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antigop

(12,778 posts)
Thu May 7, 2015, 09:36 AM May 2015

Grassley Challenging IBM on Jobs (H-1B visas)

http://www.thonline.com/news/tri-state/article_bcac72fb-60c3-529e-878a-082c3fd0310b.html

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is requesting details from IBM regarding the company's use of guest workers from foreign countries, emphasizing that this information is particularly important at a time when layoffs of American workers are ongoing.

In a correspondence dated April 16, Grassley asked IBM Chairwoman, President and CEO Virginia Rometty for an explanation of IBM's apparent plans to "hire thousands of H-1B visa holders." Grassley's concern arose when IBM petitioned for 5,800 H-1B visas on April 1.

"It has come to my attention that IBM will be laying off employees in the United States this year while at the same time apparently seeking to hire thousands of H-1B visa holders," the letter states.

The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers on a temporary, employment-based visa issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Grassley noted that the program aims to supply foreign workers for jobs that cannot be filled by U.S. citizens.
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Grassley Challenging IBM on Jobs (H-1B visas) (Original Post) antigop May 2015 OP
And US citizens can too fill IBM jobs. IBM is laying off and replacing, not expanding. djean111 May 2015 #1
True; but, that is not the biggest problem ... 1StrongBlackMan May 2015 #3
Oh, I know that - I was trying to keep it straightforward. I lost a couple of QA jobs to H-1Bs - djean111 May 2015 #4
How long ago was this? ... 1StrongBlackMan May 2015 #5
Oh, this was about seven or eight years ago. I found a few low-paying jobs through oDesk after djean111 May 2015 #6
K&R nt LiberalEsto May 2015 #2
K&R n/t OhioChick May 2015 #7
 

djean111

(14,255 posts)
1. And US citizens can too fill IBM jobs. IBM is laying off and replacing, not expanding.
Thu May 7, 2015, 09:39 AM
May 2015

If college and training school was actually affordable, we would have even MORE qualified people, but right now, Americans are even being asked to train their replacements.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
3. True; but, that is not the biggest problem ...
Thu May 7, 2015, 01:51 PM
May 2015

If I can TRAIN my replacement ... I can do the job. The pipeline (IMHO) is necessary; but, secondary.

 

djean111

(14,255 posts)
4. Oh, I know that - I was trying to keep it straightforward. I lost a couple of QA jobs to H-1Bs -
Thu May 7, 2015, 02:03 PM
May 2015

had to train them, had to watch them just copy my test data and turn it in as their own.

Heh, for a while I was the only non-H-1B contractor for a firm - my manager - may have been H-1B, but I don't think so, he had a house and family here - was awesome - explained DSL to me so well that I could start writing test cases immediately; his interview was a masterpiece of simple logic - had worked with me before, was told to terminate the non-H-1B people (me and another person, both of us older women), really wanted me to come back, and so told the H-1B firm he worked with to give me the contract and that no interview would be needed. They were irritated, and petty - everyone else could email their time sheets, I had to drive over to their office with mine, until my boss found out, stuff like that. A couple of months later, all the QA went to Mumbai, so all contracts were summarily canceled. And, of course, the contracting firm no longer had work for me.

 

1StrongBlackMan

(31,849 posts)
5. How long ago was this? ...
Thu May 7, 2015, 02:39 PM
May 2015

Perhaps you (and everyone you know with a similar experience) should tell your story to Grassley and every other "rep" that has commented on H-1B, including HRC, copying several newspapers ... and attaching a handwritten note indicating that this is an issue that you consider heavily when deciding on whom the vote for, or not!

 

djean111

(14,255 posts)
6. Oh, this was about seven or eight years ago. I found a few low-paying jobs through oDesk after
Thu May 7, 2015, 03:51 PM
May 2015

that, and now I am considered too old to get hired in an office. In the late '90s, the huge telecommunications company I worked for just went ahead and built another IT center in Mumbai. A lot of jobs went there, and what jobs were left here started going to H-1Bs.

I do consider the H-1B situation very very heavily when deciding who to support. It astonishes me that to not want to support a politician who favors INCREASING H-1Bs is considered bashing and being a purist. As if I did not have other issues I don't want to support, either. Also amazing that being against the H-1Bs taking our (my!) jobs was called racist, as if I would have cheerfully handed my job to someone from another country. Idjits.

Something else I would like to mention - the H-1B guys I worked with were like anyone, really - some great, some not so great, some not very good at QA, some very good, some friendly, some not, I was invited to a couple of weddings in India (not in my budget!), and for a time was active on something like Facebook only different, lots of Indians, it was fun to see their families and such. Anyway - that thing about how much it helps our economy. Nope. The guys stayed in a contracting-company owned apartment, maybe four guys to an apartment. They rented one car, sometimes, but walked to work. They brought their own laptops with them. They packed little lunches, so the area restaurants did not get much business. It was explained to me that a big chunk of earnings was sent back to whoever was head of the family, and then they got an allowance. Funny thing - the company noticed that the Refer a Friend or whatever was way way down - that's what happens, dudes, when friends are in another country. Duh.
Anyway, the only economy that benefited was that of the CEO and stockholders. We were told flat out that they had to cut costs every quarter, and the easiest cost to cut was employees. And it is not like there were lots of other equal-paying jobs available. So we people who were let go stopped buying stuff. And so the economy spirals down.

Sorry for the TMI, but "H-1B" sounds so impersonal, and it is not, it affects peoples' lives in a not very good way. Yeah, so does closing down manufacturing - just wanted to tell my little story - doesn't help to know this sort of thing happened/happens to a whole lot of others, ya know. As if that makes it right.

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