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Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

theguardian.com

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Re: Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

#11

Post by hemantv »

lmz wrote: post #4
waps wrote: post #2

Weird is how many of the bad employers are Indians themselves (or I think so, given they're names): Krishnan Kumar, from Softech Malini Sridhar, from Compsys Technologies (found through http://appext20.dos.ny.gov/ ) Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, part of India’s Tata group Even the lawyers suing these employees : > Past president of the South Asian Bar Association of Georgia, attorney Roy Banerjee has a penchant for…

Why would it surprise you, given that they are the ones having local knowledge on both sides of the trade?

These are people whose main aim is to exploit the system, and they are doing there best to game the system the best know.

Re: Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

#12

Post by abat »

HaseebR7 wrote: post #8

WOW, this is scary. I'm from India and thinking of getting my MS in CS next year. I hope i don't end up like this.

The companies taking advantage rely on their marks/employees being naive, so you'll be fine once you know to be careful:

1) Get direct employment with a reputable US company instead of via a contracting company.

2) Don't sign any contracts that have any penalty for quitting. You may want to hire a lawyer to review any contracts.

3) If you are in a bad contract and your employer sues you, make sure you hire a decent lawyer. The biggest victims were those that ignored the suits or tried to represent themselves and lost their cases by default.

Re: Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

#14

Post by selmnoo »

quanticle wrote: post #7
selmnoo wrote: post #3

This bullying persists at the bottom of a complex system that supplies workers to some of America’s richest and most successful companies, such as Cisco Systems, Verizon and Apple. I find this extremely confusing, why companies like Facebook and Apple and others in SV, that're sitting on an unbelievable shitload of cash take filthy shortcuts like this, screw the very people that work for them so badly. I mean, seriou…

For the record, Facebook, at least, says that it does not use labor brokers: Some companies say they shun labor brokers; a Facebook official told CIR that her company does not use them. Others who rely on them renounce the abuses but are quick to deflect responsibility.

Facebook, Microsoft and others do end up using consulting firms like Cognizant, which generally provide them H1-B immigrant workers. The conditions of their employment, at least in my eyes, are similarly predatorial in nature.

Re: Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

#15

Post by rtpg »

selmnoo wrote: post #3

This bullying persists at the bottom of a complex system that supplies workers to some of America’s richest and most successful companies, such as Cisco Systems, Verizon and Apple. I find this extremely confusing, why companies like Facebook and Apple and others in SV, that're sitting on an unbelievable shitload of cash take filthy shortcuts like this, screw the very people that work for them so badly. I mean, seriou…

There's some saying about rich people being cheap is what made them rich in the first place, but I'm not super convinced this carries over into business.

It is extremely frustrating that a lot of tech companies have ended up like so many other companies : caring only about that dollar metric, and not considering the human aspect. So what if it costs more? At least you can feel better about yourself for not treating people as slaves.

For a while I was naive enough to think that SV, being so awash with cash, would not feel the need to become filled with money-grubbers.

Re: Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

#17

Post by crdoconnor »

rtpg wrote: post #15
selmnoo wrote: post #3

This bullying persists at the bottom of a complex system that supplies workers to some of America’s richest and most successful companies, such as Cisco Systems, Verizon and Apple. I find this extremely confusing, why companies like Facebook and Apple and others in SV, that're sitting on an unbelievable shitload of cash take filthy shortcuts like this, screw the very people that work for them so badly. I mean, seriou…

There's some saying about rich people being cheap is what made them rich in the first place, but I'm not super convinced this carries over into business. It is extremely frustrating that a lot of tech companies have ended up like so many other companies : caring only about that dollar metric, and not considering the human aspect. So what if it costs more? At least you can feel better about yourself for not treating p…

http://www.pnas.org/content/109/11/4086.full

"Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. In studies 1 and 2, upper-class individuals were more likely to break the law while driving, relative to lower-class individuals. In follow-up laboratory studies, upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies (study 3), take valued goods from others (study 4), lie in a negotiation (study 5), cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize (study 6), and endorse unethical behavior at work (study 7) than were lower-class individuals. Mediator and moderator data demonstrated that upper-class individuals’ unethical tendencies are accounted for, in part, by their more favorable attitudes toward greed. "

This doesn't explain which way the causality flows, but my own experience with silicon valley glitterati suggests that they start out nice (or at least pretty normal) and the money and power very, very gradually turns them into assholes.

As always, there are numerous exceptions.

Re: Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

#19

Post by shams93 »

houseofshards wrote: post #18

The worst part here is that H1B visas allocated to these scumbag companies end up starving genuine companies of these visas.

Worse than that, it also destroys the local talent pool. Employers use visas as a club against local talent, so you go without equity, work 3 times as many hours as you're paid for and when the company is sold you're out of a job. Not to mention taking "hair cuts" so you work without pay and do without basic necessities to make someone else rich, this shit has ruined my life being a coder in Los Angeles, yes I survive but I can't even afford a computer for myself, the employers game the system until you have to go without food to make someone else rich, forget about the dream of being able to own your own computer.

Re: Job brokers steal wages and entrap Indian tech workers in US

#20

Post by gxs »

When I graduated from colllege I started working at a top tech company on a contract to hire.

The company was paid 50/hr fore and I was paid 20 an hour. When I asked for more, the indian-born Indian CEO of the company went apeshit on me.

No real story only that almost everyone is scum. It's not just the companies. When I told the director of my org what I was getting paid she hired me full time right away at a competitive salary. And I was just lucky that she happened to like me. Other people who complained simply got let go.

I sense there is something else at play here IT work isn't that hard, yet for some reason instead of increasing awareness that there is huge demand for these jobs, we fly people in from india. We pay 150 bucks an hour for them, when an eager college kid can do and would do the same job with a bit of training for a fraction of the cost. Something else is going on here.

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