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I can't believe no one mentioned this gem: "Grassley, a Republican, wrote to Rometty on April 16 to express concern about “reports of mass layoffs” even as IBM

I can't believe no one mentioned this gem: "Grassley, a Republican, wrote to Rometty on April 16 to express concern about “reports of mass layoffs” even as IBM requested H-1B work visas to allow 5,800 foreign employees to be authorized to work for the company in the U.S."

nova22033 11y ago
>reports of mass layoffs Whatever happened to the Cringley reported mass layoffs? http://www.cringely.com/2015/01/22/ibms-reorg-hell-launches-next-week/ http://www.cringely.com/2015/01/22/ibms-reorg-hell-launches-... IBM’s big layoff-cum-reorganization called Project Chrome kicks-off next week when 26 percent of IBM employees will get calls from their managers followed by thick envelopes on their doorsteps. By the end of February all 26 percent will be gone. I’m told this has been in the planning for months and I first heard about it back in November.
- cwyers 11y ago
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2015/01/28/the-ibm-axe-starts-chopping-widespread-layoffs-begin/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2015/01/28/the-ibm-axe-... https://gigaom.com/2015/01/28/looks-like-those-ibm-layoffs-have-started/ https://gigaom.com/2015/01/28/looks-like-those-ibm-layoffs-h...
  - kjs3 11y ago
    Those articles are from January, and Cringley said 25% of the workforce would be gone by Feb. It never happened. There have been layoff, and one day in the future it might amount to 100k, but nothing like 100k people in a month, or 5. Typical Cringley "take this little fact, coat thickly with histrionics and invective to drive clicks, and declare yourself a genius insider when the little fact turns out to be true".
at-fates-hands 11y ago
I saw that too and was going to comment on it. I'm starting to see a lot more companies who are starting to outsource their work to H1-B's and even moving a lot of their work to India. My sister worked at Cargill for 20 years and just recently found out her entire department (enterprise application development) with all her developers were being canned and the jobs sent over to India. Hell, the current project I'm on, we have a team of 23 people and myself and one BA are the only American born people on the team. The rest are all from India and have to go back in a few months when their H1-B visas expire. Two years ago, I found out Thomson Reuters were in the process of outsourcing 80% of their development in a combination of H1-B's and work going directly to India. I always thought as a developer my job would be relatively safe and I could work in a nice stable corporate environment - guess I was wrong.
- imaginenore 11y ago
  H1B is not outsourcing. They are full time local workers by definition. It's amazing companies can get away with firing people and then hiring H1Bs, who, by the government requirements, can't take a citizen's job place.
  - liveoneggs 11y ago
    But didn't you know there was a massive STEM worker shortage?!
  - forgotAgain 11y ago
    H1B is not outsourcing. By definition perhaps, but not in practice. When a company replaces long term employees with H1B's, the H1B's are (in my experience) typically employed by a third party such as a foreign based service provider. Most of the largest users of H1B's are outsourcing agencies.
  - at-fates-hands 11y ago
    >> who, by the government requirements, can't take a citizen's job place. The ironic part of my project is now my manager is under pressure because they want to start converting people to full-time and I'm the only one eligible since the rest of the team all have to go back to India soon. In my 1:1 meeting's my manager is always frustrated since the executives want more full time people, but keep bringing in H1-B's. They just don't get it.

nova22033 11y ago

>reports of mass layoffs Whatever happened to the Cringley reported mass layoffs? http://www.cringely.com/2015/01/22/ibms-reorg-hell-launches-next-week/ http://www.cringely.com/2015/01/22/ibms-reorg-hell-launches-... IBM’s big layoff-cum-reorganization called Project Chrome kicks-off next week when 26 percent of IBM employees will get calls from their managers followed by thick envelopes on their doorsteps. By the end of February all 26 percent will be gone. I’m told this has been in the planning for months and I first heard about it back in November.

cwyers 11y ago
http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2015/01/28/the-ibm-axe-starts-chopping-widespread-layoffs-begin/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/benkepes/2015/01/28/the-ibm-axe-... https://gigaom.com/2015/01/28/looks-like-those-ibm-layoffs-have-started/ https://gigaom.com/2015/01/28/looks-like-those-ibm-layoffs-h...
- kjs3 11y ago
  Those articles are from January, and Cringley said 25% of the workforce would be gone by Feb. It never happened. There have been layoff, and one day in the future it might amount to 100k, but nothing like 100k people in a month, or 5. Typical Cringley "take this little fact, coat thickly with histrionics and invective to drive clicks, and declare yourself a genius insider when the little fact turns out to be true".

at-fates-hands 11y ago

I saw that too and was going to comment on it. I'm starting to see a lot more companies who are starting to outsource their work to H1-B's and even moving a lot of their work to India. My sister worked at Cargill for 20 years and just recently found out her entire department (enterprise application development) with all her developers were being canned and the jobs sent over to India. Hell, the current project I'm on, we have a team of 23 people and myself and one BA are the only American born people on the team. The rest are all from India and have to go back in a few months when their H1-B visas expire. Two years ago, I found out Thomson Reuters were in the process of outsourcing 80% of their development in a combination of H1-B's and work going directly to India. I always thought as a developer my job would be relatively safe and I could work in a nice stable corporate environment - guess I was wrong.

imaginenore 11y ago
H1B is not outsourcing. They are full time local workers by definition. It's amazing companies can get away with firing people and then hiring H1Bs, who, by the government requirements, can't take a citizen's job place.
- liveoneggs 11y ago
  But didn't you know there was a massive STEM worker shortage?!
- forgotAgain 11y ago
  H1B is not outsourcing. By definition perhaps, but not in practice. When a company replaces long term employees with H1B's, the H1B's are (in my experience) typically employed by a third party such as a foreign based service provider. Most of the largest users of H1B's are outsourcing agencies.
- at-fates-hands 11y ago
  >> who, by the government requirements, can't take a citizen's job place. The ironic part of my project is now my manager is under pressure because they want to start converting people to full-time and I'm the only one eligible since the rest of the team all have to go back to India soon. In my 1:1 meeting's my manager is always frustrated since the executives want more full time people, but keep bringing in H1-B's. They just don't get it.