Many of the posters seem to be under the delusion that employers must "prove" that they cannot find anyone to do the work or that they are paying the prevailing wage rate. In fact the are only required to provide a signature to that effect. The distinction is not lost on any major corporation.
Another common delusion is that the H1B workers have the skills required in the job posting. Do they really think that it is difficult (or expensive) to get whatever credentials are required in India? The American applicant is required to provide references that will surely be checked. Corporations obviously create phoney requirements that no American with the skills will accept at the stated rate. When no one applies, they are free to hire overseas and get careless on examining skills. My favorite ( I applied for this to see if I would even get a reply ) was when a major high tech company in Portland advertised for someone with 5 years previous experience in SAP including succesful implementations and 10 years of Oracle experience and offered $35,000 per year. For god sakes, they don't even pay day care workers at their plant that little!
One of the biggest delusions is that it is legitimate to pay an H1B worker the same as an American for the same job as if it all comes out even. No way. The H1B worker is going to drive to work on the roads I paid for, be protected by the police my property taxes support. receive justice from me sitting on a jury for $11 per day, and be protected from having all his property taken from him by my arms. The last represents an extremely high cost to me. I spent two years as a draftee in the U. S. Army, including one year in Viet Nam. I didn't run into George Bush jr, Dick Cheney, Bill Gates, any HB1 workers, or any corporations working for $245 per month while I was there.
Another delusion is that people who oppose H1B workers are racists. In fact, the program discriminates on the basis of national origin because it does not guarantee the same rights to Americans. If you think otherwise, go try to start a business or get a job in another country. You'll quickly find out that you won't receive the same rights as their nationals.
Long term the biggest delusion is that this is in any way good for America. It is really just a repeat of the '50s and '60s when the Japanese sent representatives to study American manufacturing and in the '70s and '80s took over industry after industry. The first stage has already taken place with the move major bread and butter software development and support overseas. The H1B's are just a minor part of the trend. They are only required because some jobs cannot be moved. That's why we have all these HB1 NT server and network administrators filling positions that Americans are to uneducated, old, or stupid to do. The next step will be the move of the application systems to overseas siting as bandwith expands. The final step is the most dangerous and has nothing to do with jobs. It is the move of bank records, medical records, academic records, criminal records, credit records, marriage and divorce, etc to flags of convenience. At this point your Constitution isn't going to do you much good because people will be deciding you are the wrong color or eat the wrong kind of food in a country the employers right to do anything they want is considered sacred. The Senate will happily sign away your civil rights under a Treaty and you will have no recourse. ( I found out about an obscure item called something like the Japanese American Maritime Treaty just before a RIF at a former employer. The gist of it is that if you work for Japanese company they can replace you with a Japanese worker without any justification. Funny thing about it, they didn't lay off any Japanese -- just Americans, Mexicans, Vietnamese, and any other group they could find.)
One of the strangest delusions I've seen among younger workers in IT is that somehow think they are players in the game and can stand up to multi-billion, multi-national corporations as individuals. Almost
Slashdot Mirror
Many of the posters seem to be under the delusion that employers must "prove" that they cannot find anyone to do the work or that they are paying the prevailing wage rate. In fact the are only required to provide a signature to that effect. The distinction is not lost on any major corporation. Another common delusion is that the H1B workers have the skills required in the job posting. Do they really think that it is difficult (or expensive) to get whatever credentials are required in India? The American applicant is required to provide references that will surely be checked. Corporations obviously create phoney requirements that no American with the skills will accept at the stated rate. When no one applies, they are free to hire overseas and get careless on examining skills. My favorite ( I applied for this to see if I would even get a reply ) was when a major high tech company in Portland advertised for someone with 5 years previous experience in SAP including succesful implementations and 10 years of Oracle experience and offered $35,000 per year. For god sakes, they don't even pay day care workers at their plant that little! One of the biggest delusions is that it is legitimate to pay an H1B worker the same as an American for the same job as if it all comes out even. No way. The H1B worker is going to drive to work on the roads I paid for, be protected by the police my property taxes support. receive justice from me sitting on a jury for $11 per day, and be protected from having all his property taken from him by my arms. The last represents an extremely high cost to me. I spent two years as a draftee in the U. S. Army, including one year in Viet Nam. I didn't run into George Bush jr, Dick Cheney, Bill Gates, any HB1 workers, or any corporations working for $245 per month while I was there. Another delusion is that people who oppose H1B workers are racists. In fact, the program discriminates on the basis of national origin because it does not guarantee the same rights to Americans. If you think otherwise, go try to start a business or get a job in another country. You'll quickly find out that you won't receive the same rights as their nationals. Long term the biggest delusion is that this is in any way good for America. It is really just a repeat of the '50s and '60s when the Japanese sent representatives to study American manufacturing and in the '70s and '80s took over industry after industry. The first stage has already taken place with the move major bread and butter software development and support overseas. The H1B's are just a minor part of the trend. They are only required because some jobs cannot be moved. That's why we have all these HB1 NT server and network administrators filling positions that Americans are to uneducated, old, or stupid to do. The next step will be the move of the application systems to overseas siting as bandwith expands. The final step is the most dangerous and has nothing to do with jobs. It is the move of bank records, medical records, academic records, criminal records, credit records, marriage and divorce, etc to flags of convenience. At this point your Constitution isn't going to do you much good because people will be deciding you are the wrong color or eat the wrong kind of food in a country the employers right to do anything they want is considered sacred. The Senate will happily sign away your civil rights under a Treaty and you will have no recourse. ( I found out about an obscure item called something like the Japanese American Maritime Treaty just before a RIF at a former employer. The gist of it is that if you work for Japanese company they can replace you with a Japanese worker without any justification. Funny thing about it, they didn't lay off any Japanese -- just Americans, Mexicans, Vietnamese, and any other group they could find.) One of the strangest delusions I've seen among younger workers in IT is that somehow think they are players in the game and can stand up to multi-billion, multi-national corporations as individuals. Almost