Here is a story where "Ford beefs up IT":
http://www.computerworld.com/storyba/0,4125,NAV47_STO67315,00.html

"Gibson Nichols" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
news:a3bi64$q7c14@eccws12.dearborn.ford.com...
> Just a little note on that Ford article.  Ford recognizes that keeping a
> knowledgebase
> of core competencies is needed.  A project is now in place to locate and
> hire the
> key people who keep the place running.  After ten years as a contractor
> working
> at a Ford site I was hired in directly to work for Ford in December.
>
> "Jerry Leslie" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
> news:a3ats7$s1t$1@joe.rice.edu...
> > Mark Wilkinson ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
> > : To me, the outlook is bleak for the IT world. Opinions on a postcard
> > : please...
> > :
> >
> > The same in the US, where 7.8% of computer programmers were unemployed
> > as of November, 2001:
> >
> >    http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20011213S0024
> >    InformationWeek > IT Jobless Rate > IT Jobless Rate Hits 5.5% In
> November
> >    December 13, 2001
> >
> >    "...Computer programmers experienced the biggest increase in
> joblessness,
> >    with their unemployment rate soaring to 7.8% last month, from 1.7% a
> >    year earlier. Computer systems analysts' joblessness rose to 4.5%,
> >    from 1.8% in November 2000..."
> >
> > The US is offshore outsourcing a lot of IT work to India, China, Russia,
> > and are starting to offshore outsource other jobs; e.g.:
> >
> >     o accounts payable
> >     o helpdesk support
> >     o insurance claim processing
> >     o credit-card processing
> >     o CAD/CAM
> >     o medical transcription
> >     o e-mail processing
> >
> > Here's some articles on offshore outsourcing:
> >
> >    http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-8324464.html
> >    India becoming world's back office -  Tech News -  CNET.com
> >
> >    http://www.computerworld.com/storyba/0,4125,NAV47_STO58739,00.html
> >    Ford opens IT hub in India to save millions | Computerworld News &
> >    Feature Stories
> >
> >    http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svtop/global010601.htm
> >    Eager workforce, lower costs shift tech help overseas (1/05/2002)
> >
> > In addition to offshore outsourcing, the US has its H-1B visa program,
> > where hundred of thousands of immigrant IT workers are imported to fill
> > a mythical labor shortage.
> >
> > Similar programs exist in the UK and Australia:
> >
> >    http://www.shout99.com/contractors/showarticle.pl?n=&id=11483
> >    Government justifies Fast-Track foreign IT with 1999 information
> >
> >    http://www.contractoruk.co.uk/news070102.html
> >    Are IT skills shortage schemes being abused?
> >
> > In the H-1B program's laws are not being enforced. Even some H-1Bs are
> > complaining about lack of enforcement:
> >
> >    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-112101visa.story
> >    U.S. Tech Firms Abusing Visa Program, Critics Say
> >
> >    By JUBE SHIVER Jr. , Times Staff Writer
> >
> >    [snip]
> >
> >   "Amid the tight job market, there are concerns about abuses of the
H-1B
> >    visa holders themselves. A few immigrants have begun campaigning for
> >    reform of the program, citing instances of employers paying low wages
> >    and threatening to seek the deportation of foreign workers who
> >    complain.
> >
> >    The GAO--which found that foreigners were offered a median starting
> >    salary of $45,000 last year--said there is little policing of the
H-1B
> >    program by the INS.
> >
> >    Devarakonda, of the Immigrants Support Network, agreed with the GAO's
> >    assessment. "The current system is certainly flawed," he said. "The
> >    government doesn't have the resources to police" H-1B.
> >
> > The lack of enforcement has been known since 1998...
> >
> >    http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2166105,00.html
> >    H1-B safety net fails IT workers
> >    By Stephanie Neil
> >    eWEEK
> >    November 18, 1998 6:10 AM PT
> >
> >    [ snip ]
> >
> >    And, although the new law says the salary of the H1-B holder is
> >    supposed to be posted in the department in which the person is
> >    working, so that all workers know a competitive salary is being
> >    offered, this has not been done. The law also requires that each time
> >    the H1-B holder is transferred to a new job site, the sponsoring
> >    company must apply for a new visa for that person. That was not done,
> >    she said.
> >
> >    This is common and uncontrollable, even under the new H1-B law, DOL
> >    officials admit.
> >
> >    "Are there companies that are able to get away with it? Of course,"
> >    said the DOL's Fraser.
> >
> >    "And if the question is, Why? The answer is that the law, until this
> >    new bill was enacted, didn't make that illegal," he said.
> >
> >    The DOL will never be able to catch many of the offending parties, he
> >    admitted.
> >
> >    "It is not due to a lack of concern or commitment to see that the
> >    right thing is happening. It is due to a weakness in the law. We've
> >    worked very hard in this new bill to make a little progress toward
> >    closing some of those loopholes ... but we don't have the power to
> >    track all the companies," he said.
> >
> >    The DOL does not perform spot checks on companies that they suspect
> >    may be breaking the H1-B law, Fraser said. Rather, they rely upon
> >    complaints. In the last fiscal year, through September, there were
> >    only 63 complaints filed..."
> >
> > Those 63 complaints is NOT any indicator that the employers of H-1Bs
> > are following the law.
> >
> >
> >    http://www.fairus.org/html/11-9-00.htm
> >    FAIR - GAO Condemns H-1B Foreign Worker Program
> >
> >   "A new report from Congresss investigative arm, the General Accounting
> >    Office (GAO), has found that the H-1B system for bringing in foreign
> >    workers is so badly set up and administered that very little is done
> >    to prevent fraud and abuse of the system.
> >
> >    The report (H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help
> >    Employers and Protect Workers, GAO/HEHS-00-157, September 2000) found
> >    the following:
> >
> >      * The Department of Labor has almost no authority to enforce the
> >        provisions that are supposed to ensure that foreign workers are
> >        used only where necessary and not to undercut the wages of native
> >        workers.
> >
> >      * The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) doesnt have the
> >        information it needs to assess whether an employers application
> >        for a foreign worker is valid.
> >
> >      * INS reviewers are evaluated on how many H-1B applications they
> >        process not how well they review them, which means they have
> >        incentive to rubberstamp as many applications as they receive.
> >
> >      * Once the INS approves foreign workers, it doesnt know whether or
> >        when they arrive or leave.
> >
> >      * Even when the Department of Labor knows there is fraud or abuse,
> >        they can do little about it..."
> >
> >    Source: H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help
Employers
> >    and Protect Workers,
> >    GAO/HEHS-00-157, September 2000."
> >
> >
> > The cited GAO report is available at:
> >
> >     http://www.gao.gov/new.items/he00157.pdf
> >    "H-1B Foreign Workers: Better Controls Needed to Help Employers
> >     and Protect Workers", GAO/HEHS-00-157, September 2000.
> >
> > The INS only has 40 staffers to deal with fraud in the H-1B and all
> > other visa applications:
> >
> >     http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/special/visa/
> >     SiliconValley.com - Special Reports
> >
> >     "...H-1B visa fraud is not uncommon, ranging from academic degrees
> >     faked overseas to phony job offers in the United States. The
> >     Immigration and Naturalization Service has only 40 staffers at its
> >     service centers nationwide to investigate fraud in H-1B and all
> >     other visa applications..."
> >
> > So there's little risk in paying the H-1B worker less than the
prevailing
> > wage.
> >
> > Many of the US IT workers are unaware of offshore outsourcing and the
H-1B
> > program, allowing Congress to pass laws such as the H-1B laws to earn
> > their contributions from high-tech companies. If they ever become
> outraged,
> > they can contact their elected representatives, whose voting records and
> > postal & email addresses are available at:
> >
> >   http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml
> >   Project Vote Smart - A Voter's Self Defense System
> >
> > The answer they'll get will probably be like Senator Hatch's:
> >
> >   http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/Library/Politicians/Hatch.htm
> >
> >
> > --Jerry Leslie     (my opinions are strictly my own)
>
>

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