The Tech Industry's Legacy: Creating Disposable Employees

[ElNono]

VentureBeat is running an indictment of the tech industry's penchant for laying off huge numbers of people, which they say is responsible for creating a culture of "disposable employees." According to recent reports, layoffs in the tech sector reached over 100,000 last year, the highest total since 2009. Of course, there are always reasons for layoffs: "Companies buy other companies and need to rationalize headcount. And there's all that disruption. Big companies, in particular, are seeing their business models challenged by startups, so they need to shed employees with skills they no longer need, and hire people with the right skills."

But the article argues that this is often just a smokescreen. "The notion here is that somehow these companies are backed into a corner, with no other option than to fire people. And that's just not true. These companies are making a choice. They're deciding that it's faster and cheaper to chuck people overboard and find new ones than it is to retrain them. The economics of cutting rather than training may seem simple, but it's a more complex calculation than most people believe. ... Many of these companies are churning through employees, laying off hundreds on one hand, while trying to hire hundreds more."

[boutons_deux]

employees are always expendable, any industry. Need more profit but can't manage worth a ? lay off employees.

tech industry has been pushing hard expand H1b visa quota by 100Ks/year, to replace expensive US tech employees with cheap foreigners.

The bigger picture is that the BigCorp/VWRC/Repug War on Employees has essentially been won, as has the 1% class war on the 99%

eg: Not only do tech companies lay off employees at will (HP stated they laid off 20K because they need more profits), the big one CONSPIRE not to poach, suppressing tech salaries, a conspiracy that cost the about $500M in fines (but nobody goes to jail). And no doubt the "no poach/suppress salary" conspiracy still exists but is more hidden now.

[boutons_deux]

Increasingly, U.S. IT workers are alleging discrimination

Some U.S. IT workers who have been replaced with H-1B contractors are alleging discrimination and are going to court. They are doing so in increasing numbers.

There are at least seven IT workers at Disney who are pursuing, or plan to pursue, federal and state discrimination administrative complaints over their layoffs. Another Disney worker, still employed by the firm, has filed a state administrative discrimination complaint in California. These complaints are a first step to litigation.

Separately, there are ongoing court cases alleging discrimination against two of the largest India-based IT services firms, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. The federal judges in each of cases have given a green light for the plaintiffs to proceed after rejecting dismissal efforts.

There may be federal interest in examining this issue. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices was asked by 10 U.S. senators in April to examine the IT layoffs at Southern California Edison (SCE) and to determine whether SCE or its contractors were "engaged in prohibited citizenship status discrimination."

What's being challenged, in sum, is the job replacement system created by the H-1B program.

U.S. IT workers, as a condition for their severance, are being made to train H-1B visa-holding contractor replacements to take over their jobs.

The contractors often work for IT services firms that employ large numbers of H-1B workers. Most of these workers are from India and regional countries. This practice of replacing U.S. workers with foreign workers cons utes national origin discrimination, say its critics.

The court case against Tata, whose plaintiffs include a former SCE employee, alleges that some 95% of its employees are South Asian or mostly Indian. Tata has called the allegations baseless.

The Disney IT workers "were terminated because they were American citizens and all their replacements were foreign-born Indians," said Sara Blackwell, a Florida attorney, who is representing seven of the Disney workers at its parks and resort division. She has set up an organizationto challenge the practice. Other discrimination claims, including age and disability, will be made as well. Those complaints are being filed with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, which sees if a settlement is possible prior to any lawsuit.

Disney did not respond immediately for comment.

"We need to protect American workers," said James Otto, a California attorney who is representing a Disney ABC Television Group employee in that state. This complaint is being filed in California under the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act, which Otto said is similar to the federal process, but with more protections.

Otto's client still works at Disney and had been targeted for an earlier layoff, but Disney rescinded those layoffs. Nonetheless, the complaints being made include a hostile workforce and national origin discrimination.

The IEEE-USA is trying to encourage the U.S. Department of Justice to take action and launch an independent investigation.

The engineering association held a forum this week at the U.S. Capitol and invited former DOJ officials, including John Trasviña, special counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices at the Department of Justice during the Clinton Administration, and William Sanchez, who led the same Office of Special Counsel as Trasviña during the George W. Bush Administration. Both agreed, according to a tape of the session, that the U.S. is in a good position to investigate.

http://www.itworld.com/article/29885...day_2015-10-02

[boutons_deux]

Fury and fear in Ohio as IT jobs go to India

IT workers are training their replacements


The IT workers at Cengage Learning in the company's Mason, Ohio offices learned of their fates game-show style. First, they were told to gather in a large conference room. There were vague remarks from an IT executive about a "transition." Slides were shown that listed employee names, directing them to one of three rooms where they would be told specifically what was happening to them. Some employees were cold with worry.

The biggest group, those getting pink slips, were told to remain in the large conference room. Workers directed to go through what we'll call Door No. 2, were offered employment with IT offshore outsourcing firm Cognizant. That was the smallest group. And those sent through Door No. 3 remained employed in Cengage's IT department. This happened in mid-October.

"I was so furious," said one of the IT workers over what happened. It seemed "surreal," said another. There was disbelief, but little surprise. Cengage, a major producer of educational content and services, had outsourced accounting services earlier in the year. The IT workers rightly believed they were next.

The employees were warned that speaking to the news media meant loss of severance. Despite their fears, they want their story told. They want people to know what's happening to IT jobs in the heartland. They don't want the offshoring of their livelihoods to pass in silence.

The employees remaining at Cengage have begun training their replacements in person and via the Web. Their work is being "shadowed" and recorded. Their jobs will end in January.

we value all of our nearly 4,000 U.S. employees and their contributions."

The Web-based workers that the Cengage employees are training to take over their jobs are believed to be in India.

Cognizant applies for thousands of H-1B visas annually, and is one of the top three users of the visa, according to government data.

Offshore outsourcing is having "a fairly strong impact" on IT employment, said Janulaitis. Students coming out of college are facing trouble starting a career "and a lot of that is driven by jobs that are taken by non-U.S. nationals in our economy, and a lot of that is H-1B [visa holders]," he said.

"Why are we talking about more H-1B visas for people when we have people who are unemployed?"

The final bill, never adopted by the House, included provisions for increasing the base H-1B cap from 65,000 to 180,000.

http://www.itworld.com/article/30026...day_2015-11-09

[rmt]

It is a lie that there is a need for high skilled tech people and H1-B visas. Our US universities graduate thousands of qualified students every year. My husband is facing this. Years of experience and can't find a job for 2 months. Recently, one of his previous employers, Actavis (a top 10 drug company), laid off 90 IT people in this area so the market is flooded and like any other supply/demand, the few jobs available pay much lower than "normal." Both dems and repubs are in big corporate pockets - yes, and especially Hillary - worse some of her contributors are foreign.

And though you guys will mock Ben Carson and Trump - they aren't in big donors' pockets - Trump is self-funding and Carson is the worst of all big donor/establishment nightmares - funded by small donations from average American citizens. Carson because of his religion and idealism. Trump, I suspect, sees the way the country is going and knows that if it continues so, no one will be able to afford staying in his hotels - so he's doing it for his children/grandchildren.

And though we argue about various repub/dem sides, remember that all social programs, defense, everything - depends on the financial/money aspect. Without a strong middle class who will pay the taxes to support anything?

[boutons_deux]

Carson because of his religion and idealism. Trump, I suspect, sees the way the country is going and knows that if it continues so, no one will be able to afford staying in his hotels - so he's doing it for his children/grandchildren.

Trump's hotels are for the luxury, 1% market, not for you and your husband.

Bernie is addressing dozens of issues NO REPUG, even outsider non-politicians like Trump and Carson, will ever address.

[rmt]

Fury and fear in Ohio as IT jobs go to India

IT workers are training their replacements


The IT workers at Cengage Learning in the company's Mason, Ohio offices learned of their fates game-show style. First, they were told to gather in a large conference room. There were vague remarks from an IT executive about a "transition." Slides were shown that listed employee names, directing them to one of three rooms where they would be told specifically what was happening to them. Some employees were cold with worry.

The biggest group, those getting pink slips, were told to remain in the large conference room. Workers directed to go through what we'll call Door No. 2, were offered employment with IT offshore outsourcing firm Cognizant. That was the smallest group. And those sent through Door No. 3 remained employed in Cengage's IT department. This happened in mid-October.

"I was so furious," said one of the IT workers over what happened. It seemed "surreal," said another. There was disbelief, but little surprise. Cengage, a major producer of educational content and services, had outsourced accounting services earlier in the year. The IT workers rightly believed they were next.

The employees were warned that speaking to the news media meant loss of severance. Despite their fears, they want their story told. They want people to know what's happening to IT jobs in the heartland. They don't want the offshoring of their livelihoods to pass in silence.

The employees remaining at Cengage have begun training their replacements in person and via the Web. Their work is being "shadowed" and recorded. Their jobs will end in January.

we value all of our nearly 4,000 U.S. employees and their contributions."

The Web-based workers that the Cengage employees are training to take over their jobs are believed to be in India.

Cognizant applies for thousands of H-1B visas annually, and is one of the top three users of the visa, according to government data.

Offshore outsourcing is having "a fairly strong impact" on IT employment, said Janulaitis. Students coming out of college are facing trouble starting a career "and a lot of that is driven by jobs that are taken by non-U.S. nationals in our economy, and a lot of that is H-1B [visa holders]," he said.

"Why are we talking about more H-1B visas for people when we have people who are unemployed?"

The final bill, never adopted by the House, included provisions for increasing the base H-1B cap from 65,000 to 180,000.

http://www.itworld.com/article/30026...day_2015-11-09

This happened at Disney too - workers forced to train their replacement.

[boutons_deux]

This happened at Disney too - workers forced to train their replacement.

but Disney reversed due to public outcry, esp in BLUE California.

I doubt RED, rust-belt Ohio give a about off-shoring professionals.

[boutons_deux]

My son says there have been severals articles analyzing, addressing outsourcing of sofware

Why Software Outsourcing Doesn't Work ... Anymore

http://www.yegor256.com/2015/10/27/outsourcing-doesnt-work.html

wishful thinking?

[Wild Cobra]

It is a lie that there is a need for high skilled tech people and H1-B visas. Our US universities graduate thousands of qualified students every year. My husband is facing this. Years of experience and can't find a job for 2 months. Recently, one of his previous employers, Actavis (a top 10 drug company), laid off 90 IT people in this area so the market is flooded and like any other supply/demand, the few jobs available pay much lower than "normal." Both dems and repubs are in big corporate pockets - yes, and especially Hillary - worse some of her contributors are foreign.

And though you guys will mock Ben Carson and Trump - they aren't in big donors' pockets - Trump is self-funding and Carson is the worst of all big donor/establishment nightmares - funded by small donations from average American citizens. Carson because of his religion and idealism. Trump, I suspect, sees the way the country is going and knows that if it continues so, no one will be able to afford staying in his hotels - so he's doing it for his children/grandchildren.

And though we argue about various repub/dem sides, remember that all social programs, defense, everything - depends on the financial/money aspect. Without a strong middle class who will pay the taxes to support anything?

I have to disagree with the quality of high tech US employees compared to the rest of the world. I've been doing high tech for almost 40 years how. I see the lack of qualified people accepted, because there aren't enough qualified.

A degree or education doesn't make you qualified at the skill levels desired, and our schools flat out suck.

Now I disagree with these visas being used in most job areas, but engineer related fields are different.

[rmt]

Trump's hotels are for the luxury, 1% market, not for you and your husband.

Bernie is addressing dozens of issues NO REPUG, even outsider non-politicians like Trump and Carson, will ever address.

What? My husband and I can't go to a Trump hotel for our 25th anniversary? My cousin and his family spent a weekend at a Trump hotel for his birthday. Why do you think it's only for the 1%? I'm sure a significant portion of their business is for special occasions by ordinary people.

[rmt]

I have to disagree with the quality of high tech US employees compared to the rest of the world. I've been doing high tech for almost 40 years how. I see the lack of qualified people accepted, because there aren't enough qualified.

A degree or education doesn't make you qualified at the skill levels desired, and our schools flat out suck.

Now I disagree with these visas being used in most job areas, but engineer related fields are different.

I disagree that our schools flat out suck. My daughter is in the Turings program at UT-Austin (#6 in CS) and the compe ion and student quality is very high. They just did registration, and they don't have enough space in classes to accommodate all the kids in the CS dept.

[boutons_deux]

What? My husband and I can't go to a Trump hotel for our 25th anniversary? My cousin and his family spent a weekend at a Trump hotel for his birthday. Why do you think it's only for the 1%? I'm sure a significant portion of their business is for special occasions by ordinary people.

Trump's hotels are for the 5-star luxury market.

[rmt]

Everybody benefits from a solid middle class - even Trump's hotels.

[boutons_deux]

Everybody benefits from a solid middle class - even Trump's hotels.

then why do you keep voting in Repugs who do NOTHING for the non-1%, and everything for the 1%, BigCorp?

[rmt]

then why do you keep voting in Repugs who do NOTHING for the non-1%, and everything for the 1%, BigCorp?

In general, I'm for smaller government, freedom and lower taxes - as in freedom to spend my money the way I want - not have it taken from me and decided/redistributed by government. Ideally, I'd like the federal government to do what the cons ution states and leave the rest up to each state. Let each state decide what it wants to do - that way, if I don't like what a state is doing, I can leave and go to another one that suits me better. I do not believe in the Dem's big government and huge social programs. It's not a matter of repub or democrats - they are both in big corporate pockets. Government adds another layer of cost to everything. What does government run that does well? the post office? VA?

I don't think the Federal government should be doing much for me except as stated by the cons ution - mainly defense - keeping us safe and secure. I believe the private sector is the one that produces and unstrapped by tons of rules and regulations, will come up with more efficient, cost-effective solutions than government. That in that atmosphere, opening small businesses and unfettered by laws bought for by big corporations, the American dream will prosper and thrive.

[Othyus Lalanne]

then why do you keep voting in Repugs who do NOTHING for the non-1%, and everything for the 1%, BigCorp?

You don't think dems protect the supperrich?

[boutons_deux]

You don't think dems protect the supperrich?

yes, but they are fantastically behind the Repugs in screwing the 99% and protecting/enabling/enriching the 1%, BigCorp.

The Repugs don't even pretend they do anything for the 99% except sucker their base by campaigning on social issues. On several topics Repug voters poll much as more progressive as they politicians they elect, but Repugs adore the base for its spittle-flying, arm-waving, screaming, cosplay intensity and total gullibility.

[Othyus Lalanne]

yes, but they are fantastically behind the Repugs in screwing the 99% and protecting/enabling/enriching the 1%, BigCorp.

The Repugs don't even pretend they do anything for the 99% except sucker their base by campaigning on social issues. On several topics Repug voters poll much as more progressive as they politicians they elect, but Repugs adore the base for its spittle-flying, arm-waving, screaming, cosplay intensity and total gullibility.

They do pretend a ton just like the dems do. They are behind. Show me how exactly? Prove it to me that they talk 99% about social issues. 10 year sample, come on.

but Repugs adore the base for its spittle-flying, arm-waving, screaming, cosplay intensity and total gullibility.

Why is your magical tribe so much better?

On several topics Repug voters poll much as more progressive as they politicians they elect

So ing what? The voters are generally dumbasses and sometimes it's better that minorities who care more about their issues outhustle them.

[boutons_deux]

They do pretend a ton just like the dems do. They are behind. Show me how exactly? Prove it to me that they talk 99% about social issues. 10 year sample, come on.

but Repugs adore the base for its spittle-flying, arm-waving, screaming, cosplay intensity and total gullibility.

Why is your magical tribe so much better?


So ing what? The voters are generally dumbasses and sometimes it's better that minorities who care more about their issues outhustle them.

Repugs suck and their voters suck, too. Repugs and their ingorant, extremist voters are the greatest danger to America.

your false equivalence that Dems suck as bad as Repugs is the ONLY weak-assed defense you have, and, like EVERY Repug/rightwingnut point, IT'S A LIE.

[Othyus Lalanne]

Repugs suck and their voters suck, too. Repugs and their ingorant, extremist voters are the greatest danger to America.

your false equivalence that Dems suck as bad as Repugs is the ONLY weak-assed defense you have, and, like EVERY Repug/rightwingnut point, IT'S A LIE.

If it's false you should be able to point it out without resorting to gross generalizations.

[boutons_deux]

If it's false you should be able to point it out without resorting to gross generalizations.

shooting fish in a barrel:

list all the great things the Repugs have done in the past 40 years

list all the great thing the Dems have done in tha past 40 years

Our resident snark TeyshaBlue came with ONLY ADA of 25 years ago a positive, can you do better?

[Othyus Lalanne]

shooting fish in a barrel:

list all the great things the Repugs have done in the past 40 years

list all the great thing the Dems have done in tha past 40 years

Our resident snark TeyshaBlue came with ONLY ADA of 25 years ago a positive, can you do better?

They around the fringes of policy making but things barely change for the average human being. Dems or repubs don't make much difference.

[boutons_deux]

Dems or repubs don't make much difference.

Iraq War for Oil is a HUGE difference, plus all the other the Repugs have passed or done for 40 years.

[Othyus Lalanne]

Iraq War for Oil is a HUGE difference, plus all the other the Repugs have passed or done for 40 years.

Who was the guy who kept it going and messed up other countries? Retreat was inevitable. Bama said it was the right thing to do.