General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Obama finalizing plans to have your tech job replaced by foreigners [View all]cascadiance
(19,537 posts)I am making less money in tech job contracts or permanent jobs than I did 20 years ago, primarily due to the movement towards contracting jobs like this. And I'm not "less qualified".
What I would rather see is an accelerated process for REAL immigration for those who want to work here, and become CITIZENS who can VOTE, and BECOME PART OF UNIONS! The tech sector early on didn't need union representation, and never really got them started through the years of the dotcom boom before it busted on the laddering scams, etc. Now, it has no chance of starting unions BY DESIGN by so much H-1B Visa workers that were not supposed to be here as "cheaper labor", but to fill in spots that U.S. workers aren't qualified for. But in fact it IS to get cheaper labor for equivalent experience as data through the years shows, when loopholes are being used to not offer equivalent salaries to those in the programs.
We'd be much better off pushing for global trade unions and labor rights, etc. to keep the 'bottom' from being present that these companies race to. There would be a lot less workers willing to move here when if their salaries and cost of living overseas wasn't one tenth of what it is here like it is in places like India. And there wouldn't be as much value in companies moving shop over there too then. We should focus on renegotiating these so-called "free trade" treaties, helping real immigration instead of forcing those wanting citizenship to wait 10 years for that to happen in many cases.
Don't make this a "brown people" thing. This applies to all immigrants coming here. There are many white eastern europeans here that I have as much a problem with hiring as those from places with "brown people".
And if you think that H-1B workers aren't abused, or won't be abused, also look at how H-2B workers (not tech but hired as guest workers too) were treated when they were brought over to help clean up the hurricane Katrina mess. Then you'd see why these exploitive programs that only benefit the 1% in reality should be shut down or minimized for the original priorities that provided the rationale for their creation.