BofA Programmer Commits Suicide - Part 4
BofA Programmer Commits Suicide - Part 4
Date: Monday, May 26, 2003 11:49 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
www.ZaZona.com
http://vdare.com/letters/tl_052103.htm
Todays Letter: A Reader Mourns An American Programmer Who Lost His
Job And Took His Life
On May 13, The Contra Costa Times reported on an event that should
trouble us all the suicide of Kevin Flanagan, 41. ( Job losses sap
morale of workers, by Ellen Lee elee@cctimes.com) Kevin was not a
drug addict, a convict, or a neer-do-well; he was a trained computer
programmer with years of experience whose job was sent overseas. The
Contra Costa Times story reports that led by the
information-technology industry, 3.3 million service jobs and $136
billion in wages will move from the United States to such countries as
India and Russia over the next decade or so.
At the same time, the federal government is cooperating with
hugely-profitable computer companies to relax H-1b visa restrictions,
so thousands more programmers from India, Pakistan, and other
impoverished countries can pour into the U.S. to compete with American
programmers like Kevin. In 2002, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton
Friedman characterized H-1B visas as a government subsidy program.
A month ago, Kevin Flanagan found out that hed be losing his job at
the Bank of Americas Concord Technology Center. That same day, he
took his life in the parking lot of his former employer.
It wasnt that Flanagan was surprised to lose his job hed seen it
coming for months, as his father told the paper. Flanagan had watched
as veteran co-workers were forced to train newcomers from India then
fired and replaced by the immigrants. One former employee told the CC
Times that employees at Concord feel like theyre on death row.
Every day you think, Is this the day Im gone? he said.
Typically, the Contra Costa Times story did not draw the connection
between the loss of high-tech jobs and immigration. But one of the
storys sources did; Peter Bennett, a refugee from the technology
consulting industry, who founded a group called NoMoreH1B.com. On its
site, Bennett estimates that approximately 800,000 highly-skilled U.S.
workers are now unemployed as a direct result of Congress' H-1B visa
legislation.
The story also gave the impression that the Bank of America was
shifting jobs overseas and hiring immigrants to preserve its
competitiveness. But the numbers tell a different story that of a
prosperous bank which has let greed trump any sense of patriotism or
social responsibility.
The Bank of America (Chairman and CEO Kenneth D. Lewis) is a public
company. According to its most recent report to Securities and Exchange
Commission (10-Q), the companys first quarter revenues this year
were $8.85 billion up $0.3 billion from the same quarter last year.
Data processing expenses consumed only 2.94 percent of revenue hardly a
drain on profits.
But that hasnt stopped Bank of America from using immigrants to
undercut American workers. The U.S. Dept. of Labor H-1B website shows
that in just two years, the company has imported about 200 technical
professionals, mostly managers. Many received low pay for the work they
perform for instance, one Securities Operations Analyst" who is paid
only $38,100 annually.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, since most of the banks newly
imported employees are likely to be contractors who report to the
imported managers.
How do I know this? Ive read it in press releases from outsourcing
firms, mostly based in India, with names like as Syntel, Cognizant,
Tata (TCS), Exult, HCL Infosys, Wipro, and Satyam all list Bank of
America as a client. Between them, they employ thousands of Non
Immigrant Visa (NIV) holders who dont appear in the above Federal
tabulations.
In fact, many new Bank of America contractors fail to appear on
California or Federal tax rolls at all, since they are paid by foreign
firms with foreign currency via the L-1 program. (But they and their
families use government services, so U.S. citizen taxpayers pay those
bills.)
More than 17.2 million such visas have been granted since 1985. Nice
work, if you can get it.
To learn more about the H1B program and how to fight it, see
www.ZaZona.com and www.numbersusa.com.
[Gene Nelson is a U.S. citizen and a computer programmer, who has been
seeking employment since 2001. His former employer still employs H1B
immigrant. Nelson has testified before Congress on the H-1B program.
His upcoming book is An American Scam - How Special Interests Undermine
American Security with Endless "Techie" Gluts. E-mail
[c0030180@airmail.net]
him for a 22 - page special Congressional Summary.]
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