Back in the late 80’s & the 90’s there were plenty of American COBOL programmers and the “prevailing” wage was rising because of Y2K work. I was front and center in it. I did some Y2K contract work. DB2 consulting was paying $200-250/hour, COBOL programming was paying $75/hour and rising. Then in 1990, George H W Bush introduced the H1B visa program. At first 65,000/year were allowed in. Then they raised it to 115,000/year in 1999. Quite a few COBOL programmers I knew left the profession because those visa holders, mostly Indian, drove down the wages to $20/hour and often less. With no unions to protect them, American workers were screwed. I was presented with a Tech Support opportunity in 2000 and never looked back.
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 6:45 PM, Seymour J Metz <[email protected]> wrote: The problem isn't the visas themselves, but the lack of enforcement of immigration and labor laws. If they actually paid prevailing wages then it wouldn't be an issue. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of Steve Thompson <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2025 5:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Cognizant External Message: Use Caution While this may be considered off-topic, think about the effect it has had on wages for people doing mainframe and related work in the USofA. This case is not going to fix the problem of too many visa holders chasing jobs. We still have all these visa holders who are paid less, with "agencies" offering less for serious work. Example, and I'm not the Lone Stranger: I'm back to full-time W2 work after 2 years of being offered less than I was making (adjusted for inflation) than I was in the 1990s. The recruiting companies are at cut-throat levels and asking for skills that are typically not seen with one person. Example form this week: Asking for COBOL, IMS, DB2, ALC and SAS. Really? Asking for DB2 leads who can be a DBA for DB2 and plus being a CICS admin. Oh yeah, and almost all of require one to be a multitask-er. Not making this up. I still get these even though I dropped Monster and Dice. I got my full time gig because a company was looking for people who could read ALC and extract biz rules, etc. And if you are doing C2C they think that $10 above W2 is sufficient. And I've even had one of these companies trying to bill us 4-6% for paying within 30 days. Like they are loaning us money, rather than realizing we are on the hook to make payroll even if they don't pay on time. How long will it take for things to get back to normal? So yeah, hope they get pilloried. Wage stagnation has been going on now for many years as a result of abusing the visa system. Regards, Steve Thompson On 2/26/2025 4:44 PM, Pommier, Rex wrote: > What does your link have to do with Disney employees and a lawsuit? The > article is talking about luxury apartments in Chennai. Either you got the > wrong link or I'm missing something. > > Rex > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of > Mike Schwab > Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2025 3:19 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Cognizant > > Yep Disney employees lost in 2014-2018. > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/property-/-cstruction/a-new-era-of-luxury-living-the-worlds-first-taj-branded-residences-in-chennai/articleshow/118575461.cms__;!!KjMRP1Ixj6eLE0Fj!pYs-ahtDD4XVogMZKHF58bIv8fSrukCCg-cVoKbUFL0L-9V6jcpeqUkvdqtD-aCIweCIqW0RB05d2SMR_MQ9uHqJrIYY0WjdRhAl$ > > > On Wed, Feb 26, 2025 at 2:54 PM Dick Williams < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Good luck, I hope Cognizant gets pillaged. Those pesky H1B visas >> probably cost me $50,000 or more in 1997-98. >> >> >> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone >> >> >> On Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 3:34 PM, Dick Williams < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> During my COBOL programming years in the 80’s & 90’s, Indian >> programmers were flooding the US market and suppressing wages. >> Especially during the approach to Y2K as hourly wages were approaching >> $75/hour. At the behest of American corporations, the US government >> increased the number of H1B visas allowed into the US. Most of the >> Indian programmers were being paid $15-20 an hour which started to >> suppress wages for American programmers to around $35-40. >> >> >> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone >> >> >> On Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 3:02 PM, Allan Staller < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> Classification: Confidential >> >> Reference? >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On >> Behalf Of Steve Beaver >> Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2025 1:57 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Cognizant >> >> [CAUTION: This Email is from outside the Organization. Unless you >> trust the sender, Don’t click links or open attachments as it may be a >> Phishing email, which can steal your Information and compromise your >> Computer.] >> >> Cognizant just lost a massive class action lawsuit for discrimination. >> The non-Indians vs the Indians and >> >> Now Cognizant has to pay all the non-Indians. >> >> >> >> Should be interesting >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send >> email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >> ::DISCLAIMER:: >> ________________________________ >> The contents of this e-mail and any attachment(s) are confidential and >> intended for the named recipient(s) only. E-mail transmission is not >> guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be >> intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or >> may contain viruses in transmission. The e mail and its contents (with >> or without referred errors) shall therefore not attach any liability >> on the originator or HCL or its affiliates. Views or opinions, if any, >> presented in this email are solely those of the author and may not >> necessarily reflect the views or opinions of HCL or its affiliates. >> Any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying, disclosure, >> modification, distribution and / or publication of this message >> without the prior written consent of authorized representative of HCL >> is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error >> please delete it and notify the sender immediately. Before opening any >> email and/or attachments, please check them for viruses and other defects. >> ________________________________ >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send >> email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >> >> >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send >> email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >> >> >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send >> email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >> > > -- > Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA > Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to > [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Regards, Steve Thompson ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
