Letters for July 20, 2015

Letters for July 20, 2015

Immigration reform will be hot election issue

I used to believe “immigration reform” was to address the economic plight of our less fortunate neighbors south of the Rio Grande. The June 8 issue of “Times of India” predicted it will be a 2016 U.S. election issue: “The displacement of U.S. IT and back-office jobs will be a significant issue leading up to 2016. India’s $146-billion IT outsourcing industry has been a beneficiary of the temporary U.S. work visas that are required by skilled foreign workers to work in that country. The employees working at client locations in the U.S. are issued H-1B visas, which have a cap of 65,000 a year.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/H-1B-visa-fight-to-get-tougher-for-IT-companies/articleshow/47581154.cms

I missed the report last October where 250 pink-slipped Disney IT employees were ordered to train their lower-paid replacements imported from India. One thing about India: They provide health care and education for their citizens. Then companies like Disney, Facebook, Google, Microsoft use “H-1B” temporary-worker visas to bring in immigrants to work for less pay than American tech workers. Southern California Edison began 540 technology layoffs last year while hiring two Indian outsourcing firms for much of the work.

The below-referenced article has a copy of one of the “separation” letters the Disney employees received, that if they “remain an employee in good standing with the company, through the date you are separated by the company as a result of the transition of your work to a managed service provider … you will receive a lump sum payment equal to 10 percent of your base salary … contingent upon your continued satisfactory performance of your job duties and responsibilities through the separation date.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html

Along with Rupert Murdoch of News Corp., and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Walt Disney Co. chairman Robert Iger is a co-chair of the “Partnership For A New American Economy,” which along with “FWD.us” has been pressuring Congress for overhaul of immigration laws and an increase in the 65,000 H-1B visas issued annually. The FWD.us website disingenuously reads, “We begin with a basic premise: every person should have the chance to contribute to our economy and society. It doesn’t matter where a person comes from or who his or her parents are: creativity, talent and the willingness to work hard are what count. These values are fundamental to the tech community because human ability provides the foundation for everything we do. We know that denying opportunity to some diminishes prosperity for everyone.” Many of the Republican lawmakers who voted for the STEM Jobs Act, a pro-immigration bill, did so after they “heard from businesses that said: ‘This is important to our bottom line.’”

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/01/18/bloomberg-deploys-hundreds-of-ceos-to-move-lawmakers-on-immigration

Susan Oakley

Kapaa

God help our animals

Apparently Hawaii is not a good place for animals. I was appalled by the front-page story of the hunting dog that was taken, murdered and mutilated. I cannot fathom the thought process of someone who could be so cruel and so cowardly as to do such a thing. I hope the dog’s owners will file a complaint so that this horrific event can be investigated fully.

Then, this evening, there was video of the Oahu police shooting and killing an errant cow on Farrington Highway. It is difficult for me to believe that they could not have captured the animal to return it to its owner. The video was very distressing as it showed the animal confused, surrounded by cars and people, not being aggressive as it was shot dead.

I worry for our society as it is a fact that a society that does not respect and nurture its animals, does not respect and nurture each other.

To paraphrase Proverbs, the godly care for their animals, the wicked are cruel. It appears that the latter is much in evidence in “paradise.”

Deborah Johnson

Lihue

Trash pickup rule pretty silly

We read in TGI that our trash that goes in the pickup container must now be in bags. I must assume that these bags are going in the landfill.

We cannot get our groceries in plastic bags but now must buy plastic bags for our trash that is going in the landfill. Does this make any sense? In California WMI is able to dump loose trash in their trucks without spilling in the street.

Maybe Kauai should have looked at the trucks they use before buying our trucks. It seems like our county took one step forward and two steps backward. Let’s hope they figure how to dump loose trash in trucks without spilling in the street.

Richard Perry

Hanalei