[JayCT]

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

Don't think anyone said there are "no" tech jobs in Hartford, but in comparison to other affluent metro areas, there are very little..

That doesn't make anyone "uneducated"..

Uhhh.. yes there were people saying this here. And that is because they are uneducated about the tech field and jobs in Hartford. Just because we do not have a Google or Apple here does not mean the tech field is "very little". When Aetna CEO Mark Bartolini "claimed" they needed to move their headquarters to New York to attract tech talent, the CEO of Travelers noted that their technology group is based in Hartford and they have no trouble attracting tech talent to it. Hartford based insurers are among the most technology advanced companies in the world. Add in companies like Pratt & Whitney; UTC Aerospace and UTC Research and you have a pretty good sized tech business for a city the size of Hartford. Its not Silicon Valley or Seattle but it certainly is not "very little" either. Jay

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

You have this totally wrong.

It's a zero sum game. Infosys will "bring 1,000 decent paying tech jobs" to metro Hartford by replacing full time employees with Infosys contractors at 60 cents on the dollar. They're not adding jobs other than sales staff who make the pitch to corporate CFOs and interact with the hiring managers. You just put 1,000 full time employees out on the street with nothing but a job offer from Infosys to take an hourly contract job with no employer-paid benefits. It's a great deal for the stockholders since it reduces operating costs significantly. Not so great if you are part of the unlucky crew who lose their full time jobs.

I saw this happen in the large Philly-based cable company a lot of people here get service from. The whole QA group vaporized. The whole IT group vaporized. A bunch of sustaining engineering people vaporized. Those job slots are all now hourly Infosys contractors. A bunch of those contractors are former full time employees who saw a really big drop in total comp. They're hourly and they don't get paid for all those days they're not in the building because it's a furlough or a company holiday.

As I noted before, Infosys is doing this no matter what we say or do. Would you rather these jobs go somewhere else? You do not know what this will do to local tech jobs here but at least there will be jobs here instead of some other far off city down south or off shore. Jay

[Scottamemnon]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Uhhh.. yes there were people saying this here. And that is because they are uneducated about the tech field and jobs in Hartford. Just because we do not have a Google or Apple here does not mean the tech field is "very little". When Aetna CEO Mark Bartolini "claimed" they needed to move their headquarters to New York to attract tech talent, the CEO of Travelers noted that their technology group is based in Hartford and they have no trouble attracting tech talent to it. Hartford based insurers are among the most technology advanced companies in the world. Add in companies like Pratt & Whitney; UTC Aerospace and UTC Research and you have a pretty good sized tech business for a city the size of Hartford. Its not Silicon Valley or Seattle but it certainly is not "very little" either. Jay

I work for the company beginning with the letter T referenced aboce.. in IT. We have a steady stream of contract workers coming from these indian companies. On top of that we have now outsourced a lot of our workers in development and QA to workers in India.. and this number is only increasing with time. My team regularly wonders if we are the next ones on the chopping block in favor of cheaper contract or offshore work.

Companies are addicted to profit right now, because of the stock market. We DEMAND that companies cut costs every year now, or else their stock takes a hit. Until this expectation changes, we will continue to see this visa abuse happen.

I personally would rather they not be in Hartford, or the state at all. It just means that the pressure to replace us will increase as there will be another player in town telling executives how much they can save.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by JayCT

As I noted before, Infosys is doing this no matter what we say or do. Would you rather these jobs go somewhere else? You do not know what this will do to local tech jobs here but at least there will be jobs here instead of some other far off city down south or off shore. Jay

And again, this is a zero sum game. Infosys is all about replacing full time employees at other corporations with cheaper contractors with no benefits and collecting the 20% markup. Infosys doesn't create jobs. It creates massive pay cuts and layoffs for full time employees.

I'd rather Infosys, Tata, and the like be banned from doing business in the United States. The whole H-1B loophole thing where a corporation can't replace a US citizen employee with an H-1B employee but they can replace a full time employee with an Infosys contractor who happens to be an H-1B is disgusting.

[CT_Yank]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

And again, this is a zero sum game. Infosys is all about replacing full time employees at other corporations with cheaper contractors with no benefits and collecting the 20% markup. Infosys doesn't create jobs. It creates massive pay cuts and layoffs for full time employees.

I'd rather Infosys, Tata, and the like be banned from doing business in the United States. The whole H-1B loophole thing where a corporation can't replace a US citizen employee with an H-1B employee but they can replace a full time employee with an Infosys contractor who happens to be an H-1B is disgusting.

Geoff,

As I walked out of work yesterday, I passed by a closed room where 2 dozen Tata H1Bs are being trained to replace our internal network and telephony support team. It is so underhanded. The room was frosted and put in back area away from perm workers. Whole purpose is to hide H1B Indians while they are being trained locally. Many of the impacted are 40 year old + American citizens which I believe will have hard time finding something else that pays decently. I can't believe this is being debated. Infosys, Tata, WiPro are not good additions to any state. It is a sign that nothing is changing in this state and most likely getting worse.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by CT_Yank

Geoff,

As I walked out of work yesterday, I passed by a closed room where 2 dozen Tata H1Bs are being trained to replace our internal network and telephony support team. It is so underhanded. The room was frosted and put in back area away from perm workers. Whole purpose is to hide H1B Indians while they are being trained locally. Many of the impacted are 40 year old + American citizens which I believe will have hard time finding something else that pays decently. I can't believe this is being debated. Infosys, Tata, WiPro are not good additions to any state. It is a sign that nothing is changing in this state and most likely getting worse.

But this is not just happening in our state. It is a national problem and there is nothing our state can do about it. Companies are going to seek lower cost options no matter what. I don't like it either but what can anyone do about it? Should the state have said no to 1,000 jobs? I don't think so. Jay

[SeaDoo342]

Originally Posted by JayCT

But this is not just happening in our state. It is a national problem and there is nothing our state can do about it. Companies are going to seek lower cost options no matter what. I don't like it either but what can anyone do about it? Should the state have said no to 1,000 jobs? I don't think so. Jay

Except you are ignoring that other states have the job growth to offset that --- CT does not..

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

Except you are ignoring that other states have the job growth to offset that --- CT does not..

What does that have to do with anything? We have had job growth. Our private sector employment have returned to pre-recession levels. I keep asking the same thing but no one wants to acknowledge it. Would you rather these jobs go to another state? Jay

[Scottamemnon]

Originally Posted by JayCT

What does that have to do with anything? We have had job growth. Our private sector employment have returned to pre-recession levels. I keep asking the same thing but no one wants to acknowledge it. Would you rather these jobs go to another state? Jay

I acknowledged it.. and said I think it is better if they are not here. I will be very clear. I wish they would take their 1000 "jobs" and go to a different state. Odds are they are just going to take 1000 positions that are currently W2, company employee positions at the big insurance companies and replace them with 1000 contractors. The net result is loss of jobs that can support a family long term.

Its really not much different from wanting to prevent Walmart from coming to your town. Walmart will undercut all your other companies, and will pass on the cost to the state in increased welfare costs since they dont pay a living wage.

While the negative affect is different between these two, the end result is the same.. good, family supporting jobs are gone... replaced with a predatory company that only believes in bleeding markets dry for profit.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Scottamemnon

I acknowledged it.. and said I think it is better if they are not here. I will be very clear. I wish they would take their 1000 "jobs" and go to a different state. Odds are they are just going to take 1000 positions that are currently W2, company employee positions at the big insurance companies and replace them with 1000 contractors. The net result is loss of jobs that can support a family long term.

Its really not much different from wanting to prevent Walmart from coming to your town. Walmart will undercut all your other companies, and will pass on the cost to the state in increased welfare costs since they dont pay a living wage.

While the negative affect is different between these two, the end result is the same.. good, family supporting jobs are gone... replaced with a predatory company that only believes in bleeding markets dry for profit.

Except that even if they did not open an office here, they would be taking those jobs away from others. It is inevitable so why not have their office in Hartford? I don't see why people do not understand that. Jay