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IT Layoffs At Insurance Firm Are A 'Never-Ending Funeral' (computerworld.com)

dcblogs quotes a report from Computerworld: The IT layoffs at MassMutual Financial Group will happen over a period of many months, and it's going to be painful for employees. Employees say they are training overseas workers via web conferencing sessions. There are contractors in the office as well, some of whom may be working on temporary H-1B visas. Employees say they notice more foreign workers in the hallways. Approximately 100 employees are affected. The employees are angry but can't show it. A loss of composure, anything other than quiet acquiescence, means risking two weeks of severance pay for each year on the job. But maintaining composure is hard to do. "I know a few people that are probably close to a breakdown," said one IT employee. [A second IT employee described the emotional impact of the layoffs on employees in this way: "It's like a never-ending funeral."] Intel also confirmed major layoffs in April, which will affect some 12,000 employees or 11 percent of its total workforce.

11 of 420 comments (clear)

  1. The most disgusting part.. by subk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ..Is that the company's sales are up 15% from 2015, and "represents the 10th consecutive year of record results".

    Greedy bastards, plain and simple.

    --
    Now, if you'll excuse me, I have backups to corrupt.
    1. Re:The most disgusting part.. by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Pretty much this.

      I'm in favour of making H-1B have am minimum $120-$150k salary.

      So it can only be used for skilled labour.

      --
      You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
    2. Re:The most disgusting part.. by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

      <sarcasm>But, but, but... regulations are bad. We should let the market decide....</sarcasm>

      Yeah, this falls under the category of C*Os being crooks and lying on their H1B applications. That should result in jail time for everyone involved even tangentially in the decision. Fraud is a felony.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    3. Re:The most disgusting part.. by undefinedreference · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Interesting idea that I could get behind... I'd say 2x prevailing wages for the skillset/title and a minimum of 2x average household income would be sufficient to make it unpalatable to use an H-1B for anything short of someone you legitimately cannot find or train. It'd also drive local wages up for anything in demand because they could save money by hiring local vs. hiring someone on a visa. It'd create fierce competition among the best and brightest all over the world to get in on the program because it'd give them instant high salaries, increase local salaries to what the market would actually bear for the skills, draw more people into unskilled work they consider below them (because they could live on the now-increased incomes), etc. It'd also kill a lot of crufty companies that aren't actively profitable in their space to make way for ones that will be. Everyone would win except MBAs trying to goose quarterly statements.

  2. Re:This sort of thing is why people like Trump by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...Trump keeps saying he'll do something about it.

    Yeah, and what he'll do is expand it. Trump loves the whole H-1B idea, and he's said so repeatedly.

    Trump: “I’m in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it any way you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want...."

    Trump: "We need highly skilled people in this country, and if we can’t do it, we’ll get them in. But, and we do need in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have."

    Trump’s answer during the Megyn Kelly interview was consistent with his answer during the CNBC debate. He said again that Silicon Valley needs highly skilled workers, and showed his support for the H-1B program. Further, he appeared to support employers sponsoring H-1B workers for green cards, saying, “We absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country.”

    Also, he said, “I know the H-1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me. I’m a businessman. These are laws. These are regulations. These are rules. We’re allowed to do it. I will take advantage of it; they’re the laws. But I’m the one that knows how to change it. Nobody else on this dais knows how to change it like I do, believe me.”

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  3. Re:This sort of thing is why people like Trump by AK+Marc · · Score: 5, Informative

    Bernie's "free everything" has a funding plan that pays for all of it, and doesn't grow the debt. Only his haters imply the plan can't work, when it's about the same as everyone else's, with just a few numbers changed.

  4. Mass Quit Together, Unionize, Make it Painful by Proudrooster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Come on guys, fight fire with fire! Everyone walk together! Everyone! Maybe even leave a few fires burning, not that you caused any. Get together and agree on your severance package and demands present it to the company as a group. Make it painful.

    They can't do this easily without you. Make them give you a golden parachute.

    Folks, we are Americans! Our forefathers sailed the oceans on wooden ships the size of school bus. We are hearty, tough, and are not to be trifled with.

    We have to stop getting trampled. This is not who we are.

    Get together. Stand together. Fight the man together.

    Take it to social media.

    Blog it.

    Make noise.

    These jerks are taking your jobs and your livelihoods. If this company wants to move to India, let them go sell their shit in India, but make sure another American doesn't do business with them.

    Make sure TRUMP spouts their name at his rallies and what a disgrace this company is to the USA.

    Look outside your tunnel. Get your friends involved. It is time to man up and bring it!

    And it would be a total shame if you put up a kickstarter page to help you all stick together through this.

    Maybe a sympathetic hacking group would get involved to create mayhem until you are able to get back in the saddle.

    It is time to drop the hammer and get tough. They do not tell you what you get as severance, you tell them. You are not a dog being fed scraps.

    Knowledge is power. Don't go gently into that dark night!

  5. Keep telling yourselves unions are bad... by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After all, they're the only thing that has ever worked against a bunch of asshat employers.

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    That is all.
  6. Re: This sort of thing is why people like Trump by ogdenk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yep and the corrupt oligarch who flip-flops on every single issue every time she's handed a big wad of cash is any better.

    I was willing to give Bernie a chance but not Hillary. Not ever. She's insane and completely fake. She's just as bad a narcissistic psychopath as Trump if not worse. Trump is an idiot and will be completely ineffective as a president as well as being stonewalled at every turn. I can deal with 4 years of zero progress and he'll help further the destruction of the GOP allowing a 3rd party to eventually rise. I'm OK with that.

    Clinton OTOH I absolutely KNOW will try to strip me of my rights. Trump will leave me alone and his crazier ideas will never pass. If Trump wins, it's because the Dems and media screwed Bernie over while labeling him as an unelectable commie.

    Me? I'm back to my usual Libertarian vote but I was willing to put up with the Social Democrat who was reasonably honest. Gary Johnson 2016! #FeelTheJohnson

  7. Re:This sort of thing is why people like Trump by losfromla · · Score: 5, Informative

    30 years ago we had free, or next to free college in California. All the way through a Doctorate at the public universities UCs and CSUs, some of which were also world class.

    --
    Only I can judge you.
  8. Re: This sort of thing is why people like Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Better question: which branch ENFORCES the laws?

    As in, it's already illegal to hire an Indian, er, H1-B, when an American is available. Clearly that's the case here and everywhere else. Why do we keep reading about people training their foreign replacements when it's not supposed to be happening, and why aren't executives in jail already?