Three U.S. tech worker groups have launched a labor boycott of IBM, Infosys and Manpower. The groups say that these three companies have engaged in a pattern that discourages U.S. workers from applying for U.S. IT jobs by tailoring employment ads toward overseas workers. Here’s what Donna Conroy, director of Bright Future Jobs had to say:
The main goals of the boycott are “attention getting” and putting pressure on the IT staffing firms to change their practices, Conroy said. With IT staffing agencies competing to fill U.S. positions, the companies contracting for their services may want to consider if the staffing firm “has a good reputation,” she said.
The boycott should also raise concerns about staffing firms violating equal employment laws, said Les French, president of WashTech. “In addition to calling attention to an illegal practice, we want to show there are valid challenges to the ‘labor shortage’ of STEM workers,” French said in an email.
For its part, Infosys disputed the charges:
“It is incorrect to allude that we exclude or discourage U.S. workers,” she said by email. “Today, we are recruiting for over 440 active openings across 20 states in the U.S.”
Neither Manpower or IBM responded to this.
My take: The H1-B visa program which is how a lot of these workers get into the US is a bit of a gong show. There’s ample evidence that the program is in need of an overhaul so that it protects American workers. For example, Professor Norm Matloff has an excellent paper on this. Plus Mother Jones has another excellent commentary on the subject. But what is really damming is a video of a attorney and his consultants teaching corporations how to manipulate foreign-worker immigration law so that they replace qualified American workers:
So clearly there’s a problem here that needs to be addressed.
As for this boycott, I am going to guess that it won’t make any difference except for a day or two of bad press for these three companies. After all, they likely don’t hire Americans anyway. Thus they won’t notice.
This entry was posted on June 4, 2014 at 7:57 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Employment, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Tech Workers Boycott Infosys, IBM, & Manpower
Three U.S. tech worker groups have launched a labor boycott of IBM, Infosys and Manpower. The groups say that these three companies have engaged in a pattern that discourages U.S. workers from applying for U.S. IT jobs by tailoring employment ads toward overseas workers. Here’s what Donna Conroy, director of Bright Future Jobs had to say:
The main goals of the boycott are “attention getting” and putting pressure on the IT staffing firms to change their practices, Conroy said. With IT staffing agencies competing to fill U.S. positions, the companies contracting for their services may want to consider if the staffing firm “has a good reputation,” she said.
The boycott should also raise concerns about staffing firms violating equal employment laws, said Les French, president of WashTech. “In addition to calling attention to an illegal practice, we want to show there are valid challenges to the ‘labor shortage’ of STEM workers,” French said in an email.
For its part, Infosys disputed the charges:
“It is incorrect to allude that we exclude or discourage U.S. workers,” she said by email. “Today, we are recruiting for over 440 active openings across 20 states in the U.S.”
Neither Manpower or IBM responded to this.
My take: The H1-B visa program which is how a lot of these workers get into the US is a bit of a gong show. There’s ample evidence that the program is in need of an overhaul so that it protects American workers. For example, Professor Norm Matloff has an excellent paper on this. Plus Mother Jones has another excellent commentary on the subject. But what is really damming is a video of a attorney and his consultants teaching corporations how to manipulate foreign-worker immigration law so that they replace qualified American workers:
So clearly there’s a problem here that needs to be addressed.
As for this boycott, I am going to guess that it won’t make any difference except for a day or two of bad press for these three companies. After all, they likely don’t hire Americans anyway. Thus they won’t notice.
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This entry was posted on June 4, 2014 at 7:57 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Employment, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.