Connect with other Boston region residents for political and/or legal action to recover our jobs and occupations.

email us:
contact at displacedtechies.com


Need to know the facts?

H-1B visa primer
L-1 visa primer
How-to search the DOL's LCA database


links

Techsunite
Zazona
Information Technology Professionals Association of America
CWA's Outsourcing Blog
T.O.R.A.W
NoSlaves.com
Lou Dobbs' List
F'ed Company
American Joblog
Rescue American Jobs
Metafilter
BoingBoing
Politech
Subterranean Homepage News
Big Blog Tool



HARRIS MILLER ALERT!!!



archives

2005
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2004
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March

More March
February
January

2003
December
November
September
August


No Sweat Apparel.com

Displaced Techies

allow american workers to participate in the global economy!


Wednesday August 31, 2005


Hurricane Katrina


This is not a post about outsourcing or H1b visas.

This is a post from my heart about home.

I am from the Gulf Coast, and words cannot express what I feel when I see what has happened in Mississippi and LA.

I am really afraid that our way of life may be over.

I have heard from friends and family how bad things are there....no food, no water, no AC (hey it is over 100 degrees every day), no communications.

THOUSANDS of people dead and gone.

And the stuff they need to SURVIVE is not getting there fast enough. The Sun Herald in Mississippi is reminding people to remember that there nothing left of the Mississippi Gulf Coast:

The essentials -- ice, gasoline, medicine -- simply are not getting here fast enough.

We are not calling on the nation and the state to make life more comfortable in South Mississippi, we are calling on the nation and the state to make life here possible.


I did not stay in the Florida Gulf Coast after I got out of college because there are no jobs there. Most of the people affected by this storm are simple, poor people. Why isn't how to help being discussed in the media here? Where is the telethon to help the Gulf Coast?

Why isn't the military in New Orleans and Bilouxi cleaning up and taking care of the looters??

Please open your hearts and help them out. Here is a list of relief organizations.
08:19 pm
Wednesday August 31, 2005
posted by gmminks
link

Monday August 15, 2005


Our Personal Data is *NOT* safe in India


Multiple undercover reports confirm this fact.

It seems your personal data....your SSN, your birthdate, your bank account numbers, the answer to your identity questions....are worth between $7 and $10 to the call center agents in India.



05:23 am
Monday August 15, 2005
posted by gmminks
link

Saturday August 13, 2005


HARRIS MILLER ALERT


Harris Miller and the ITAA have issued a statement saying that we need more H1B visas.


"The H1-B visa program is important to U.S. competitiveness in high technology," said ITAA President Harris N. Miller. "H1-B visa holders are foreign born individuals with talent and expertise unavailable in local markets. We believe a significant increase is required to meet the need for specialized skills and keep companies--and as a result jobs for US workers--growing at a steady pace."


OK, we have all seen the new H1B kids they bring over. They may be the top of the class, but they still are fresh out of class. They have no experience, thus no expertise (anyone still copying scripts straight out of O'Reilly to get the job done has not yet developed expertise).

Harris Miller is stretching the truth more than a little bit in his bid to convince Congress that American tech workers are no good. Shame on him!



09:43 am
Saturday August 13, 2005
posted by gmminks
link

Wednesday August 10, 2005


Does Romney actually live in this state?


According to The Milford Daily News

"I'd like to see more legal immigrants come to Massachusetts, not less," Romney said. "In terms of illegal immigration, I think it's relative to some other states. It's not a major problem of the same scale in our state. Our focus is instead on encouraging, in every way possible, legal immigration, refugees coming here, and supporting those people to become integrated in our society so that we can learn from them and they can become a vibrant part of our economy and of our society."


The article also says that last year immigrants accounted for 17 percent of the state's labor force and are the principal source of new labor in Massachusetts.


06:22 am
Wednesday August 10, 2005
posted by gmminks
link

Monday August 8, 2005


Microsoft moves jobs offshore


"Microsoft Corp. is cutting 72 positions at customer-support centers in Issaquah; Charlotte, N.C.; and Los Colinas, Texas, and moving the work to operations in Canada and India."


09:18 pm
Monday August 8, 2005
posted by gmminks
link

Saturday August 6, 2005


InfoWorld Blogger attempting to interview DOL


There are 27,788 H-1B visa applications in process by the Dept. of Labor.

That means there are 27,788 high tech jobs available in the US, jobs for which (according to the employers) there are no Americans qualified.

Kim Berry, of the Programmer's Guild, has been corresponding with InfoWorld, and had this to say about the pending H1B visas:


"In effect DOL has a list of 50,000 tech job openings in the U.S., but is stonewalling efforts by U.S. job seekers to obtain that list of job openings so that they can apply --- to be considered on an equal basis with foreign workers."

The author of InfoWorld's TechWatch blog has requested an interview with DOL officials to ask why the Labor Certification Agreements are not searchable, so US techies would know where the jobs are.

stay tuned...




10:48 am
Saturday August 6, 2005
posted by gmminks
link


Lots to post, no time


I am going for training next week, the last two or three weeks at work have been INSANE, and I have tons of stuff to post here.

So, I am quickly posting this hoping that next week I will get time to be more coherent.

I was invited to a dinner with some IEEE-USA folks last night. It was interesting, to say the least. IEEE seems to be searching for ways to get folks to understand that everything is not ok on the jobs front. At the same time, they are trying to develop strategies to help displaced techies connect with employers who are desperately looking for high-tech workers.

So, here is what I think would be interesting. If you are reading this because you are an unemployed|underemployed techie, answer the following questions and email them to me. I would like to put responses (they will remain annonymous) up on this blog, as a way of bringing the people's plight to the surface.

You never know, maybe someone reading this will need your skillset...

  1. Please list all degrees you hold.
  2. Please list all certifications you hold.
  3. Are you unemployed?

    • How long have you been unemployed?
    • would you consider moving to another part of the country in order to have a job? If not, why not?
    • would you consider accepting a job with considerably less pay than the last job you held?

  4. Are you underemployed?

    • If yes, are you still working in a technical position?
    • If you are not in a technical position, what field are you currently working in?

  5. Do you feel that you have been passed over for jobs based on your age? Could you give details of a situation that has made you feel this way?
  6. How many times have you been laid off from a permanant job?


Please pass the questionaire along...the more responses the better.


10:13 am

posted by gmminks
link

Buy American!


Union Jean Company
Union Jean Company
Onshore Alternatives

www.buympc.com

rss
XML

Listed on BlogShares

contact us
want to suggest an article?
want to complain?
admin at displaced techies.com