Laid-off IT workers worry US is losing tech jobs to outsourcing - hilliardingold

Sixty-iii-year-old Bob Zhang is worried about the future of tech jobs in the U.S. Will the high-paying positions represent a thing of the past?

Zhang thinks information technology's already starting to happen. Atomic number 2's one of 79 IT workers from the University of California, San Francisco, who've been laid off. Tuesday was their last day employed. To replace them, the school is outsourcing some of their work to an Indian firm.

"Usually, they outsource the low-stipendiary jobs," he aforementioned at a gathering outside a school building. "But now they use H-1B (visa) and use foreign workers to replace the high-paying jobs. This trend is dangerous."

It was a sentiment shared among the laid-off IT workers, who've well-tried to push the school to economize their positions, to no avail. Now they fear other publicly-funded universities will take the same feeler, and replace U.S. employees with foreign workers.

"IT's everybody's problem," said Jeff Bronze, another unemployed staffer. "I think there are unending effects to what happens here."

Michael Kan

A boxful of possessions from laid-sour UCSF IT worker Kurt Holmium on February. 28, 2017.

The layoffs at the school have grabbed headlines, because it's a rarified instance of a publicly funded university outsourcing and offshoring IT work to an Indian firm, allegedly direct the expend of the Union soldier H-1B visa program.

That program contains loopholes, critics enjoin, that experience allowed U.S. companies to bring foreign Information technology workers to replace jobs once held by U.S. citizens.

In its defense, the university has same the outsourcing will save it more than $30 billion over five years, at once when the schoolhouse is troubled to carry on with rise costs.

"Information technology costs on the university's clinical side nearly tripled between 2011 and 2016," the university said in a statement on Tuesday. "This emergence rate is non property."

As a result, the university is contracting out some of the work to HCL, an offshoring outsourcing Indian firm well far-famed for its use of H-1B visas. But the school aforementioned no of the lost jobs are being replaced with H-1B visa holders.

The ordered-off workers say this International Relations and Security Network't the case. Before they left their positions, some trained their incoming replacements from HCL, which they suspect are on H-1B visas and bequeath work at the civilize.

"Once you charg unstylish the manufacturing jobs, once you send the overhaul jobs, once you send back the research jobs, what's left? There's null left," said Tan, WHO's 55 and now looking for a spick-and-span job.

Kurt Ho, another laid-off doer, aforementioned helium was paid an annual salary of about US$110,000, but the novel workers replacing his position leave fraction that amount.

"In ii years, I could be at another party, and I could be facing the same thing," he aforesaid.

Thirteen of the workers are intelligent about suing the civilis, claiming the way their jobs were eliminated amounted to secernment. But filing a lawsuit will imply receiving none severance devote. The workers will likely file the lawsuit in 30 to 60 years, a lawyer for them aforesaid.

Forty-eight-year-gray Bizhan Tabatabaian, some other mannered worker, said he'll bring some time off before looking for a new job. But he's concerned it won't be easy to find employment, partly because of his age.

Michael Kan

Bizhan Tabatabaian (left) leaving his office at UCSF on Feb. 28, 2017.

"Most of my CO-workers have non found work, and that's a little scary," he said.

Tabatabaian is also a graduate of the University of CA, Berkeley. So he's discomposed that a UC school is sending work and money sea.

"It's sending a mixed message," he said. "Our jobs were just sent offshore by an institute of higher-learning, which should be fostering that education, not sending it off-site."

Although U.S. politicians, including President Donald Trump, are looking at at changes to the H-1B visa program, Tabatabaian is doubtful anything will come of it.

"There's talk about fixing things, and no has done it yet," helium said. "And I'm the trial impression."

UCSF said information technology gave the laid-off workers Captain Hicks months' notice and has been trying to help them find new employment at other UC schools. Of the 49 permanent employees that were dismissed, 32 bear already fastened new employment operating theatre wish retire, the civilize said.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/412229/laid-off-it-workers-worry-us-is-losing-tech-jobs-to-outsourcing.html

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