Insurers are in BIG TROUBLE!

Date: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 4:41 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Folks, we have some major stuff going on here. That's because U.S. Rep.
Nancy Johnson wrote a letter to some big insurance companies like CIGNA
and asked them to fess up how many H-1Bs they employ.

A spin doctor for Phoenix said that his company is "complying
with all rules and regulations of the H-1B program."

HOO! HAW! AND BIG DEAL, MR. SPIN DOCTOR!

We already know that the rules are tailor made to replace American
workers. CIGNA better hope they are following the rules or their H-1B
gravy train might bust a wheel. Notice that he wouldn't tell the
reporter how many H-1Bs CIGNA hired but he better fess up now that
Congress is doing the asking.

The letter of inquiry Johnson didn't happen by accident either. It took
some good old fashioned engineering by activists at TORAW to pull this
one off. TORAW is at http://www.toraw.org

*** One last thing, if you call Johnson, be sure to tell her that her
press secretary is wrong. The H-1B law has no requirement that it's to be
used only when there's a shortage of domestic IT workers with the
needed skills. Congress refused to
put in protections of that type because H-1B was designed to replace
American workers. You might also want to mention that H-1B is also used
for donut makers.

This newsletter contains:

1 - Article in the Hartford Courant
2 - Letter by TORAW vice-president James Pace
3 - Letter sent by Rep. Nancy Johnson (reprinted by courtesy of TORAW)

http://www.ctnow.com/business/hc-indians0507.artmay07,0,677270.story?coll=hc-headlines-business

Congresswoman Trains Sights On Insurers' Hiring

By DIANE LEVICK
Courant Staff Writer

May 7 2003

U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson, hearing that local companies are allegedly
abusing a visa program, is asking the chief executives of five
Connecticut insurance companies to reveal how many Indian citizens they
employ in information technology.

Johnson, R-5th District, wants to know how many Indians the companies
employ on H-1B visas now, whether that number has grown during the past
two years and how many American IT workers the companies have laid off.

She sent letters requesting information from Aetna Inc., CIGNA Corp.,
The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., The Phoenix Cos. Inc., and
Travelers Property Casualty Corp.

Many employers have hired Indian firms that handle IT work from offices
overseas, but also bring Indians to clients' U.S. offices on H-1B
visas. U.S. companies employ some of the H-1B workers directly. Johnson
said she also wants to know about such outsourcing of jobs to India and
other nations.

Johnson, who met last month with constituents complaining about the
loss of jobs for Americans, says "serious questions" have been raised
and "there has been growing concern in Washington with the offshoring
of IT and software jobs."

"The congresswoman's interest in this is to see that Connecticut jobs
are protected and that the law is followed," said Brian S. Schubert,
Johnson's press secretary. Schubert said his understanding of the H-1B
program is that it's supposed to be used only when there's a shortage
of domestic IT workers with the needed skills.

Many U.S. workers, though, have complained that there is no shortage,
and that employers are using foreign nationals just to save money.

Travelers Property Casualty spokesman Keith Anderson said his company
has five IT workers it brought in from India on visas several years ago
when U.S. companies were scrounging for IT personnel. Travelers does
not outsource IT work to India or other nations, he said.

Aetna and The Hartford declined to comment, saying they haven't
responded to Johnson yet. The Indian firm InfoSys had 165 IT employees
in Aetna's U.S. offices as of last June, and 400 more people serving
Aetna from India.

CIGNA spokesman Tony Branco said Tuesday, "We take our [human
resources] and contracting practices very seriously. Once we have an
opportunity to share the facts, we're confident we'll have addressed
this issue to our mutual satisfaction."

Phoenix spokesman Jon Sandberg said his company is "complying with all
rules and regulations of the H-1B program."

But he declined to say how many foreign workers the company employs in
this country, saying it's inappropriate to comment before responding to
Johnson. Phoenix started its own IT company in India in 1996.

Copyright 2003, Hartford Courant

To All,

For those of you who have not heard, a group of us had met with

U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Johnson at a town meeting and told her our
issues. A few days later, she met with 8 people, not all TORAW
members, and listened to their stories. Recently, she sent a letter out
to the CEO's of Aetna, Cigna, Travelers, Phoenix and The Hartford
addressing H-1B issues. She has really taken an interest in lost jobs
in Connecticut and all of our issues and concerns. Attached is the
link to todays Hartford Courant article that tells of what she is doing
for our efforts. I urge all to call or email her office immediately
and thank her for addressing these issues not for TORAW but for the
welfare of all Connecticut citizen workers. It doesn't matter what
district you're in. Call or email her office asap. Also, if you
are not in her district, 'call your' U.S. congressmen/women and ask
them what they are doiing to support Nancy's efforts and that you, as
their constituent, want them to support her. The article link is
below.

http://www.ctnow.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=hc%2Dindians0507%2Eartmay07§ion=/printstory

Also, the names of our U.S. Congressmen/women and their local phones
numbers are listed below. Please call as that would be better than
emails. We were told by Nancy and others that emails to them are
very slow in processing because of so many, but a quick call won't
hurt. Call and mention the article and you want your rep to support
her. And whether she's your rep. or not, please call and compliment
her office for her actions. Remember, these are YOUR Reps, be
involved, your voice and your vote will count if you use them.

U.S. Congress:

John B. Larson (D) 860-278-8888
Rob Simmons (R) 860-886-0139
Rosa L. DeLauro (D) 203-562-3718
Christopher Shays (R) 203-579-5870 and 203-357-8277
Nancy Johnson (R) 860-223-8412 and 203-573-1418

Thank you all,

James Pace
Vice President
T.O.R.A.W.

May 2, 2003

Mr. Edward Hanway
CEO, CIGNA
1650 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19192

Dear Mr. Hanway:

I recently met with a group of constituents who either work in or have
been laid off from the Information Technology (IT) field. They
requested the meeting to express their concern that some Connecticut
companies are abusing the H-1B visa program to effectively "off-shore"
domestic jobs.

Because these are serious allegations that need to be addressed, I
would ask that you provide me with detailed information regarding your
company's use of the H-1B visa program, as well as the use of foreign
consulting firms to out-source IT work to India and other nations.
Specifically, I would like to know how many Indian citizens you had in
your employ in Connecticut in the IT field under the H-1B visa program
two years ago, and one year ago, and today. Additionally, I would like
to know the number of American IT workers you have laid off in the same
time frame and whether your company is categorized as H-1B dependent.

There has been growing concern in Washington with the off-shoring of IT
and software jobs. The problems these constituents described, however,
was new to me and would effectively "off-shore" local jobs by using
H-1B visa employees to substitute for U.S. workers. The meeting
participants had very specific information supporting their
experiences. While this is anecdotal evidence, it raises such serious
questions that I am compelled to write this letter.

I look forward to your response and would ask that you call me or my
District Director, Ken Hiscoe at (860) 223-8412 if you have any
questions or wish to discuss this matter. To read of IT job cuts in
the newspaper and hear of this steep increase in foreign IT workers in
Hartford area companies lends urgency to getting the facts clearly
understood. My thanks for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Nancy L. Johnson
Member of Congress

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