Summary: Microsoft's lobbying with convicted criminal Abramoff (for cheaper labour) comes back to haunt them

EARLIER this year we wrote a great deal about EDGI. It is an anti-competitive programme that Microsoft was running for years in order to just block competition such as GNU/Linux. Antitrust exhibits also showed the role of EDGI in India, e.g.:

• Microsoft's EDGI in India: Fighting GNU/Linux in Education
• Microsoft Hijacks Maharashtra's Education, to Teach Many Children How to Smoke Windows
• Extended Windows 98 EOL to Block Government Migrations to GNU/Linux and Free Software; More 'Donations'
• Is Microsoft 'Pulling an EDGI' on Kerala? (Updated)

As we last showed one week ago, Microsoft is expanding its operations in India in order to reduce workers' wages. The following new article from the Economic Times speaks about both the expansion and EDGI (which Microsoft publicly calls "Unlimited Potential", even though it is a euphemism).

Convergys and Microsoft set up community technology centre in Bangalore

[...]

Vikas Goswami, Community Affairs Manager, Microsoft India, said, "Under our global Unlimited Potential initiative, we are committed to reaching the benefits of technology to those currently underserved by it. This alliance with Convergys is another step in that direction, and one that we hope will have a positive impact on scores of lives."

Here are some more new deals and partnerships for Microsoft in India and from the India Journal we learn that "Max H-1B Visas Taken By Wipro, Microsoft, Infosys"

The U.S. economy is still reeling under the impact of recession and even though unemployment continues to rise, employers have stepped up the hiring of skilled workers from abroad, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The acceleration in recent weeks has put companies close to exhausting the 65,000 visas allotted each year for foreign hires under what’s known as the H-1B program, reports Business Week.

[...]

Non U.S. outsourcers still claimed six of the top 10 places in fiscal 2009, although the numbers were off for the largest operators. India’s Infosys Technologies topped the list in fiscal 2008, with 4,559 visas, but last year got only 440. Wipro was the largest visa recipient in 2009, with 1,964, down from 2,678 in 2008. Sridhar Ramasubbu, Wipro’s Chief Financial Officer for International Operations, says that the drop is the result of lower demand caused by the recession and changes in the company’s workforce. “We’re now operating in 58 countries,” he says.

We have already explained what Wipro does for Microsoft in India [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. For background about Infosys, see older posts that are about a year old. Not much has changed since then. Infosys is helping Microsoft legalise software patents in India [1, 2, 3], it is exploiting Indian people, and it also helped OOXML [1, 2]. There is lots more [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. In essence, Wipro and Infosys are helping a neo-colonialist, a foreign digital invader. It is not about helping India but about making India more dependent on Microsoft.

Some people do realise how Gates and Abramoff have scammed the system in order to reduce wages and increase working hours. A new blog post from ABC News, which has received a lot of comments, includes the following comment:

How can the US Create jobs? Here's a simple way that won't cost taxpayers a dime.

How? Eliminate H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and abuse.

What can I do right now to change this? Boycott Microsoft. Microsoft is the largest and most abusive foreign visa worker employer.

* Foreign H-1B workers "displace qualified American workers" * H-1B workers "substantially deprived U.S. citizens of employment." * 20% + USCIS audited guest worker visa applications are fraudulent * Foreign H-1B workers “substantially exceed” 241,000 unemployed American tech workers in the same field

How did this happen? Corporate Greed and bottomless lobbyist funding from corporations including Microsoft. Convicted felon and H-1B program mastermind, Microsoft lobbyist, Jack Abramoff convinced Congress (without opposing testimony) to pass laws that make it legal for employers to lay off American citizens, and recruit their foreign visa worker replacements exclusively offshore.

The good news

S887 - This bipartisan Durbin/Grassley bill reform will crack down on corporate visa fraud and abuse and outlaw the corporate bypass of US talent and exclusive recruiting offshore for US jobs in the USA.

Employ Americans Act – The Sanders/Grassley bill will outlaw US employers from firing US citizens and exclusively hire their replacements from other countries.

Simple things YOU can do TODAY to change the US jobs crisis 1. BOYCOTT Microsoft. 2. Insist your elected officials support Employ America Act and S887.

If they don’t support these bipartisan bills, ask why and CHASE THE MONEY. Who are their corporate funding contributors?

Actions and Deeds NOT Lip service. What are YOUR politicians doing about the jobs crisis? Are they co-sponsoring/sponsoring these bipartisan bills? What’s their voting record? Are they fighting for unemployment and COBRA benefits?

Dead giveaways your politician will do ZERO to create US jobs for US citizens Political funding from Microsoft, Compete America, and Indian companies

B.S. Detector Corporate Greed funded lies – keywords “Innovation”, “Best, and Brightest”, globalization, xenophobia.

This issue is the bulls eye of corporate greed and political corruption. Hence, a consumer boycott of Microsoft has more impact than expecting a broken, corrupt system to change.

Remind your elected officials they were elected FOR the people, BY the PEOPLE, not BUY Corporate GREED.

Tell them to end corporate visa fraud and abuse. American citizens, people who have paid their dues and taxes must have a fair chance to compete for jobs in our own country.

This is not an issue of ethnicity or race. It is an issue of commerce. Microsoft is abusing a class by reducing wages and decreasing worker security, which may be good for the economy in the sense that it keeps people terrified and obedient while corporations pocket more money, but at the same time it is an horrific stomp on people's civil liberties. It also squashes any prospects of organising unions and narrowing of the class gap. ⬆

“As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours.”

--Bill Gates