You know, this sort of thing has been happening for *years*.  Oh, sure, maybe it was factory workers who were laid off when corporate headquarters relocated all manufacturing offshore, but the principle is the same.  Think about your spiffy new computer.  Or your fancy new car.  Or your cool new basketball shoes.  They may carry the badge of a prominent "American" company, like Dell, Ford, or Nike, but where were they really made?  How much did those Malaysians get paid for putting together your sneakers?  How much more would your car cost if *all* of the component parts were made by American factory workers getting paid a fair, living wage?

This is the ugly side of capitalism, where companies will do *anything* to cut their expenses.  If Microsoft starts using underpaid programmers from India, other software companies will follow suit, just to remain competitive.

I guess my point is that, maybe we should have been making more noise about this issue when our fellow Americans were "outsourced" out of their blue-collar jobs.  Sadly, for most people, price seems to be more important than hunting down that ever-elusive "Made in America" label.

Opinions are my own, not my employer's, blah, blah.

Art Frank

>>> Jim Mc Coy <[log in to unmask]> 06/04/02 08:50AM >>>
You have all seen this, yet our elected officials refuse to recognize that fact that salries for IT workers have been declining over the years, while the unemployement rate for programmers has increased.
One of the problems in why this "enemployement rate" is not recognized by clods like allard and hatch, is because a systems analyst who now works as a waiter is not considered to be an unemployed systems analyst, he is an employed waiter.
He is now working as a waiter because his job was given to a foriegner at 2/3 or less of his salary and U.S. companies do all they can to avoid hiring IT staff over the age of 30.  If you're pushing 40 - forget about working in IT.  It is unlikely to happen.
Our industry has become one that shows disdain for experience and skill and looks mainly at the salary.  Sacrificing an experienced and skilled worker to hire 2 unskilled workers with a language barrier.  It's not a smart move - but the decision makers think they are saving money.

You need only to look at DICE.COM and see all the job postings that are clearly aimed at recruiting H1B workers - offering rediculosly low salaries (like 40k in S. CA) with a note that they will sponsore an H1B.  Obviously, an adult American with a family could never consider taking this job.

What they are doing not only amounts to organized age discrimination, but they are "red lining" American citsizens out of jobs.  If you happen to already own a home in a middle class to upper middle class neighborhood  or have a family to suuport - you need not apply for an IT job.  They don't want you.

jm


============================================================
From: David Thomas Darnell <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 2002/06/04 Tue AM 08:25:29 EDT
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: H1-B

Jerry Leslie wrote (abridged):
> People can write their elected officials about the UNenforced H-1B laws.
> The voting records, postal addresses, email addresses, and fax numbers
> of elected officials, including members of Congress are available at:
>
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml 
Project Vote Smart - A Voter's Self Defense System

> If they do reply, they'll tell you how H-1Bs are necessary because of
> the lack of skilled workers, or provide an assurance like Senator Orrin
> Hatch that H-1Bs are paid the prevailing wage, in a reply to one of
> his constituents:

(end quoted portion of previous message)

Indeed, I did write Senator Wayne Allard, and received the below canned response. I wrote back
pointing out a lot of the misconceptions he and his staff are working under, how the employment
situation has changed, that the INS is not enforcing the regulations, etc., but have received no
reply.

I am ready to start making a public "big deal", including feeding the local media (who really
don't like to work hard for a story), and publicly calling for boycotts of companies using
off-shore services.

-dtd


May 21, 2002



Mr. David Darnell
XXXX S. XXXX St
Denver, Colorado 80235


Dear Mr. Darnell:

Thank you for your letter regarding the issue of H1-B visas.  I appreciate
hearing your thoughts on this very important issue.

Senator Hatch's S.2045 passed both the Senate and the House of
Representatives and was signed into law by the President on October 17,
2000.  This law temporarily raised the number of visas the federal
government allows annually for highly skilled workers from 115,000 this
year to 195,000 annually through FY 2002.  These H-1B temporary visas were
given for a six-year period to foreigners with special skills, principally
in high tech and health care, that are in short supply domestically.

Colorado has become a leader in the high tech industry and we are
currently faced with a shortage of skilled high tech workers much like the
rest of America.  It is important for us as a state and a nation to have
access to skilled professionals who will allow us to compete in the global
market and to keep up with the cutting edge of technology.  In order to do
this we need to train American workers and make available the resources so
that they can replace the temporary workers we have today. This law
requires a modest increase in the fee application fee for H1-B visas which
goes toward the funding of programs to encourage more young people to
study mathematics, engineering and computer science and to train more
Americans in these areas.

Again thank you for writing and I look forward to hearing from you in the
future.

                                                                                                 Sincerely,



                                                                                                 Wayne Allard
                                                                                                 United States Senator


WA:jp


=====
end
 AIM screen name "dave kp denver"

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