Valleywag
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National economy offers more disincentives to breed
This year, healthcare costs are set to rise nearly six percent, again, and guess who will pay the expense? Employees, not employers. You will be allowed to choose between paying more to insurance companies for the same deductible or the same amount but with a higher potential emergency outlay. [AP] (Photo by Vick the Viking)
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hires
Microsoft's current pay rates for H-1B workers
Operating-system monopolist Microsoft maintains a campus and a number of satellite offices here in the Valley, and competes voraciously with other local companies for talent from around the world. So what, exactly, do they pay foreign workers? One of the ways the company makes good on regulatory promises is by posting job listings internally. It's part of the government's PERM process to certify immigrants for H-1B and permanent-residency eligibility; companies must first show that they tried and failed to find local workers for the job. The listings provide a peek into the current going rate for different positions, from technical writer to program manager. More » -
labor
Striking janitors attempt to derail Nvision
The Nvision conference put on by chipmaker Nvidia is turning out to be unintentionally interesting. The stock price is down and Intel is looking to join AMD as a competitor in the high-end graphics processing market. Attendees are being greeted by union activists from Unite Here pointing out how the company has shipped thousands of faulty chips inside machines from Dell and HP. More » -
labor
Qwest signs contract as union chalks up another win
The Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have reached a tentative agreement with Denver-based telco Qwest, pending approval by the 20,000 employees under contract. The agreement was reached in the eleventh hour after the CWA and IBEW had voted to authorize a strike when their contracts expired at midnight on Saturday. The contract calls for 9 percent raises over its three year term, and brought employees of Qwest's directory-assistance operations under contract. Based on the language of the CWA's press release, critics might complain about the agreements reached on healthcare, with the union citing the healthcare cost epidemic and Qwest's financial performance as mitigating factors in their concessions to the bosses during negotiations. More » -
journalist math
"At this rate, it will take the United States more than 100 years to catch up with Japan"
You'll be seeing a lot of articles this week claiming the U.S. is 101 years behind Japan in broadband, or some similar number-fumbling. The source is a report sponsored by the Communications Workers of America, a union which represents more than 700,000 workers in telecom and other jobs (for comparison, AFL-CIO membership is just over 12 million.) Let's skip the bogus arithmetic and get to what they want: "With the government’s help, we can make the most of our network capacity." Knock it off with the network stats and give us your pork price tag, willya? -
lawsuits
IBM's immigration lawyers calls H-1B rules unconstitutional
The U.S. Department of Labor and law firm Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy, which represents clients such as IBM on immigration issues, are in a legal tussle. The department is conducting an audit of Fragomen's practices in helping clients disqualify American applicants — a necessary step before employers can obtain H-1B visas for foreign workers. Now Fragomen has fired back with a lawsuit that calls the Labor Department's rules restricting lawyers' activities unconstitutional. How do lawyers work to make sure no citizen applicant could possibly qualify? More » -
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great moments in hr
Matt Mullenweg: All Automattic's foreign workers are independent contractors
At the Start conference yesterday, Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg, creator of the popular WordPress blog software, startled the audience by claiming his company didn't have any employees. Instead, he said, they're all independent contractors. "Is that legal?" some audience members whispered. We're not employment lawyers here, so we can't say. But we note that the IRS says independent contractors are "generally free to seek out business opportunities" and "are available to work in the relevant market." Translation: Mullenweg has just announced that his programmers are available for the poaching! If, that is, you don't mind the occasional security hole. Update: Audience members missed Mullenweg saying this was true of Automattic's foreign workers only. U.S. employees have full benefits, he tells us. Only the offshore workers are eligible for poaching! (Photo via Ma.tt) -
silicon valley users guide
Apple's overtime dodge is common practice -- are you being cheated?
Engineer David Walsh has brought suit against his employer, Apple, alleging that the company misclassified him and others as exempt from overtime pay. The practice is endemic across California, especially at startups. Local labor laws set a high bar for exempting employees from overtime pay, and non-exempt employees can become very expensive for companies which demand workaholic schedules. I was misclassified years ago when working as a Web producer for Williams-Sonoma and got a nice settlement check after a visit from the National Labor Relations Board. The notorious "EA Spouse" blogger helped shake up labor practices across the entire videogame industry. While stuck at your desk missing your legally required meal break, read below to see if you're exempt or non-exempt: More » -
Verizon avoids strike, for now
65,000 employees of Verizon represented by the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers agreed to postpone any strike after their contracts expired over the weekend. The unions agreed to indefinitely hold off on any work stoppage because progress was being made on the health benefits and job security fronts. Verizon has been aggressively replacing unionized employees with non-union technicians by outsourcing work to subcontractors. [WSJ] (Photo by AP/Mike Groll)
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labor
Want to learn how lawyers bounce U.S. workers from H1-B jobs? So do the Feds
Lori Melton is an attorney at the Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy law firm, a specialist in "corporate immigration" — that is, obtaining H1-B visas for workers. She's scheduled to share her expertise today on the "Evaluation & Disqualification of U.S. Workers," a $199 seminar led by a liaison to the Dept. of Homeland Security. Think she'll show? On Monday, the U.S. Dept. of Labor announced it has begun auditing all permanent labor certification applications filed by attorneys at Fragomen, the "Corporate Immigration Law Firm of the Year," for improper attorney involvement in the consideration of U.S. worker applicants. More »
Labor
San Francisco, 10:30 AM
Sun Nov 23
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