Posted on 03/25/2016 10:44:25 AM PDT by ConservingFreedom
[...] It's not just senators and presidential candidates who are speaking out. Displaced IT professionals are telling about their experiences of having to train their visa-holding replacements. They are raising questions, and, increasingly, they are doing so in public.
The latest to do so is Craig Diangelo, a longtime employee at Northeast Utilities (now Eversource) until he trained his visa-holding replacement. He was laid off two years ago and has not spoken out about the incident because of a non-disparagement clause in his severance agreement.
The use of the visa at U.S. companies is an "epidemic" that has affected thousands, Diangelo said.
Approximately 200 IT workers at Eversource were laid off after the company hired India-based outsourcers Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services to provide IT services.
The non-disparagement clause in the severance package made former employees cautious about speaking out. But after two years since his layoff, Diangelo said he can no longer be silent.
With Blumenthal looking on, Diangelo said it was important for him to exercise his rights as an American.
"It's come to the point where the story has to get out," said Diangelo, who is calling for changes in the H-1B laws. "People have to stop being afraid of not being able to speak and doing everything anonymously."
Blumenthal has urged the company to drop the non-disparagement clause, which he calls a "gag order."
Eversource has defended itself, in part, by pointing out that its post-merger IT reorganization was needed to modernize its systems, and that it needed outside help to carry out the upgrades.
The utility also said that it only employs three people under a non-immigrant visa program. But Eversource is only describing its direct hires, not its contractor workforce. [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
I have seen foreign firms get the contract, refuse to hire americans and the not pay their foreign workers for months. Corps know this and tell them that is not their problem.Be careful contracting through a foreign firm vendor.
Actually it is a lot easier to be angry at our tax and spend "friends: in Washington because they owe an allegiance to the welfare of the People which they have betrayed. The foreign suppliers are just competing.
If they don’t train them they get no severance; that is how they are coerced into it.
Good luck in your search; prayers for a speedy resolution. I see this in the financial sector; young (primarily Asian) workers replacing middle-aged (and older) Americans. They have less skill and experience, but they cost less and don’t have the “before-time” benefits enjoyed by those American workers who invested decades with the companies (several weeks of vacation, nights & weekends off, etc.).
Meaningless.
A few years ago I saw an ad for an engineer with a PhD in a specific field, and they were willing to pay $40k per year for that guy.
I was making more than that at the time with a Bachelor's degree.
It was clearly intended to demonstrate that "no Americans were available".
It didn't show no Americans were available; it showed no PhD Americans were willing to work for 30% of their normal rate.
The rule for H1-b visas should be "Hire all you want. But you'll pay them twice what their supervisor makes."
If these guys are really as good as the H-1B visa floggers say, they'll be worth every penny of that price.
Hey, Dick, your buddy Cruz, you know the guy with all the ‘mistresses’, wants to drastically increase the H1B visa program.
I went "small" - found a small company that I particularly liked - and that was fine, for awhile. They eventually had VC come in, kicked off another round of outsourcing... and I had to move on after 7 years.
I've gone to another similarly-sized place. Hopefully I'll be able to hang around until retirement, because I really like it here. Smaller seems more stable, at least as far as IT is concerned. Nowhere to hide, though, when there's a problem. If you like working in silos, forget small business. I wear a stack of hats that's a mile deep. But there's never a dull moment, and always a different challenge!
I wish you luck. The IT job market is playing against a stacked deck, at least for right now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.