASHERS.

Yes, I am saying H1B = SALARY SLASHER = ALIEN PROGRAMMER SCAB.

The truth of the matter is that American industry has chosen it's "expense reduction" target well; as the Depaul University DB2 instructor put it, "We're Nerds!" And nerds don't yell and scream, they don't write letters, they don't carry picket signs.

If American tech people are sick and tired of this industry abuse, they are going to have to STOP grumbling and moaning to themselves. The absolute minimum every American tech worker should do is send a "I'm as mad as hell!" letter or fax to their representative. It's a no brainer with virtually zero effort to stop off at NumbersUSA to do this. It takes no effort to past the word on to fellow Americans.

Remember, India and China together have over two billion people. That means that American industry is able to replace citizen tech workers at will with absolutely no worry about MANPOWER SHORTAGES, as any unemployed programmer and engineer will solemnly attest to.

Isn't saving American tech jobs worth a little time and effort?

Unemployed in Chicago

H-1B Horror

Last year, I was the manager of IT for a .com in San Francisco that needed to fill a couple of positions in our department. I asked my recruiters to provide me capable individuals who could provide a competent level of support to our employees. Yet all they kept sending was people who did not even remotely fill the needs we had.  Finally, they sent an Indian H-1B individual who was relocating from back east and was being shunted from place to place, through the same "body shop" locations from east to west. To the credit of this guy and most Indian guys I have worked with, he was a superb individual.  Very kind, possessing genteel qualities, and truly an unselfish individual (which is more than I can say about some local arrogant a**h***s here in the bay area who think they are gods gift to IT). I hired him based on his character and limited skill set. It was immediately apparent though, that he was not cut out for the work. He had a very difficult time communicating his intentions and was not able to interpret things correctly when communicated to him. I was forced to demote him and place him in a lesser role than I had intended. 

I think that the issue here is not the foreign workers themselves, as I understand their motivations for wanting to come here and work, but the "body shops" that shunt these guys all over the country for s*** wages. Let's look internally first and examine what is driving our fears. We should be pounding on the doors of congress and formulating a set of ethical guideliness for the (sleazy) recruiters in our business. Note: most of the recruiters that I was working for are no longer in this business.

AB

On the other side now

I am an immigrant who came to US 9 years ago. It took me 8 years to get my green card. I have studied in one of the best schools in my country and I had admission offers in couple of good universities here but decided to come here on H1b for a job. Boy its a pain. I can tell you its a life of servitude. Even in good economy, I was forced to take whatever assignment my body shopping company could find for me wherever. I worked very hard for the clients and was offered jobs almost by every client I worked for but could not take the offers because of the contract signed with my company. Anyway, I made it and got my green card last year. Soon after getting my green card, my contract with the client was over and my body shopping companty laid me off. I am still looking for work but could not find it. Since I have been an H1B worker and now a jobless permanent resident, I do understand the pains of both. In my opinion, H1B workers have been a good contribution to US and its economy but are not requied now. If US prohibits hire of new H1Bs and also H1B transfers, it can fix the unemployment problems to a good extent. In my opinion, companies prefer H1B workers because they can pay them less and workers do not leave the company because of not having a green card. There are quite a few companies who laid off Americans but retained H1Bs for these reasons. I think problem lies with the government's policies also. These H1B loving companies give a lot of donation to the political parties and also government charges a big fee for H1B applications. So its entirely up to the government whether it believes in the welfare of its people or gaining funds for re elections.
Jack

Trying to increase awareness

Thanks for providing this site. My husband, a programmer with twenty-three years experience, lost his job when his company outsourced programming to a company in India. However, in order to make this work, the company still has to keep a workforce of ten to twenty Indians in the country working at the US company. I have emailed, written letters, faxed, and called my congressmen, the White House, the US Dept. of Commerce, the US Dept. of Labor, reporters, magazines, TV shows, etc. Big surprise. I get very little interest. One reason for this is the apathy of programmers. They don't want to rock the boat because they're afraid to jeopardize their severance pay or their chances to get another job. Reporters won't cover the story because my husband and I are the only ones among the seventy fired programmers and their families who are complaining, so the reporters don't see a problem, they only see a pair of disgruntled people. I'm working so hard on trying to get the word out, but these people won't act until it's too late. I have taken to carrying copies of the Petition to Abolish the H1-B with me and whenever I can, I get people to sign. It's slow going. It's discouraging. One thing I noticed - here in NC there have been many textile and manufacturing jobs lost to cheap foreign goods and to sending the jobs overseas. These people are unionized and when the union pitched a fit over the TPA vote in the House with our local Republicans voting in favor, the president sent Donald Evans of the Dept. of Commerce to meet with these people and assure them that provisions were being put in to protect their jobs. I'll believe it when I see it. But there's strength in numbers. My husband and I are working to establish a local chapter of the programmer's guild in our area. Even if our numbers are small at first, we can then sign our letters with "programmer's guild member" noted in the heading. I am planning to call Mr. Evans of the Dept. of Commerce and ask him personally why he is only protecting textile jobs. What about high tech? Maybe some of you out there with horror stories will also contact Mr. Evans soon (email, fax, anything will help). It should have more impact if he hears from numbers of people at the same time. It is my belief, and sometimes this belief is all that keeps me going when I get discouraged, that somewhere out there is a person or organization that will help us. Sooner or later if I don't give up, I will find that person. By the way - I contacted the US Dept. of Labor and told them our story. Their response: They gave me a toll free number so my husband could call and apply for training. To all of you out there, don't give up.

Linda Evans linda19@linuxmail.org

I have over 300,000 non-Americans competing for MY job in MY Country!

For the first time in almost twenty years, I am having great difficulty in finding work. I am surely one among many in these trying economic times. My particular situation is affected by something even more ominous than the current recession. In the last few years, my government has seen fit to allow over 300,000 citizens of other countries into the United States. They were allowed in to perform my job, at a far lower rate of pay than I would receive. Yes, I am a Computer Programmer. Without a college degree, I was able to develop my expertise to the point where I commanded a fee greater than someone with an advanced college degree. There are few professions where the self-taught can command greater salaries than those with advanced degrees can. I was very proud of my accomplishments. But a few years ago, the corporations for which I worked, convinced my government that there were not enough programmers to go around. This actually meant, we are tired of paying these programmers high rates. So the corporations stuffed enough money into the pockets of our elected officials to convince them. My government than allowed 100,000 extra programmers a year into the country for the next three years. Would the AMA ever allow the same policy with Doctors? Would the ABA ever allow the same policy with Lawyers? So, why has my government forsaken me? The answer is very clear. Computer Programmers have no organization to look out for their best interests. We have no organization to pump funds into the pockets of our elected officials. That is why we were hung out to dry. So now I am faced with the competition of over 300,000 citizens of other countries, doing my job, at a lower rate. I served my country for four years in the Military and have always been a proud American. Like many others, I believe that within America, Americans should come first! Why is my government giving my job to those outside the United States and denying their own citizens? How long will these hundreds of thousands of competitors for my job be here?

Gregory R. Farrington
Hamburg, NJ

H-1B Abuse

I am an H-1B holder in New Jersey. Recently I've been researching resources on the internet to gather information on my and my employer's rights and responsibilities. I am doing this because I am definitely being abused by the employer.

During my search, I noticed there was a big reaction against H-1B program by several Americans. People are espaceially complaining that H-1Bs are used by the employers to replace American workers and it is a cheap labor source.

From my experience, I can say that these complaints are right at least to some extend. Let me tell you about my situation and what the employer is doing.

First of all, I am being underpaid. This is illegal. Second, they don't give me any pay stubs. Third, I suspect that they are not paying taxes, which is criminal. Employers are obliged to provide the H-1B holder the same conditions of an American worker, which never happened in my case. There are other things but these are the most important ones.

The abuses of this immigration program is not the fault of H-1B holders. When I was coming here I had no idea that I would find myself in a position like a contemporary slavery. Believe me, if I knew I wouldn't come. Unfortunately I've encountered one of the abusers. And since I left everything behind in my home country, it is very difficult to return.

I believe you have a question in your mind right now. You are asking to yourself "Why is this guy not applying to the DOL and not complaining ?" or "Why is he not sueing the company ?" It is not that easy. First, I have to find another job so that I will not be illegal. Second, I need some money to start a lawsuit.

I will do all these and I hope at least one of the abuser companies will pay. I am not here to hurt Americans, and when I read all complaints of American citizens I really felt sorry for them.

Unfortunately, both Americans who lost their jobs and H-1Bs who are being abused like me are the victims of employers like my company.

I will start a legal action against this company as soon as possible. Right now, I am trying to gather information.

I have a few questions to you. If you know the answers, help me and at least one abuser will pay.

I asked my company about pay stub and W2 form issues. They told me there was nothing to worry about and everything would be fixed soon. What I understood from this reply was that I definitely had to worry.

As soon as I got another job I am planning to start a legal action against this company. I think I may have to prove that I have been working for this company. I have an original copy of I-9 form which proves that I started to work for this company. I am also being paid by company checks. They give me a check and I go to the bank to cash it. The company's name is on the check. I have no other proofs. I don't think that the other employees may testify. They will not like the idea of going against their employer.

Are these enough to prove that I've been working for this company ? What should I do ? Can I sue them ? Should I sue them ?

If you have information on these matters, please share it with me.

When this company pays for the abuses, it may also be a start to fix the loopholes of this program. It will at least be a good example that will make the other abusers think twice before they do anything.

Regards,
Ali

These abuses you have suffered are not uncommon. I suggest you contact the Immigrant Support Network because they have far more experience dealing with these issues.
[H-1B Hall of Shame]

H1b story

I'm a software consultant who was living blindly to the h1b problem until I was assigned to a project for a state government to rewrite and web enable their unemployment system. The project was a fixed bid, won by Deloitte consulting, I was subcontracting through my company to design and code the server side procedures. Long story short, Deloitte consulting now has a full technical staff of h1b consultants writing an unemployment system to process claims for all the unemployed workers including those american workers that have the skills and would be more than happy to be working on the project.

I'm currently employed however, 'on the bench' with my company. Given the current demand, I fully expect to be layed off sometime in the near future. I sure hope those indians write a good system...

Jim Bailey

1/17/2002

Horror Story

In 1996 I was hired by the Colorado Department of Revenue as a contractor to work on a team doing a new application for processing the Income Tax forms. The application was supposed to be written in PowerBuider and among other software developers was a young indian guy that just arrived in States with his familly. Poor guy spoke very little english and had no ideea what taxes meant, because, he said "they do not pay taxes in India". He would ask tons of questions wasting everybody on the team precious time. He also lied at the interview saying he had 2 years of PowerBuilder. He only read a manual about PowerBuilder with no working experience. The project was a total waste, because they were never able to finnish it and it was totally droped after the state spent some millions $ in the process of developing. (I read this in the local newspaper after 2 years). I left after 3 months on the project, but the indian fellow was still there, asking questions and more questions, a lot of questions, getting paid to ask questions, because he did not know to program anyway.

Maggie Stover

1/16/2002

Displacement of American programmers

Like many of the people writing to your site, I have been laid off from my last job. I went through last recession of 1990-1991. It was bad, but people in IT were still be able to find jobs. Now we have recession, but things have changed 180 degrees since last recession. I have read on your site that about 900,000 H1B Visa holders now employed in USA. That is a huge number. If they would not be here, a lot of US programmers would be working now, instead of being unemployed. Republicans miscalculated with this H1B program,  and it will backfire at them on the November 2002 election. We should unite and vote for Democrats at the next election for the Senate and Congress. I think at least they listen to the organized labor. Also INS should track down H1B VISA holders who lost jobs, and send them home. Currently nobody does it. Have tried to express what have been bothering me for a while.

Phil from Illinois

One more H1-B company....

 I'm losing my job (I'm a 1099 contract), but am being replaced by an H1-B visa guy from India. I work for askjeeves.com.

Askjeeves is/has turned it's head from the good old boys like me, and are definately interested in the cheap and smart labor. I did in fact look up jeeves in the LCA [database], and most positions are probably in my department.

Dig this: ~90% of my immediate work group are actually Russian. The boss is East Indian. His boss is Russian(name is Sergey, I call him Sogay, he's a fruitcake). At any rate, Sogay is also a headhunter for a consulting firm/temp agency(conflict of interest eh?). He puts in his own requests for new hires, and his company XIMXIM.com is the "exclusive talent provider" for jeeves' IS department.

Believe me when I say I'm crackin' this nut open. Won't be long beforme immigration is on it, deportation happens, etc.....

Publish what you like. I don't give a rat's ass. I'm glad to not have to work with these guys anymore. But I feel sorry for the next US citizen hired through XIMXIM to work at jeeves.

Richard Headrick

Motorola

Motorola laid off some 48,000 people last year, and I was one of them.

Motorola has a comprehensive immigrant hiring program, to include their own little "INS" in their Chicago area headquarters.

This is in addition to their substantial investment in China, where virtually all Motorola manufacturing has moved or will move shortly.

However, I am not sure that they pay H1B people substantially less. In many cases these people are indeed highly qualified and in great demand. Nevertheless, there are now thousands of unemployed US workers-- to include legal immigrants already in the country-- that this whole H1B thing stinks more every day.

Andre Doubois