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H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

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Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#51

Post by dingo_bat »

manjunaths wrote: post #40
49bc wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was living in India I’d probably take that deal.

I know that it is a common belief that India is 3rd world country and people would jump at any chance to get out. Not all of India is like that and not all of us are wage slaves doing menial jobs in IT. Some of us have a better quality of life, friends, family, culture and social life. Not to mention the amazing home food.

Agreed. I am a software engineer in Bangalore. And quality of life is good enough that I would consider moving to US only for salary > $100k.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#52

Post by yen223 »

candiodari wrote: post #43
sanxiyn wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as Indian staffs are okay with the deal (and I think they are) I think this is a good thing. One small step to open border.

This is exactly why open borders are not ok. Abuse of workers is NOT an acceptable cost.

Restrictive visa requirements is the reason why workers are willing to put up with the abuse in the first place.

Workers have a better shot at demanding a fair wage if they didn't have to face deportation if they spoke up.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#53

Post by paxys »

manjunaths wrote: post #40
49bc wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was living in India I’d probably take that deal.

I know that it is a common belief that India is 3rd world country and people would jump at any chance to get out. Not all of India is like that and not all of us are wage slaves doing menial jobs in IT. Some of us have a better quality of life, friends, family, culture and social life. Not to mention the amazing home food.

It should be pretty obvious that engineers stuck in offshore IT contracting mills are in the bottom tier. All the best Indian engineers are getting paid top dollar at companies like Google and Facebook or are doing well enough on their own in India.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#54

Post by biocomputation »

candiodari wrote: post #33
TangoTrotFox wrote: post #13

This is one thing I don't entirely understand in terms of political alignment. The one side that is supposed to be about the little guy seems to support this system of immigration which leads quite directly to depressed wages and exploitation of this sort. Even in cases where the 'guest workers' are not so ridiculously underpaid, companies still exploit the fact that these workers generally have to have this job or t…

This is why socialist in the vast majority of the 20th century were vehemently anti-immigration, and the right was pro-immigration. Immigration destroys labor, and rewards capital. You'd think "leftists" would have a problem with that. Or maybe it's just the pendulum swining back I guess. When democrats and republicans were young, new, parties, republicans were definitely left-wing and democrats were right-wing. Mayb…

This leftist is is vehemently and resolutely against H1-B. I've posted about it many times here on HN. I feel like access to good jobs and housing are bedrock social justice issues for American workers. I've been called a racist, even though I certainly don't care where the H1-B workers come from. If it were up to me, I would literally line up the planes and send them all home.

American tech companies are basically the richest companies on the planet, and they can well afford to hire and train American workers. In light of growing income inequality, it makes me sick to think that so many of the best paying jobs in the economy go to foreign nationals.

Oh, and, as I've said many times before, non-profits, which include basically all hospitals and universities in the entire country are exempt from the annual cap.

H1-B produces terribly unjust outcome for American workers.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#55

Post by paxys »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #35
jarsj wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be great, but companies would figure out ways around it. Company would pay 2X and ask employee to pay X to some random/affiliated company for training etc. They would even do this handoff in India to stay out of radar and tell you what many indians would take the deal. The solution is "EXTREMELY" strict penalties including prison time for board of companies who indulge in it willingly.

Such kickbacks would be very illegal and are prosecuted very aggressively already I think.

Including the example in this very article which no one has bothered to read.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#56

Post by diebeforei485 »

thisisit wrote: post #32

PSA: This is massive clickbait. This article is not about "Bay Area", as in San Franciso Bay area. Here's the content: A dozen Indian workers at an East Bay technology firm were promised salaries of up to $8,300 Cloudwick Technologies of Newark has been ordered to pay about Seriously, what is this East Bay area? Google turns up nothing. Edit: Thank for pointing out my mistake. Looks like my understanding of US geogra…

You must be either insane or ignorant if you think Newark, CA is not in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#57

Post by dingo_bat »

tiff_seattle wrote: post #46
youzicha wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this was proposed last year in a bill with a democrat sponsor. But right now H1b is basically the only way to get hired as an immigrant. If you made it wage-prioritized there would be basically no way to get an h1b for entry level jobs, which would really suck for new graduates. http://alexyar.tumblr.com/post/156649015342/anyway-heres-the...

H-1B shouldn't be used for entry level positions though. It should be used for positions that cannot be filled by the local workforce.

So no jobs for newly graduated students who are not citizens?

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#58

Post by alxlaz »

sanxiyn wrote: post #38
jen729w wrote: post #11

Shocker. Here’s what happens in Melbourne, Australia. I used to work for one of the “big 4” banks. 1. Bank outsources to vendor. Typically IBM. “It’ll be cheaper!” 2. IBM is, initially, cheaper - because all of their staff are in India of course. 3. But they can’t do the job from India because they need to be here talking to their colleagues at the bank. 4. So they get flown to Melbourne, but still on Indian wages, w…

As long as Indian staffs are okay with the deal (and I think they are) I think this is a good thing. One small step to open border.

You can use that line of reasoning to justify a lot of things. Most of them aren't appropriate for a civilized country. Neither is this one.

Re: H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say

#59

Post by [deleted] »

yen223 wrote: post #52
candiodari wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why open borders are not ok. Abuse of workers is NOT an acceptable cost.

Restrictive visa requirements is the reason why workers are willing to put up with the abuse in the first place. Workers have a better shot at demanding a fair wage if they didn't have to face deportation if they spoke up.

[deleted]
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