ORLANDO, Fla. — The employees who kept the data systems humming in the vast Walt Disney fantasy fief did not suspect trouble when they were suddenly summoned to meetings with their boss.
While
families rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and searched for Nemo on
clamobiles in the theme parks, these workers monitored computers in
industrial buildings nearby, making sure millions of Walt Disney World
ticket sales, store purchases and hotel reservations went through
without a hitch. Some were performing so well that they thought they had
been called in for bonuses.
Instead, about 250 Disney employees were told in late October
that they would be laid off. Many of their jobs were transferred to
immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers, who
were brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India. Over the next
three months, some Disney employees were required to train their
replacements to do the jobs they had lost.
“I
just couldn’t believe they could fly people in to sit at our desks and
take over our jobs exactly,” said one former worker, an American in his
40s who remains unemployed since his last day at Disney on Jan. 30. “It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it.”
Disney
executives said that the layoffs were part of a reorganization, and
that the company opened more positions than it eliminated.
But
the layoffs at Disney and at other companies, including the Southern
California Edison power utility, are raising new questions about how
businesses and outsourcing companies are using the temporary visas,
known as H-1B, to place immigrants in technology jobs in the United
States. These visas are at the center of a fierce debate in Congress
over whether they complement American workers or displace them.
According
to federal guidelines, the visas are intended for foreigners with
advanced science or computer skills to fill discrete positions when
American workers with those skills cannot be found. Their use, the
guidelines say, should not “adversely affect the wages and working
conditions” of Americans. Because of legal loopholes, however, in
practice, companies do not have to recruit American workers first or
guarantee that Americans will not be displaced.
Full article: The New York Times
Related article: The Disney Diner
No comments:
Post a Comment