11 Articles Worth Reading
11 Articles Worth Reading
Date: Friday, February 17, 2006 3:28 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
February 17, 2006 No. 1422
<<< COMMENTS FROM ROB >>>
The media battle to persuade Congress to raise H-1B is in full tilt. Part
of that effort involves getting newspapers to extol Bush's plan to raise
H-1B and to warn of dire predictions of shortages of engineers, scientists,
and programmers. This is the strategy that was so successful in 1989 and
1999. The few voices of opposition (Article #1 and #3) are drowned out by
the roar of the mainstream media.
Lisa Sylvestor on Lou Dobbs (2/14/2006) mentioned that the Bush
administration has spent $1.6 billion of taxpayers money on public
relations advertising. Does this explain the media onslaught we are seeing?
Article #9 is especially interesting. The Indians are preparing quite a
welcoming committee for President Bush when he goes to India in March.
Indian lobbyists have made it crystal clear that they expect more H-1B
visas from Bush:
Agrees Robinder Sachdev of US-India Political Action
Committee (USINPAC), the most influential lobby of Indian
Americans on Capitol Hill: "On the business and industry
front, immigration is the most important issue."
They want more than just H-1Bs, they want U.S. government contracts. Given
Bush's propensity to sell our country's assets to foreign companies, this
should set off our alarm bells.
Another issue that Indian IT entrepreneurs would like to
see addressed is access by Indian firms to US federal
government contracts.
Article #10 is about Harris Miller's bid to become a Virginia Senator. He
said he is living the American Dream. His dream has been the cause of
nightmares for thousands of high-tech workers that he put out of work by
lobbying for H-1B. It almost sounds like a joke when he vowed to:
"implement ethical reforms in Washington,"
H-1B and L-1 visas are a bad problem for American workers, but there are
worse things going on -- take for example NAFTA. We have only begun to see
the impact NAFTA is going to have on the U.S. and Mexico. I read Article
#11 in horrified fascination as the blueprint for the NAFTA transportation
corridor was explained. The article is rather long so in the newsletter I
inserted excerpts instead of the entire article. The article has links to
graphs and maps that are a must view if you really care to understand this
issue. Read the excerpts first to get a grasp of the entire article.
<<< END OF COMMENTS >>>
Article 1:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/303/5661/1105
Supply Without Demand
If there is one domain of science policy in which bad estimates have become
routine, it is the one we used to call "scientific manpower." Time after
time we have been warned of impending shortages which, with evergreen
consistency, are subsequently transformed into gluts, to the dismay of
those most affected: the future practitioners of our disciplines.
Article 2:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1415175,curpg-1.cms
Bush battles to fulfill IT demands
One would think that the Indian IT community in the US would be immune to
the routine issues dogging sundry immigrants in the Promised Land. Right?
Well, not exactly. Long-standing issues related to visas and social
security refunds still plague the techie in US that is getting to be a
major concern for the Indo-US fraternity. The issue could come up for
discussion during US President George W Bushs forthcoming visit to
India.
Article 3:
http://www.washtech.org/news/labor/display.php?ID_Content=5034
US Senator Gets Tongue Tied in India Over Offshoring
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is the latest politician embroiled in controversy on
the hot-button topic of outsourcing and offshoring of U.S. jobs and the
impacts of corporate globalization. The Associated Press (AP) reported
earlier today that Baucus supported offshoring of jobs, and that this
position breaks ranks with the Democratic Partys stance. His statements
came during an interview as he was leading a trade delegation through
India.
Article 4:
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/11/battle_ignites_on_tech_worker_visas/?p1=MEWell_Pos2
Battle ignites on tech-worker visas
Bush calls for lifting cap; foes push curbs
Companies apply to the Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau to get
H-1b visas for foreign-born workers with special skills. Analog Devices'
Javorski said his company uses these visas to hire foreign-born graduates
with advanced degrees in electronic engineering and other fields related to
chipmaking.
Article 5:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_3497223
Oracle employees escorted out
A worker says people were taken out of the building as soon as they were
told of the layoff. The Oracle employee in Denver said the company was
replacing the workers with new hires in India who work for less.
Article 6:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/021406-stanford-tata.html?brl
Stanford, Indian IT services company team on security research
Stanford University and India's Tata Consultancy Services this week have
announced a five-year agreement centered around data privacy research.
Article 7:
http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IE820060215041002&Title=NRIs&Topic=0
NRI sues American firm over tax refunds
An Indian employee of an information technology consulting company filed a
lawsuit on Tuesday alleging he and other foreign workers were required to
give their employers their tax return checks. If the judge certifies this
suit merits class-action status, it could grow to include the approximately
5,000 foreign workers the company employs in the United States who may also
have been allegedly required to give up their tax refunds.
Article 8:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13872991.htm
Suit alleges India firm collected employees' tax refunds
A citizen of India working in California filed a class action lawsuit
Tuesday against his India-based employer, alleging that the company
collected tax refunds owed to its non-U.S. citizen workers. While the exact
number of non-U.S. citizens working in California affected by the company's
practices is not known, the lawsuit said Tata Consultancy employed hundreds
of non-U.S. citizens throughout the state at the end of 2005.
Article 9:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1413517.cms
Now blowing: Trade winds of change
Visas and outsourcing are two of the most important issues that Indians in
the US will be closely tracking when President George W Bush comes
visiting. Says Jagdip Ahluwalia, president of the Greater Houston & Dallas
chapters of US-India Chamber of Commerce:
Article 10:
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=62056&paper=61&cat=109
Tech Guru Launches Bid for U.S. Senate
Two candidates seek Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. George
Allen (R-Va.).
Harris Miller thinks things are a mess in Washington, D.C., and the
54-year-old technology mogul from McLean believes he's just the man to
clean it up.
Article 11:
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0206vogel.htm
The NAFTA Corridors: Offshoring U.S. Transportation Jobs to Mexico
U.S. workers, who have seen so many lucrative manufacturing jobs moved
overseas, assumed that import transportation and distribution jobs could
not be offshored and were, therefore, relatively secure. Current
transportation trends are proving labors assumption to be dead wrong.
1. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/303/5661/1105
Science 20 February 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5661, p. 1105
DOI: 10.1126/science.303.5661.1105
Prev | Table of Contents | Next
Editorial
Supply Without Demand
Donald Kennedy, Jim Austin, Kirstie Urquhart, Crispin Taylor
If there is one domain of science policy in which bad estimates have become
routine, it is the one we used to call "scientific manpower." Time after
time we have been warned of impending shortages which, with evergreen
consistency, are subsequently transformed into gluts, to the dismay of
those most affected: the future practitioners of our disciplines. Somehow,
the predictors seem to forget that calls to increase future supply should
bear some relationship to the present balance between supply and demand.
This is an old problem in the United States, where the ill-advised
prognostications of the National Science Foundation in the early 1990s were
followed by intense congressional criticism and widespread outrage among
graduate students and postdocs. The National Science Board has apparently
not profited from that harsh lesson. Now, expressing concern that few
native-born citizens are entering scientific careers, it calls for an
intensified national effort to expand domestic production. Meanwhile,
unemployment rates for scientists are going up; according to the American
Chemical Society, they have doubled among chemists over the past 2 years.
The habit is apparently contagious. On the other side of the Atlantic, the
European Union has set targets for increases in R&D spending that, it
predicts, will require 700,000 new scientists in the coming years. To meet
this anticipated demand, the European Commission (EC) is implementing a
series of new programs, as Philippe Busquin reported on this page last
month (Science 9 January 2004, p. 145). But repatriation and mobility won't
solve the problem. At an EC meeting at Rockefeller University in December
2003, angry expatriate Italian scientists pointed out that even if they
want to go home, as many do, there are no jobs for them.
What is going on here? Why do we keep wishing to expand the supply of
scientists even though there is no evidence of imminent shortages, and most
jobs are in the private sector, where they are immune to management by
policy fiat? First, there is a widespread belief that economic progress
depends on science and technology; why shouldn't we have more of such a
good thing? Second, policies are set mainly by elders, who, like the
institutions that employ them, have little incentive to downsize their
operations. Instead, academic reward structures and government funding
priorities tend to perpetuate the "train more scientists" status quo.
There's one more, uncomfortable, explanation for calls to increase the
supply of scientists. The present situation provides real advantages for
the science and technology sector and the academic and corporate
institutions that depend on it. We've arranged to produce more knowledge
workers than we can employ, creating a labor-excess economy that keeps
labor costs down and productivity high. Maybe we keep doing this because in
our heart of hearts, we really prefer it this way.
The consequences of this are troubling. To be sure, the best graduates of
the most prestigious programs may eventually find good jobs, but only after
they are well past the age at which their predecessors were productively
established. The rest--scientists of considerable potential who didn't
quite make it in a tough market--form an international legion of the
discontented.
Are there some things we might do to help us kick this habit? For one
thing, university departments should be obliged to give applicants a
detailed account of the placement histories of recent graduates, as few now
do. Academic scientists should think realistically about how many
intellectual offspring they ought to produce over a career and talk
candidly with current students about the job market. Official needs
estimates should study the present relationhip between applicants and
jobs--we don't need more calls for "more scientists" from policy-makers who
haven't first looked hard at the balance between supply and demand.
Finally, governments and funding agencies should carefully consider the job
market implications of their burgeoning science budgets.
Of course, the problem may solve itself. Undergraduates seem to be getting
the message that science jobs are scarce and that the graduate students and
postdocs in their departments are deeply concerned about their future
prospects. As they turn their attention elsewhere and a real shortage
develops, we may finally get the best science minds into stable, rewarding
positions at a young age. That's a good outcome, but do we have to get
there the hard way?
2. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1415175,curpg-1.cms
Bush battles to fulfill IT demands
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006 12:06:06 AM]
NRIs Rang De Basanti FREE DVD
ITll be hard talk with Bush
NEW DELHI: About 67% - thats $12bn - of the total Indian IT services and
business process outsourcing (BPO) exports are accounted for by the US. And
if you want the head count, about 35,000 Indian IT professionals are
working in the US.
So with such an impressive presence, one would think that the Indian IT
community in the US would be immune to the routine issues dogging sundry
immigrants in the Promised Land. Right? Well, not exactly. Long-standing
issues related to visas and social security refunds still plague the techie
in US that is getting to be a major concern for the Indo-US fraternity.
The issue could come up for discussion during US President George W
Bushs forthcoming visit to India. Some of these were also discussed when
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the US, in July last year. On visas,
the problem areas are the limited availability of H-1B visas and the delays
in getting them.
Besides that, Indian IT professionals pay about $500m in social security
cuts every year. However, most of them never gets to avail the benefits of
the system as one needs to work continuously in the US for 40 quarters or
10 years to reap the social security gains. A condition, that is not
feasible, since employees could be going for shorter duration, often less
than three years.
US has a Totalization Agreement with 21 countries including Korea, Japan,
Chile and Spain whereby it refunds social security benefits to employees
from those countries irrespective of their period of stay.
So far the US has refused to sign this with India. Says TCS executive vice
president Pheroz Vandrewala, "It is up to the Indian government to get the
Totalization Agreement up on the batting order during talks with the US
delegation."
The US concern is that India does not have a proper PF arrangement or a
social security guarantee for life. Says an expert, "The reality is that
the social security administration in the US is never going to agree to a
Totalization Agreement with India as they have a huge social security
deficit back home."
On visas front , there is a cap of 65,000 H-1B visas (a three-year work
visa) out of which about 30,000 are with Indian professionals. While this
year it will not create too much of a problem as Indian IT majors have a
bank of H-1B visas, if the limit is not increased it could lead to problems
next year for the major US giants. President Bush has recently urged the
Congress to raise the cap on H-1B visas but it is yet to get Congress
approval.
Nasscom president Kiran Karnik says, "Visa cap and the speed with which
these are issued are the main concern areas." For instance, professionals
based in the South have to go to the Chennai consulate and there at times
it takes three months to get a visa. The proposed US consulate in Hyderabad
could help reduce that delay.
The broader issue on visas, says Mr Karnik, is to "move to a Services
Provider Visa. This can be done at the WTO level. But thats going to
take time. The better option is to work out something bilaterally with the
US."
For instance, if a Boeing engineer comes here for maintenance work for two
months it is a very different kind of work, not a long-term stay, like,
say, Microsoft hiring an Indian engineer in the US. Similarly, there could
be an IT worker at Wipro who wants to go on some maintenance tasks for just
a month to the US. If he has to wait for three months to get a H-1B visa,
it creates lot of problems.
"These are the things that could be addressed with a Services Provider
Visa," says Mr Karnik.
Companies are also looking at greater access to US contracts.
Says Laxman Badiga, CIO, Wipro Technologies, "As India opens up its trade
for global investment and competition there has to be a reciprocative
gesture from the US on free movement of people resources across borders. We
are also looking at the US to ease restrictions on Indian vendors to bid
for government and defence contracts. These represent a significant
business opportunity for us."
3. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.washtech.org/news/labor/display.php?ID_Content=5034
January 13, 2006
WashTech News
US Senator Gets Tongue Tied in India Over Offshoring
Seattle - Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is the latest politician embroiled in
controversy on the hot-button topic of outsourcing and offshoring of U.S.
jobs and the impacts of corporate globalization
The Associated Press (AP) reported earlier today that Baucus supported
offshoring of jobs, and that this position breaks ranks with the Democratic
Partys stance. His statements came during an interview as he was leading
a trade delegation through India.
Baucuss office strongly disputed the AP story by saying that the Senator
was misquoted. "The whole point of my trip is to try to get at the problem
of outsourcing and keep and create jobs at home,? said the Senator in a
written statement. It went on to say that, "Any job lost to outsourcing is
too many, but we cant kid ourselves or stick our heads in the sand. Some
jobs are going to move around in the global marketplace. Thats a
reality.?
Later, the AP did issue a correction by saying "that Baucus did not say he
supports outsourcing, but that outsourcing was a reality.?
The original article also reported that Baucus said, "But the world is flat
and we must work harder to better retrain our people," rather than resist
offshoring, he said. "Offshoring is a fact of globalization. Opportunities
for U.S. companies come from everywhere?uot;?including India."
The "world is flat? comment could be a reference to the best-selling book
"The World Is Flat? by Thomas Friedman, who is a New York Times columnist.
The thrust of the book is similar to the pro-globalization view shared by
many politicians in both parties.
Senator Baucus is one of the nations most powerful Democratic Senators.
In his position as the ranking minority member on the Senate Finance
Committee, he can influence U.S. tax and trade policy. His pro-labor
activities have included voting against CAFTA and supporting the expansion
of the Trade Act Adjustment Assistance for Service Sector Workers. He is a
key Democratic swing voter on trade issues.
Offshoring of jobs is a lighting rod political issue as hundreds of
thousands of white- collar. jobs continue to be moved overseas, mirroring
the government-supported practices that undercut U.S. manufacturing workers
for decades.
WashTech/CWA, which publishes WashTech News, has tracked the movement of
more than 100,000 white collar jobs overseas on its TechsUnite website
during 2005 alone.
Baucus is not the first politician or public official to find himself in
hot water around statements on offshoring. Gregory Mankiw, an economic
advisor to President Bush, lost his job after embracing offshoring of
service sector jobs in comments he made to the media at a critical time in
the 2004 presidential election year. His statements were so divisive that
the Republican Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert (R-IL), distanced the
Republicans from the comments.
In April 2004, the WashTech News and the Associated Press reported on a
Congressional Trade trip to India, paid for by the Indian high-tech
industry, where members of Congress also made statements in favor of
offshoring.
4. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/02/11/battle_ignites_on_tech_worker_visas/?p1=MEWell_Pos2
Battle ignites on tech-worker visas
Bush calls for lifting cap; foes push curbs
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | February 11, 2006
To Analog Devices Inc. of Norwood, the colleges and universities of Greater
Boston are ideal places to recruit the world's best scientists and
engineers. It's a truly global assortment of talent, as thousands of
international students get their training here.
''When they leave school, they are usually interested in working for some
time in the US," said Joe Javorski, Analog Devices' director of worldwide
staffing. ''We are very, very interested in hiring that talent."
But Javorski can't hire as many as he would like because the federal
program that allows 20,000 such students to apply for US work visas has met
its quota for the year.
So has a related program that lets US companies bring 65,000 highly trained
workers into the United States annually. These limitations frustrate
technology executives, who say they need to hire more foreign-born
scientists and engineers to remain competitive.
President Bush last week threw his support behind a plan to boost the
federal ''H-1b" program, which issues the visas.
''I think it's a mistake not to encourage more really bright folks" from
foreign countries to work in the United States, Bush said in a speech at a
3M Co. plant in Minnesota.
But he won't get the increase without a fight. A bid to issue 30,000 more
H-1b visas per year passed the Senate last year, but was shot down in the
House. And a New Jersey Democratic congressman has introduced a bill that
could make it tougher for companies to recruit foreign-born workers.
''What President Bush wants to do . . . is an absurdity, and I don't accept
it," said US Representative Bill Pascrell. He wants to keep the number of
visas at the current level: 65,000 through the regular H-1b program and
another 20,000 under a program that targets foreigners who earn advanced
degrees in US schools.
At the same time, Pascrell wants tough new rules to ensure that companies
don't use the H-1b program to hire foreigners and pay them less than US
workers.
''People come to my town meetings in the state of New Jersey. They've lost
jobs to people who get paid less," Pascrell said. ''They're hiring these
H-1bs as cheaper labor."
Companies apply to the Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau to get
H-1b visas for foreign-born workers with special skills. Analog Devices'
Javorski said his company uses these visas to hire foreign-born graduates
with advanced degrees in electronic engineering and other fields related to
chipmaking.
Tech-company executives say the shortage of native-born technology talent
is bound to get worse. They cite US government surveys that warn too few
Americans are mastering scientific subjects. A recent report from the
National Academy of Sciences says 15 percent of American college students
get undergraduate degrees in science or engineering, compared to 47 percent
in France and 50 percent in China. A third of those earning science
doctorates from US schools -- and more than half of those earning
engineering doctorates -- come from other countries.
Most of these foreign students will take their knowledge home with them.
That's not a total loss for big American tech companies, which often hire
them to work in their overseas facilities.
''We employ 500 people in Massachusetts, but we employ 120 people in
India," said Arthur Coviello, chief executive of RSA Security Inc., a data
security company in Bedford. ''But I'd rather have these people coming into
this country, and becoming Americans."
One way is to hire foreign-born students straight out of American
universities. Congress backed the idea in 2004, authorizing an extra 20,000
H-1b visas for the purpose. The program began in March 2004, and the first
year's quota was filled last month. The government began accepting
applications for this year's batch of 65,000 standard H-1b visas in April
2005; they were all gone by mid-August. There will be no new H-1b visas of
either kind until the next federal fiscal year, which starts in October.
That's fine with Ron Hira, vice president for career activities at the US
chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He opposes
President Bush's call for a higher H-1b cap, and supports Pascrell's bill.
''The caps should stay where they are, until the program is fixed," Hira
said.
Hira thinks US companies should have to prove they've tried to find
American workers before they can seek H-1b visas. Current law requires a
firm to notify its own employees about a visa application. Hira wants to
force companies to disclose openings in newspaper ads or on the Internet.
Under Pascrell's bill, a company wouldn't be able to get an H-1b visa
unless it directly employs the foreign worker. That change would
effectively ban ''body shops," firms which obtain thousands of H-1b visas,
hire foreign workers, then contract them out to US companies.
Pascrell also wants the Department of Labor to investigate whether H-1b
workers are being exploited. The department would be empowered to randomly
audit companies employing the workers.
The bill would also shorten the time visa workers could stay in the
country. Today, they can get a three-year visa, with the possibility of a
three-year extension. Pascrell wants a single three-year term, or two
two-year terms.
''I'm not anti-immigrant, but I believe these people are taking jobs away
from qualified citizens," Pascrell said.
''It is true that there are a lot of unemployed engineers," said Analog
Devices' Javorski. But he added that many of them lack training in highly
specialized fields, such as his company's field of chip design and
manufacturing.
If Analog Devices can't use foreign workers, they'll ship jobs to one of
Analog Devices' oversees plants, possibly hiring US-trained experts who
can't legally work in the United States.
''We basically go where the talent is," Javorski said. ''So if we find
excellent talent in Beijing or Shanghai, China, we'll hire there."
5. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_3497223
Article Launched: 2/10/2006 07:41 PM
Oracle employees escorted out
A worker says people were taken out of the building as soon as they were
told of the layoff
By Beth Potter
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Layoffs at Oracle Corp.'s Denver office last week were done with surgical
precision, a remaining employee said Friday.
Extra security personnel escorted people out of the building Thursday as
soon as they were told they were losing their jobs, said the man, who
declined to give his name, saying he didn't want to lose his job.
"They hustled them out. In the computer business, you don't want people
sticking around where they can do damage," the man said. "It was totally
out of the blue. They were all in shock."
He said about 150 to 200 people working mostly on software development lost
their jobs at Oracle's Denver Tech Center office. Oracle employs about
1,400 employees in Denver and Colorado Springs.
The layoffs were part of 2,000 job cuts nationwide announced Thursday by
Oracle, a Redwood City, Calif.,-based software developer.
The Oracle employee in Denver said the company was replacing the workers
with new hires in India who work for less.
The software development jobs can pay as much as $90,000, said Andrew
Albarelle, principal executive at Remy Corp., a Denver staffing firm.
Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger declined to confirm the number of
cuts, or to say if the workers would receive a severance package. She also
wouldn't say whether Oracle was moving the jobs to India.
The cuts came as Oracle outlined a plan to make higher profits and
integrate its recent $5.85 billion purchase of Siebel Systems Inc.
By Thursday night, more than 50 former Oracle workers had posted their
resumes at Remy Corp., which currently has 72 high-tech jobs it's looking
to fill, said Albarelle.
He said resumes came from technical support staff, project managers and
business analysts, and he expected the workers to be in demand.
"These laid-off people are going to get snapped up by other jobs in town,"
Albarelle said. "We were really running out of good, high-level people to
do these jobs."
Oracle's Denver Tech Center office used to be the headquarters of software
developer J.D. Edwards before it was bought out by Peoplesoft in 2003.
Peoplesoft was acquired by Oracle last year.
6. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/021406-stanford-tata.html?brl
Stanford, Indian IT services company team on security research
By Network World Staff, NetworkWorld.com, 02/14/06
Stanford University and India's Tata Consultancy Services this week have
announced a five-year agreement centered around data privacy research.
Under the deal, Stanford researchers will collaborate with scientists at
the Tata Research Development and Design Centre in Pune, India, a software
engineering research hub. Researchers from each group will visit the others
and work with each other remotely. (See also: Tata faces employee lawsuit
in the U.S.)
Tata said it is making a "substantial" financial investment in the effort,
but did not disclose details.
Stanford is a leading player in security and data privacy research through
such efforts as TRUST, the Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure
Technology (Carnegie-Mellon University, Cornell University and the
University of California, Berkeley also participate, as do Cisco and other
vendors). The Stanford Security Lab also heads up the National Science
Foundation-sponsored Privacy, Obligations, and Rights in Technologies of
Information Assessment (PORTIA) project on privacy and computer security.
Stanford computer science Professor John Mitchell, computer science
Professor Rajeev Motwani and computer science and electrical engineering
Professor Hector Garcia-Molina will work with Tata researchers.
Tata said the research with Stanford should, among other things, lead to
improved technologies and techniques for protecting data transmissions,
such as for outsourcing customers. Tata released a data-masking tool dubbed
Masketeer last fall.
7. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IE820060215041002&Title=NRIs&Topic=0
NRI sues American firm over tax refunds
Wednesday February 15 2006 14:31 IST
AP
SAN FRANCISCO: An Indian employee of an information technology consulting
company filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging he and other foreign workers
were required to give their employers their tax return checks.
Starting when he arrived in the United States from India in 2000, Gopi
Vedachalam was ordered to sign over federal and state tax returns totalling
about $25,000 (Euro 21,010) to his employer, Tata America International
Corporation, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court.
Vedachalam's employer is an American subsidiary of Tata Consultancy
Services, the Indian company that originally hired him in Bangalore in
1997. The American branch has offices throughout the United States, from
California to New York.
Company officials have not had an opportunity to review the complaint, so
could not comment on the charges. "We take this very seriously," said
Michael McCabe, a spokesman for Tata Consultancy Services.
If the judge certifies this suit merits class-action status, it could grow
to include the approximately 5,000 foreign workers the company employs in
the United States who may also have been allegedly required to give up
their tax refunds, said Vedachalam's attorney, Steven Tindall. It could
take until the end of the year for a judge to make that decision, attorneys
said.
Vedachalam said that when he was new to this country, he thought this was
the correct procedure. He was shocked to find out it wasn't true, he said.
"I felt humiliated about the way the treated us," he said. "It's not fair
to do it that way."
8. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/13872991.htm
Posted on Tue, Feb. 14, 2006
Suit alleges India firm collected employees' tax refunds
By Michele Chandler
Mercury News
A citizen of India working in California filed a class action lawsuit
Tuesday against his India-based employer, alleging that the company
collected tax refunds owed to its non-U.S. citizen workers.
Gopi Vedachalam, who transferred to the Bay Area in 2000 from Bangalore,
contends he was instructed to sign over his federal and state tax refund
checks to international consultancy firm Tata Consultancy Services. U.S.
citizens of the company, however, were not asked to sign over their
returns, his lawsuit alleges.
Vedachalam was assigned by Tata Consultancy to work as a project manager at
Target in Hayward, where he made $50,000 a year. From 2000 to 2005, the
refunds he signed over to Tata Consultancy totaled $25,000, according to
the lawsuit filed in San Francisco's federal district court.
``As we understand it, that is his money,'' said his lawyer, San
Francisco-based Steven Tindall.
An official with Tata Consultancy, which has 9,500 workers in North
America, said he had not seen the lawsuit.
``To the best of my knowledge, we have not been officially served with the
legal papers,'' Tata Consultancy spokesman Mike McCabe said. ``When we are,
we will respond appropriately. We take this very seriously.''
If certified as a class action case, the suit would be one of the first
filed against a company engaged in bringing non-U.S. citizens to the United
States to work in American corporations, Tindall said. Vedachalam, 37,
received an L-1 visa, which permits foreign companies to transfer workers
to their U.S. subsidiaries, Tindall said. Vedachalam still works for Tata
Consultancy; since 2003, he's been a project manager for 21st Century
Insurance in southern California.
A leading global technology services organization, Tata Consultancy
dispatches professionals, mainly engineers, to work on a contract basis
with U.S. firms including IBM and Microsoft, Tindall said. On Monday, Tata
Consultancy announced it had entered into a five-year research and
development collaboration with Stanford University to work on joint
projects focused on data privacy.
While the exact number of non-U.S. citizens working in California affected
by the company's practices is not known, the lawsuit said Tata Consultancy
employed hundreds of non-U.S. citizens throughout the state at the end of
2005.
Thousands of current and former Tata Consultancy employees are believed to
have been affected by the practices, Tindall said. The lawsuit seeks to
represent all non-U.S. citizen employees of Tata Consultancy who worked in
the United States between Feb. 14, 2000 and the present.
In a statement, Vedachalam said he tried to recover his tax refund money
through Tata Consultancy's internal procedures, ``but I was met with either
silence or refusal.''
``I work hard for Tata and the companies I have been assigned to,''
Vedachalam's statement said. ``I should receive the full wages Tata agreed
to pay me, as should all other Tata employees in America.''
Most of the company's workers stationed in the United States are non-U.S.
citizens. It's a common practice in the technology industry, including
among American-owned firms, to bring technology professionals from India
and other countries to the United States, Tata Consultancy's McCabe said.
Tata Consultancy also kept non-U.S. employees from being paid for vacation
time they did not use and could not roll over to the following year,
according to the lawsuit. While all Tata Consultancy workers in the United
States received 15 vacation days and could carry over five unused days to
the next year, U.S citizens could get cash for any unused days, but
non-citizens had to forfeit that pay, the suit said.
Only non-U.S. citizens who worked for Tata Consultancy in California from
February 2002 through the present are eligible for the suit's broader claim
pertaining to lost vacation wages. State law entitles California workers to
receive pay for vacation time earned but not taken.
9. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1413517.cms
Now blowing: Trade winds of change
ISHANI DUTTAGUPTA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2006 12:01:50 AM]
NRIs Rang De Basanti FREE DVD
Visas and outsourcing are two of the most important issues that Indians in
the US will be closely tracking when President George W Bush comes
visiting. Says Jagdip Ahluwalia, president of the Greater Houston & Dallas
chapters of US-India Chamber of Commerce:
"It is becoming more difficult to get visas for Indian business
professionals to visit the US. Indian IT entrepreneurs will be looking for
any announcement on raising the H1-B cap during President Bushs
interaction with India Inc and the Indian political leadership. Besides,
opening consulate offices in Bangalore and Hyderabad will also be welcome
moves."
Agrees Robinder Sachdev of US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC),
the most influential lobby of Indian Americans on Capitol Hill: "On the
business and industry front, immigration is the most important issue.
American and Indian American businesses are facing immense hardships due to
various work permit-related strictures. We hope that the visit of President
Bush will sensitise him more to the value of the Indian economy as a
trading partner with India, and clear the way for smooth movement of
professionals between the two countries."
USINPAC and its business wing, US India Business Alliance, are planning
separate delegations to India coinciding with the presidential visit. Feels
Karun Rishi, president, US-India Chamber of Commerce and Boston-based IT
entrepreneur: "The larger issues of reduction of bureaucratic hassles in
the movement of people between geographies will definitely figure in
discussions between President Bush and the Indian leaders."
Ron Hira, professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology,
and chair for IEEE-USA career and workforce policy committee, feels that US
businesses will also use this opportunity to seek reciprocity from India on
some key issues.
"US businesses will want greater liberalisation and deregulation in the
Indian economy - they want access to Indian markets. They are willing to
trade American jobs (increases in H-1B quotas, etc) for more access to the
Indian market. I feel this will be a focal point of economic discussions."
Meanwhile, the outsourcing debate in the US has shifted. Companies are much
more aggressively outsourcing jobs and are more public about it. Improved
job creation in the past two years has quelled some of the backlash from
Americans," says Mr Hira who specialises in engineering workforce issues
and technology policy and is author of Outsourcing America: Whats Behind
Our National Crisis And How We Can Reclaim American Jobs.
Another issue that Indian IT entrepreneurs would like to see addressed is
access by Indian firms to US federal government contracts.
"We would like to see that happen. Much US government work requires it be
done by US citizens with security clearances, and it must be done in the
US. With an improving climate of mutual co-operation and trust being built
between the US and India, we feel that participation by Indian companies in
federal contracts is a logical next step," feels David P Good, chief
representative (North America), Tata Group, who had earlier served as the
US consul-general in Mumbai. But theres life beyond IT as well.
"The visit is historic because President Bush will be the first Republican
president in office to visit India and is also Indias best friend in the
White House. Indian Americans like us would like to see the nuclear energy
agreement go forward. India Caucus is the largest in US Congress. We have
initiated the US Senate caucus too that is co-chaired by Senator Cornyn (R)
and Senator Clinton (D).
The healthcare sector is looking at health tourism as a burgeoning industry
in India. The Indian American medical community could support these
efforts," says Sharad Lakhanpal, a prominent Republican and one of the
major contributor to the Bush presidential campaign.
10. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=62056&paper=61&cat=109
Tech Guru Launches Bid for U.S. Senate
Two candidates seek Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. George
Allen (R-Va.).
by Brian McNeill
February 16, 2006
Harris N. Miller (D)
AGE: 54
HOMETOWN: McLean
FAMILY: Wife of 25 years, Deborah; two grown children, Derek and Alexis
CAMPAIGN ADDRESS: P.O. Box 3293, Falls Church, VA 22043
CAMPAIGN PHONE: 703-496-3291
WEBSITE: www.miller2006.org
E-MAIL: info@miller2006.org
EDUCATION: Undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, 1972,
majoring in political science and philosophy. Graduate degree from Yale
University, 1975, with a master's in political science and philosophy.
QUALIFICATIONS: Worked as aide for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and
for former U.S. Sen. John Durkin (D-N.H.); Served as deputy director of
personnel management for Congressional relations in the Carter
administration; Ran various small businesses in Northern Virginia,
specializing in banking, insurance, technology, agriculture, and
immigration issues; Headed Fairfax County Democratic Committee from 1986 to
1993; Worked as president of the Information Technology Association of
America from 1995 to 2006; Appointed by former Gov. Mark Warner (D) to the
Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission; Appointed by former
Gov. Doug Wilder (D) to the Virginia State Lottery Board; Appointed by
former Gov. Gerald Baliles to the Commission on the Federal Funding of
State Domestic Programs; Served as the chairman of various non-profit
organizations, including the Northern Virginia American Heart Association
and the Northern Virginia Board of the Virginia Opera.
Photo by Brian McNeill/The Connection
McLean resident Harris Miller is one of two Democrats seeking to unseat
U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.).
Harris Miller thinks things are a mess in Washington, D.C., and the
54-year-old technology mogul from McLean believes he's just the man to
clean it up.
"I was just kind of minding my own business last December when I realized
the mess in Washington had become so bad, we need some major changes," said
Miller, who is one of two candidates jockying for the Democratic nod in the
Nov. 7 race against U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.).
Miller is running against Arlington Democrat James Webb, a best-selling
military thriller novelist and former Secretary of the Navy. The state-wide
primary election will be held June 13.
"I'm George Allen's worst nightmare," Miller said.
The former president of the Information Technology Association of America
and past leader of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, Miller said his
business and political skills have prepared him to turn things around in
the Senate.
One of the top themes of Miller's campaign will be to implement ethical
reforms in Washington, particularly in light of recent lobbying scandals.
He asserted that the legislature is catering too much to special interests,
handing out in 2005 nearly 16,000 earmarks worth $47.4 billion.
"They should do away with earmarks altogether," he said. "They're totally
unnecessary."
Miller also denounced the Bush Administration's fiscal policy, which in
2006 is projected to run up a record $423 billion deficit.
"That is fiscal irresponsibility of the highest order," he said. "It's a
tax increase. You're taxing the next generation. There's not some magic
money fairy who comes out of the sky and makes it all go away."
If elected, Miller pledged to cut out federal waste while increasing
spending on high-tech research and development.
The United States has fallen to 18th in international math and science
scores, sixth in research and development investment and 14th in deployment
of broadband technology, he said.
"We've done a lousy job preparing for the future," he said. "There's no
path to innovation. To compete, we have to have the right training and
education in math and engineering."
MILLER MOST LIKELY has a tricky battle ahead in the coming months, as two
recent polls placed him far behind the one-term incumbent Allen.
In a Feb. 14 poll by the non-partisan Rasmussen Reports, Allen led Miller
by 48 percent to 35 percent. However, that is a smaller margin than in
mid-January, when Allen led Miller by 30 points.
Allen's favorability numbers have also slipped, declining from 70 percent
in January to just 61 percent in the new poll.
"Miller's been active in local Democratic politics for a while, but he
doesn't have the name recognition around the state," said Toni-Michelle
Travis, a George Mason University politics professor.
In locales around the commonwealth apart from Northern Virginia, a wealthy
technology businessman is unlikely to spark voter excitement.
"That's not going to play well in Buena Vista, South Boston or Buchanan
County," Travis said.
Yet a string of recent Democratic victories - such as Gov. Tim Kaine's win
last November and the landslide election to the Virginia Senate last month
of Loudoun County Democrat Mark Herring - give hope to the longtime party
activist.
"2006 is going to be a Democratic year," said Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly (D), who has known Miller for years.
"There is a wind at the back of every Democratic candidate."
Though he declined to disclose internal polling numbers, Miller said his
outlook is significantly better than the conventional wisdom. "I wouldn't
be doing this if I didn't think I could win," he said.
George Allen already has $6 million in his war chest. Neither Miller or
Webb have reported any campaign contributions yet.
"Once you get out of Northern Virginia and you go downstate, George is very
popular," said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-11). "I think [Miller] has an uphill
battle on his hands."
MILLER IS FAR from anyone's idea of left-wing. He supports requiring
parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion and he considers
himself a strong believer in the death penalty.
"I'm just an Old Testament kind of guy," he said. "A lot of Democrats don't
understand that."
In the late 1950s Miller's mother was mugged, but the prosecutor declined
to press charges, saying her injuries werent that serious. Ever since,
Miller said, he has taken a tough view of crime.
Miller also said he is a supporter of the Second Amendment. "This idea that
everyone who's got a gun is evil is simply wrong," he said.
Moreover, he has little time for liberals who express disdain at
conservative Christian beliefs. "So many Democrats talk about the
'Religious Right.' Well, that's disrespectful of their views."
As president of the Arlington-based Information Technology Association of
America, a trade group representing high-tech firms in Washington, Miller
drew fire for his support of electronic voting machines without a paper
trail and for his views on outsourcing tech jobs overseas.
However, Miller said his critics misunderstood his views on outsourcing IT
jobs. He does not support interfering with businesses that outsource, but
he does support the expansion of high-tech training opportunities in the
United States. For example he suggests that Southwest Virginia desperately
need jobs and could be home to call centers that are otherwise heading to
India.
Miller plans to focus his campaign on government service issues, like
reducing the federal deficit and investment in education. Unlike the GOP,
he said, his campaign will eschew social issues like abortion, gun rights
and gay marriage.
"Governing and politics are not opposite things," he said.
Another theme of Miller's campaign will be that Allen is overly focused on
a 2008 presidential bid, rather than working to serve Virginia.
"George Allen's spending more time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South
Carolina than he is in Virginia," Miller said.
A spokesman for Allen did not return phone calls last week.
A RESIDENT of Fairfax County since 1980, Miller is well known in the region
for his volunteer work with various arts organizations and the Northern
Virginia Jewish Community Center.
"He's been a fixture of the community," Connolly said. "He's a very
thoughtful guy who will run a vigorous and unconventional campaign."
Miller grew up in the coal and steel town of New Kensington, Penn.,
starting work at age 13 at the local steel mill. He was the first member of
his family to graduate from college, attending the University of Pittsburgh
and Yale on student loans and scholarships. "I'm living the American
dream," he said."
Prior to taking the top job at the Information Technology Association of
America in 1995, Miller worked as a congressional aide and as deputy
director of personnel management for congressional relations in the Carter
administration.
In 1984, Miller entered the private sector, spending the next 20 years
raising two children - who attended Fairfax County Public Schools - and
running various small business specializing in banking, insurance,
technology, agriculture, and immigration issues.
He has always been fascinated with technology, even today keeping gadgets
in his pockets like Blackberry wireless devices. In fact, he uses his
"crackberry" so often, his campaign aides have warned him to keep off it
while at public events.
He is also a longtime supporter of the arts, having served as chair of the
Northern Virginia Board of the Virginia Opera.
Music, he said, is his greatest passion. He and his wife keep a karoake
machine in their McLean home and he frequently uses it to sing "New York,
New York."
"I love music," he said. "But I have a terrible voice."
11. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0206vogel.htm
The NAFTA Corridors: Offshoring U.S. Transportation Jobs to Mexico
by Richard D. Vogel
(EXCERPTS)
U.S. workers, who have seen so many lucrative manufacturing jobs moved
overseas, assumed that import transportation and distribution jobs could
not be offshored and were, therefore, relatively secure. Current
transportation trends are proving labors assumption to be dead wrong.
By leveraging both the U.S. and Mexican governments and taking advantage of
the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), big capital
is developing container terminals in Mexico and using that country as a
land bridge and labor pool to deliver shipping containers to destinations
in the United States at discount prices.
Chart 1 signals the beginning of the assault on labor in the north, which
could eventually result in the offshoring of hundreds of thousands of
transportation jobs to the south and undermine the working class on both
sides of the border significantly. The success of this offshoring scheme
rests on the development of vast transportation corridors in the United
States and Mexico and the extensive exploitation of Mexican labor to both
construct and operate the system.
The NAFTA corridors will be up to 1,200 feet wide with separate lanes for
passenger vehicles (three in each direction) sandwiched between truck lanes
(two in each direction). The corridors will also contain six rail lines
(three in each direction): two tracks for high-speed passenger rail, two
for commuter rail, and two for freight. The third component of the corridor
will be a 200-foot-wide utility zone. To accommodate the railways and
underground utilities, the corridors will run at grade level and will
require extensive bridging at crossovers and intersections.
The heavy traffic on the NAFTA corridors will produce unprecedented
pollution.
Based on the estimated construction cost of $31.4 million per mile, the
4,000-mile Texas sections of the NAFTA corridors will cost $125.5 billion.
Downplaying the staggering economic costs and devastating environmental
impact of the NAFTA corridors, promoters are calling the proposed
transportation system a "world class concept" that "paves the way --
literally -- to the future." Getting beyond the promotional rhetoric in
order to put the issues of the economic costs and environmental destruction
of the NAFTA corridors in perspective involves confronting one of the
primary hidden agendas of the project -- the massive offshoring of U.S.
transportation jobs to Mexico in order to further capitalist accumulation
at the expense of the working class on both sides of the border.
Building and operating the NAFTA corridor system will require an army of
labor, and capital is looking for the cheapest labor it can find to
maximize profits. To meet their manpower needs, the developers and
operators of the NAFTA system are planning to exploit Mexican labor on an
unprecedented scale.
In addition to the takeover of Mexican ports, the ongoing privatization of
Mexican railroads is another key element in the offshoring plan. In 1997,
the privatization of government-owned railroads began, making possible the
merger of the NAFTA Railway and the opening of the Lazaro Cardenas-Kansas
City Transportation Corridor.
Although the negative impact of the massive offshoring of U.S. production
jobs to Mexico under NAFTA has been widely documented and denounced, the
impending threat to U.S. transportation jobs has been all but ignored
despite the fact that the rules governing ground transportation under NAFTA
were carefully articulated to accommodate the eventual offshoring of U.S.
trucking, railroad, and other material moving jobs to the south.
Though Mexican trucks were restricted to the immediate border area for the
first ten years under NAFTA because of environmental impact lawsuits, the
U.S. Supreme Court has recently cleared that roadblock, and the Bush
administration has called for full access as soon as the safety of Mexican
trucks can be certified.
Nothing exposes the scope of big capitals grand scheme to offshore U.S.
transportation jobs to Mexico like the multibillion-dollar megaport planned
for Punta Colonet, which is referred to in trade publications as "the
future Mexican Long Beach."
Through the development of the NAFTA corridors, big capital is
consolidating its position to offshore U.S. transportation jobs on an
unprecedented scale in order to reap windfall profits. The shipping firms
involved in the scheme are using the international border between the
United States and Mexico as a dividing line to pit U.S. and Mexican workers
against each other in order to instigate a wage war that only big capital
can win.
Between the signing of NAFTA in 1993 and the year 2002, 879,280 production
jobs in the United States were displaced. Most of these lost jobs were
relatively high-wage positions in manufacturing industries. And while many
of these jobs were offshored to the Far Eastern Pacific Rim during this
period, a significant number were relocated to Mexico under NAFTA.
While many workers north of the border will loose their jobs and the wages
and working conditions of the remaining transportation jobs will be
undermined, the direst consequences of the offshoring of U.S.
transportation jobs will fall on Mexican workers. The conditions of
employment and existence faced by transportation and distribution workers
will be as bad as, if not worse than, those currently suffered by
maquiladora production workers. Wages for these jobs will be below
subsistence levels, and slum housing and lack of social services will be
the norm.
Clearly, a titanic labor struggle lies ahead. The governments of both
Mexico and the United States have been complicit in the sustained war on
the workers that capital has been waging relentlessly for the last three
decades. Undeniably, both the U.S. and Mexican labor movements have
suffered serious setbacks under NAFTA. But the offshoring of U.S.
production and transportation jobs and the wholesale exploitation of
Mexican workers are just one facet of global capitals assault on
international labor and must be considered in that context. The dialectic
of global exploitation and labors response is the next subject to which
we must turn.
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