[ale] OT: H1B

[Zyman, Andy]

That's a good one.

May i ask all of you guys: Why IT industry doesn't have a union/unions like
almost all other industries have? ( I'm not familiar with this side so i
hope im not mistaken here ).


> -----Original Message-----
> From: James P. Kinney III [mailto:jkinney at localnetsolutions.com]
> Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 4:38 PM
> To: Atlanta Linux "User Group (E-mail)
> Subject: Re: [ale] OT: H1B
> 
> 
> I have watched this thread with some amusement. So much of 
> what is being
> said is passionate and "right" from the speakers viewpoint. The H1B
> program was a special favor asked for by the corporate 
> offices to fill a
> "need" as it was explained to congress.
> 
> It was not a very well defined problem when the H1B program was
> initiated. It's not a great way to treat employees, citizen or
> immigrant. The problem is not, however with those people at the bottom
> of the food chain getting screwed. The problem is with the 
> corporate top
> end and the lawmakers they own, er, I mean, support. 
> 
> Is the system a good one. No. I seriously doubt that he H1B 
> worker gets
> paid as much as a citizen counterpart. Plus, they chip in to 
> public fund
> projects like Social Security that they will never be eligible to
> collect. The consequences of job termination are quite severe 
> on the H1B
> worker. 
> 
> For the citizen worker the situation feels pretty hopeless. As older
> workers get laid off, or retired early, they get replaced with younger
> H1B's. The American worker knows, instinctively, the H1B is 
> not getting
> as much money as they are. So they resent the H1B as they are 
> viewed as
> threat. Corporate management has not loyalties to their employees and
> would clearly prefer to get rid of the workers that cost the 
> most. That
> means the American staff must go. Or better yet, outsource the entire
> process to another country that will be happy paying 5 engineers what
> one American costs.
> 
> I got a huge laugh out of the suggestion to outsource the 
> management :)
> 
> Personally, I'm waiting for enough geeks, even those getting 
> shafted in
> whipping-boy management roles, to get fed up and revolt. The suits and
> bean-counters have become hopelessly dependent on the technology that
> the geeks craft and nurse and, in far too many cases, keep limping
> along. 
> 
> Imagine if the geeks at HP or IBM or GM said "Enough is enough!" and
> turned of the network and told their management to spend a week doing
> their job so they would understand the stress and frustration. 
> 
> BTW, Sunday's Userfriendly geek board game really touch a 
> nerve for me.
> IT is a truly thankless work environment. If things are going 
> great, no
> one knows you exist. If things are falling apart, you on 
> everyone's crap
> list since _they_aren't_able_to_do_their_job_! Never mind they brought
> in a dirty disk from home with a new virus they downloaded with email.
> Which they now sent to the entire department, oops, corporation. It's
> your fault for not having the antivirus software up to date 
> even though
> the upgrade for that bug isn't out yet.
> 
> So let's not go bashing the H1B's for trying to feed their families.
> Let's not go bashing the Americans for seeing their promised dreams
> going up in smoke.
> 
> Instead, let's poke the big, gnarly, blame finger into the eye of the
> deserving. The corporate heads who toss out employees like 
> used condoms
> and their purchased lackeys in office who write the rules 
> that let them
> screw their employees with impunity. 
> 
> The way to do that is to use the one voice that they listen to.
> $$$MONEY$$$ It's all that matters to them so don't give them any of
> yours. It's not very effective, but it sure doesn't bother my 
> conscience
> any. 
> 
> But an organized, general geek walkout does have a nice feel to it.
> 
> -- 
> James P. Kinney III   \Changing the mobile computing world/
> President and CEO      \          one Linux user         /
> Local Net Solutions,LLC \           at a time.          /
> 770-493-8244             \.___________________________./
> 
> GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics) 
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7 
> 
> 
> 
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