Kinda.
Posted on 01/26/2009 9:51:00 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Senator Asks Microsoft to Lay Off Foreigners Ahead of Americans Jason Mick (Blog) - January 26, 2009 11:07 AM
A prominent Republican Senator has some controversial suggestions for Microsoft on its job cuts
Faced with the wrath of its shareholders after missing its earnings targets badly, Microsoft announced that it would be laying off 5,000 employees, a sharp reverse of years of hiring and growth. The layoffs are starting to be announced this week.
Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, where Microsoft has a significant presence, wrote a letter to Microsoft with suggestions about the layoff. In his letter, he states, "I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan."
Sen. Grassley is a prominent member of the Senate, as the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. His stance is that Microsoft should layoff foreign workers on visas before laying off American citizens. He argues this will help protect the U.S. economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytech.com ...
We can’t have this. It makes sense and therefore should not be considered.
Microsoft should lay off whomever they like. The Senator is way out of line.
My question is: "Why wasn't that a REQUIREMENT by law in the act that let all these foreign "guest workers" in the Country?
Kinda.
Only controversial to moonbats.
How is this idiotic Senator on the issue of illegal immigrants??
Protectionist! ;-)
Imagine this having to be something that is debated. Is there any question who should go first?
Why should this Senator even have to raise the issue. It should be a given.
They should layoff the employees they need the least
It is dangerous for politicians to start telling private companies whom they should hire or fire. If Grassley has a beef with h1b workers, he should push for lower h1b quotas, not browbeat individual companies.
Grassley is pissed because they’re stopping development of a data center in Iowa. In short, he’s being a freaking hypocrite.
ROTFLMAO!!! Like that's gonna happen.
Agreed, with respect to government.
However, as a customer, I think Microsoft should indeed consider booting foreigners before citizens.
How about letting Microsoft decide who to layoff based upon competency Mr. RINO?
Tech firms I know are laying off American-born workers and keeping the H1-B’s on the payroll.
Agree in part, disagree in part. Yes, Microsoft should lay off whomever they like. No, Grassly is not out of line for making the suggestion. However, he would be out of line if he introduced legislation to make his suggestion law.
I’m sure they will base it on competency and not on the fact that they pay guest workers less then Americans. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a year from now they will go before congress and ask that the guest visa allotment be raised so they can hire some more.
That is incorrect.
If Microsoft is keeping the H-1B guest worker visa holders, they are only here because Microsoft said they couldn't find equivalent citizen workers.
If Microsoft now has a pool of equivalent workers, then they can no longer justify keeping the H-1B workers, because the "special skills" need is gone. Cheaper laber rate does not equal "special skill."
Now, I'm sure that one way to get around this is to have the H-1B workers actually be L1 workers of a contracting company, such as Satyam workers at a local USA office. Microsoft then contracts for Satyam workers, and Satyam brings them over as L1 instead of Microsoft bringing them over as H-1B.
Still, the purported purpose of the H-1B visa need was the demand for "special skills" during the dot-com bubble and the lack of skilled web programmers. That need has dried up, and the talent pool for that skill is commodity now.
Microsoft just wants to avoid paying domestic labor rates, which is not the purpose for H-1B visas.
-PJ
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