as the holy grail, and I'm pointing out that they are no safer than any other career. And the H1B visa program is being abused.

a lot of support around here.

'All these elitists on here' have been complaining about the outsourcing of all American jobs for as long as the place has been around. I think you've posted on the wrong website.

But I have seen instances where companies just can't fill niche positions, some of the companies opted to go with someone who was not a fit for the position in the hopes they came up to speed. Some did not hire anyone, (my employer does this) and some hired H1b. But to hire H1b when you already have the position filled is abuse and there should be a rule in place that would prevent this along with making it so a position had to be open for a minimum of 1 year before you fill with an H1b.

If you 'can't find someone' simply train someone to do exactly whatever it is that you want them to. If you can train a non-citizen, you can train a citizen.

They only hired H1b workers to save money -- and then got their experienced workers to train them before they were laid off.

Supply and Demand is not just for goods. If you can't find someone to take the job, you aren't paying enough.

Some people would not take a position in Alaska or Alabama no matter what the salary is. I personally wont live anywhere other than Portland OR, I could make way more in SF but I stick to Oregon by choice.

I have no interest in working in Alabama.....at my current salary. Pay me 4x my current salary, and I'll come on down. At least for a while.

I would make 4x in SF and wont move.

They don't need to get you to move to SF (or Alabama or wherever). They need someone with the skills they are looking for. More money will make that person appear, as if by magic.

in many cases.

They are supposed to fill shortages, and at market rates -- not less. They're not supposed to be a way for companies to save money.

then the law needs to be changed.

Every aspect of American work life will be affected by the way the law currently works except for minimum wage jobs before it's over.

So this idea that they are paid less is indicative of a violation. Which could be reported to the Dept. of Labor which would penalize the perpetrator. It was clearly in the law they have to be paid prevailing wage. Yet people insist they are being paid less. When confronted with the clear words of the statute, the claim is that the government doesn't enforce the law.

This type of article has been in existence since the 90s. It is always the claim that people from India come as H-1Bs and take the IT jobs for less money. This has been happening for 20 years, supposedly, and the government is in on it by allowing H-1Bs in and then not enforcing the prevailing wage laws. That is what we are to believe.

Now there's an apt name.

I think the onerous requirement of workers to train their replacements (or forgo unemployment compensation) is incredibly insulting.

... doning this is beyond me

I agree, this all needs to be much more heavily regulated.

Yep, what they've done is 100% legal.

See, SCE is not the ones hiring the H1Bs. Infosys is. SCE is outsourcing their IT services to Infosys, who has brought in H1Bs to fill the positions for the contract.

100% legal under the current law and regulations. SCE is not laying off their staff and then hiring H1Bs because they are laying off their staff and hiring Infosys to provide the services as a third party. SCE doesn't give a damn how many people Infosys uses to provide thise services. All they care about is that Infosys provides the services at the agreed upon service levels. It's up to Infosys to source the jobs and provide the services at the agreed upon service levels.

This is how H1Bs replacing American jobs has been done legally for literally years.

It's not confined to IT, either. Every profession either is or will face this sort of crap.

when there were fully trained US citizens sitting right in California, available to take these jobs?

The program needs to be shut down.

Any way to outsource to cheap labor will happen in this country under the current law.

They fill the jobs before the layoffs, silly. How else do you have people already in the positions train the people you've hired before the layoffs happened?

It's definitely not in the spirit of the law, but keeps everything nice and tight within the strictest letter of the law. And the people who are not laid off yet remain in the job because the only way to get the severance package is to stay and train the outsourcers in "how you do things right now" so that "they can then determine how to do things more efficiently".

It's been a racket for a couple decades now and has branched out to everything.

Hell, they're trying to do it with the for profit hospitals! A corporation buys out a local hospital which then outsources all nursing to an outsourcer who brings in H1Bs from the Phillipines to fill the soon to be laid off nursing staff.

how could they show there was a shortage of people here available to fill them?

And they shouldn't be doing this in the hospitals either, of course.

The have to interview and can reject on how the prospective employees would not be a suitable cultural fit. There are hundreds of ways to reject citizen candidates.

The law needs to change, but that won't hap en in the next 2 years minimum.

jobs around DC & in the East for some time. The politicians have to be aware of this.

It's their donors doing it.

I get an email about every other day from companies like Infosys. They ask if I'm interested in a job in a city I do not live in, for less than market rate. I do not have an active resume on any "job sites" or other reason for them to think I'm looking for work.

When I don't respond, they now have evidence that they can not find a US person to take the job. Which then lets them claim they have to use an H1B worker.

Nobody in the US, that is, since it's an Indian language based IT ticket tracking system...

It is no different than how companies get around the rules for hiring illegals. The company awarded the contract subs out to various other contractors who then sub out specific tasks to very small companies who employ illegals and pay under the table.

Driving wages down for everyone. This was planned and is happening to get cheaper labor.

Of coarse, I am a racist for pointing this out ...

H1B was supposed to be used for a true labor shortage and not displacement.

Maybe someone with a (D) after their name might think about possibly listening to us.

Nah, gotta get those big Wall Street contributions, and H-1Bs make them a whole lot of money.

You just have to be self-employed and find the right clients.

IT workers who are highly skilled and will work for $12,000/year and no benefits.

That's the only shortage of IT workers there are.