A wage far below the Danish minimum wage, a life of board and lodging and being tied to the workplace with the threat of repatriation should silence any criticism. That is the reality of Indian IT professionals in Denmark’s second largest IT company CSC, as with the Immigration Agency’s endorsement they are working in unbearable conditions in Denmark. That was documented on a spots in the radio program “P1 Orientation” on Monday evening. Read the rest of this entry »

Bill Moyers points out the hypocrisy of both the Republican and Democratic parties who both receive tremendous benefits from corporate sponsors.

It has been an eventful, challenging and exciting year for all our members and we are ending it on a very positive note with the addition of the Network Services to our membership.

There will be additional challenges in the New Year and I feel confident the Local is capable of facing them. Many thanks to all of you who contributed to the efforts of the Local and I know I can count on you in the coming year.

Enjoy the season and the company of family and friends. We will move into the New Year refreshed and ready to face those new challenges.

Happy Holiday to each one of you.

Remember several months back when Microsoft forced its contingent staff (also known as contractors or permatemps) to take a 10% pay cut? This same pay cut ended up being quite a bit more than 10% for many, especially for those who were forced to leave a contract and come back under a new contract.

Well, apparently Microsoft isn’t done in it’s quest to increase its bottom line.  The last pay cut drew a lot of negative publicity, since Microsoft was seen as taking advantage of the weak economy and in turn, hurting the local economy even more.  So, Microsoft is looking to use a more indirect approach by externalizing more of its costs.

Rumor has it that Microsoft is going to require its contractors who are categorized as “Vendors” (also known as “vee dash” since their email addresses start with a “v-”) to pay rent for the desks that they are using within the Microsoft facilities.  Microsoft’s rationale behind it is that these contractors can work on Microsoft’s projects anywhere, so providing a desk and a chair within the Microsoft facilities is considered a “service to the contractor”.  Microsoft is allegedly going to start charging the vendor class of contractors $400 per month starting in January of 2010.

So, you may be asking, “What is the difference between a vendor class contractor and the other contractors at Microsoft?”  Well, as far as job function goes, there really isn’t any difference.  They work on the same projects and in the same groups at Microsoft.  The differences are administrative.  One difference that many are familiar with is that vendor class contractors are not required to take a 100 day break from Microsoft after a year of service.  Vendor class contractors are also required to provide their own computer.  And apparently, starting in January, these contractors will be required to pay rent to Microsoft in order to have a desk to work at within the Microsoft facilities.  Not surprisingly, vendor class contracting appears to be becoming Microsoft’s preferred way of doing business when it comes to onsite staff.

Dan Gillespie

The President, Barack Obama, spoke at the AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention yesterday.  He said a lot of the same things he said to congress in his address on health care reform; I haven’t heard that there were any rude interruptions.

Being a political speech to labor he expressed the things we want to hear, health care and the Employee Free Choice Act.  I believe his sincerity, and in his opening remarks he congratulated those new officers elected adding “I’m looking forward to working with all of you.”  I feel that he is one of us.

He called us brothers and sisters and said that we are in this together.  I believe in him as a man, and I trust in him as a politician.

But I no longer trust party politics.

Later in his speech President Obama made what I think is the statement that we as rank and file members of the labor movement should consider as the most important:

“Few have fought for this cause harder, and few have championed it longer than you, our brothers and sisters in organized labor. You’re making phone calls, knocking on doors, and showing up at rallies”.

He was referring to the health care campaign, but it is true of all political and policy campaigns that we commit to.  That is what we do.  We organize, stump, doorbell and phone bank.  We give time, money and personal commitment to win the political influence in our municipalities, counties, states and at the federal level hoping to affect legislation favorable to American Labor.

But, it has become obvious to this observer that we and our efforts have been taken for granted.  We participated and celebrated in victories on the national level and in our own states that would not have been possible without us.  They need us to win.

It is disheartening to see the political party that’s “Labor’s best friend” turn their backs on us and pass legislation that only serves corporations.  Well, get a dog because nobody else is gonna love ya.

My proposal is this: form our own parties in each state of the union.  Labor councils and locals come together in convention to create our own political entities, run our own candidates.  Drop support for the two major parties and refuse to support any of their candidates.  Nature abhors a vacuum, and the political scene is vacuous indeed, so we should fill it.

The process that we’ve had for wielding our political influence has broken down to the point we do the bidding of party bosses that advance their own agendas.  There have been many cases where the only time they think of us is for money and volunteers.

You cannot ask someone to fight for you and expect to get what you want.  So, I would like to end with another quote from the President: “Now is the time for action.” Strap on your boots and toe the line.

 

 Standard Podcast [9:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As a part of the Trade Stories Project, a coalition of fair trade organizations, including the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, held a press briefing via telephone conference call.  On this call were several speakers, including Rennie Sawade, Communication Chair of WashTech.  The purpose of the conference was to express the need for Fair Trade that protects American workers, as President Obama prepares for the G20 conference.

 

 Podcast Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

At about 13 minutes into this video, Trumka talks about contingent (temp) tech workers and WashTech’s role in organizing tech workers.  Text from this section of the speech is below:

When we talk about the problems facing contingent workers they
really listen: and for good reason – after all, a man or woman working
as a temp or a freelancer today may as well be walking a tightrope
without a net.

They know workers with unions make more money and have better benefits; they just don’t think unions fit the way they work. And you can’t blame them because we haven’t really focused on the way they work.

Well, we can’t ask them to change the way they earn their living to meet our model for unionism; we have to change our approach to unionism to meet their needs.

One union that’s pioneering in this is the Communications Workers. They have an affiliate called WashTech. It began as a grassroots movement of temps working at Microsoft in Seattle. Now, thanks to the Internet, it has members from Boston to Silicon Valley and it’s evolving into a dynamic, new union of tech workers dealing with problems ranging from job security and health care, to offshore outsourcing and visas.

But, you know we can’t only address their needs where they work. We need to address the fact that a lot of young people going to college today are drowning in a sea of debt by the time they come out….

This highly controversial legislation, HB 1487, which goes into effect July 1st in Washington State, is just another example of a transnational corporation asserting its influence in our local government.  This legislation was drawn up inside of Microsoft and sponsored by Representative Ross Hunter, a former manager at Microsoft.

According to this Seattle Times article, this legislation will cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in the short term and will continue to cost more in the years to come.  While making deep cuts in education, this legislation passed by a wide margin. This clearly shows how Microsoft makes backroom deals with legislators with flawed judgement – and a capacity to ignore the majority they have pledged to serve.

“Rep. Ross Hunter pushed through legislation at Microsoft’s behest to extend in-state tuition rates to white collar professionals who are temporarily stationed at Microsoft on corporate visas –at the same time that Washington State lawmakers removed $1.5 billion from education, laidoff 2500 teachers, [and] slashed health care.” – Bright Future Jobs

Bright Future Jobs broke the story of the grassroots campaign – started by techs in Washington state – against Ross Hunter, now running for King County Executive. The campaign is asking everyone to donate $14.87, in protest of HB 1487, to any opponent of Ross Hunter of their choice.  You can see the candidates and their websites here.  The Primary Election is on August 18.

Internal Microsoft Document

Microsoft Continues to Pursue In-State Tuition Bill (03/18/2008)
The Washington State Senate and House of Representatives Higher Education Committees recently voted on a bill aimed at broadening the definition of “resident student” in the state of Washington. This bill would have allowed non-immigrants in L-1, L-2, H-1B, H-4, or E-3 status to pay in-state tuition. While the bill will not become law this session. We believe it has a strong chance of future success.

Origins of The Idea: You?
Microsoft focused efforts to change this state law after receiving suggestions from our employees in our webcast on January 10th. Jack Krumholtz and Lydia Tamez promised to pursue this idea, and provide updates on the progress. Our webcasts on immigration issues provide an excellent opportunity not only for us to keep you informed about important policy developments but also for us to understand what issues are central to you and for us to gain the benefit of your ideas This is one example of how your ideas influence the direction of Microsoft’s efforts to change state laws on immigration.

Team Efforts at Microsoft to Pursue The Blll’s Passage
Through the strong support of Microsoft’s State Government Relations Team, this bill was drafted and introduced in the state legislature in January 2008. On February 6 2008, Lydia Tamez, the Associate General Counsel for Microsoft Global Migration, testified before the Washington State Senate Committee on Higher Education. The bill easily passed the State Senate by a vote of 46-1 and then moved to the House of Representatives. On February 21, 2008, Lydia testified again, this time before Washington State House of Representatives Higher Education Committee, This committee passed the bill sending it on to the House Appropriations Committee .

Current Status of the Bill and Future Projections
Unfortunately, the bill stalled when the Speaker of the House, Frank Chopp, determined not to move any bills relating to immigration for the time being. This decision has ended our chances for success this session. However, the Washington State House and Senate committees that have heard Lydia’s testimony now understand this important issue more fully. The efforts of Microsoft this year will likely to ensure that this topic will have a high-profile for next year. Already, University of Washington Regent Bill Gates Sr. has expressed his support for the bill, and the Speaker of the House has indicated that he may permit the bill move to a vote in the next session.

Microsoft is committed to pursuing this initiative vigorously. As always, we are grateful for the ideas you contribute, and we will keep you informed as we make progress toward making this in-state tuition idea a reality. A special word of thanks to Delee Shoemaker, Director of State Government Affairs, and Fred Humphries, Managing Director of State Government Affairs for all their efforts in the past two months in moving this bill forward!

Immigration
Microsoft Tuition Reimbursement for Master’s Degree Prevents I-140 Upgrades (July 2007)
Periodically, in addition to the latest immigration news happenings, MIG highlights issues in our hot news items that are critical to many employees. For individuals considering an upgrade of their EB3 process to EB2 via a master’s degree, please take note of the following:

To qualify for PERM Labor Certification, an employee cannot have received any monetary assistance from the sponsoring employer towards the job’s educational requirements. This means that even if less than 100% of the education or training required for the sponsored job is paid by Microsoft. This would likely result in a denial of the PERM application. Question J23 of ETA-9089 asks: Did the employer pay for any of the alien’s education or training necessary to satisfy any of the employer’s job requirements for the position”? If the answer to this question is “yes,’ an audit likely will be triggered, and we expect a denial.

Prior to using Microsoft’s tuition benefit, employees should contact their immigration attorney to assess whether this Microsoft benefit will potentially negatively impact their green card options — your attorney will advise you of your options.

Immigration Q&A
My spouse is also in F-1 status, and we are filing her My spouse is also in F-1 status, and we are filing her I-485 application in July. Once she has her EAD approved, will her college give her in state tuition?

Answer: Immigration law does not control the tuition that colleges charge foreign national students. Your spouse should ask his or her Designated School Official about the schools tuition policy for individuals who have pending I-485 applications.

 

 Mad In America [4:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Check out http://www.madnamerica.com/ and get “Mad in America”.

Mad in America is a middle class protest about job off-shoring, outsourcing, and plant relocations.

This is a busy year for AT&T contract negotiations.  To view other district reports, go here.

Also available is the March 31st CWA at AT&T publication.