The Qwest for Cheap Labor

Date: Sunday, May 12, 2002 3:47 PM

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Qwest is a company that is rapidly heading towards bankruptcy. Someone
in
their executive ranks must think that the reason they are having
problems is
because their workers make too much money. Of course Qwest executives
are
are raking in the big bucks but nobody is talking about replacing them
with
cheap labor. To see just how much Joe Nacchio is making check out this
article:
Nacchio rakes in big dough
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_1078615
,00.html

And here is what happens to workers who make a small fraction of
Nacchio's
salary - they get replaced by even cheaper workers:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_1140486
,00.html

Rocky Mountain News

Qwest's overseas hires irk workers
Sometimes cheaper to go abroad, firm says

By Jeff Smith, News Staff Writer
May 11, 2002

The number of foreign technology workers hired by Qwest Communications

estimated at nearly 2,000 since 1999 -- increasingly is a sore spot for
Qwest employees laid off or whose jobs are at risk.

In addition, the Denver telecommunications company in recently began
giving
computer software work to WebTek, a British-based company with
operations in
India and past ties to Qwest's current information technology director.

The developments have sparked fears that Qwest is taking steps to move
most
of its IT functions offshore to save costs.

Some employees think Qwest is taking advantage of the H-1B visa program

designed to help U.S. companies fill technology jobs with foreign
workers
during labor shortages -- to replace American workers with foreigners.

As Qwest lays off workers, "they are virtually one-on-one replacing them
with (WebTek) contractors," one employee recently complained to Rep. Tom
Tancredo, R-Colo., in a letter copied to Gov. Bill Owens. Tancredo has
been
an outspoken critic of U.S. immigration policies.

The emotionally charged atmosphere these days around foreign workers and
layoffs at U.S. technology companies isn't surprising to experts who
track
the field.

"During a down economy, immigration is picked on," said Kimberley
Chandler,
a Denver immigration attorney with 20 years' experience in the field.
"When
there's a boom, immigration is seen as the greatest thing in the world."

The situation at Qwest seems particularly divisive. Qwest spokesman
Michael
Tarpey maintained Friday that "we've been reducing the number of
contractors
and the amount of work offshore to preserve jobs in the U.S." But he
said he
knows the company won't win that argument when there are American
employees
who have been laid off.

"Yes (we've explained this to employees), but there's a lot of
emotionalism
associated with people who lose their jobs," Tarpey said. "Nobody wants
to
be told that their skills aren't needed."

Tarpey said there are times "the work can be done faster and more cost
effectively by people outside the company, whether they're U.S. citizens
or
Indian."

Tarpey confirmed that Qwest has recently provided short-term software
work
to WebTek and other companies in India.

Qwest's information technology director since mid-2001, Al-Noor Ramji,
at
one time was WebTek's vice chairman. But Tarpey said there's no conflict
of
interest.

"He resigned from the board before WebTek got business from us," Tarpey
said. "The reason they got business from us is that they're very
competent
to do IT work. The fact is that there's no conflict there."

As for the possibility Qwest could outsource its IT department, which
employs about 5,000: "We still haven't made a decision," Tarpey said.

Employees and company officials agree foreign workers have played an
important role at Qwest and its predecessor U S West over the years. U S
West signed a contract in 1995 with India-based TCS Consultancy, also
known
as TATA, at a time of a severe shortage of tech workers.

"India became the country of choice for most of these workers because of
the
great deal of training (there) and their capability," Tarpey said.

Qwest still contracts some work to TATA, Tarpey said.

By the late 1990s, U.S. technology companies were intensely lobbying the
foreign government to increase the number of H-1B visas so they could
bring
in workers for as many as six years.

Immigration records show Qwest applied to bring in nearly 2,000 foreign
workers under H-1B to fill various technology positions nationwide since
1999, although it is not known how many visas were issued.

A look at Qwest's IT organizational charts shows a preponderance of
foreign
workers in many areas. Tarpey said Qwest is paying the prevailing wage
to
the workers.

Ramji has brought in his own people to "populate all the key positions .
. .
which means that the whole organization is cloaked in secrecy . . .
virtually all of IT is horrendously demoralized," said one employee, who
said she feared for her job.

Curtis Kennedy, a Denver attorney who recently filed a lawsuit against
Qwest
alleging a pattern of discriminatory layoffs, said he expects the IT
department to be an integral part of his case.

"They want to dismantle it," Kennedy said, and move the jobs offshore.
"We're going to get a complete picture of the destructive mess of
Qwest's
downsizing. It's nothing but an example of corporate greed, shattered
lives,
shattered communities."

Copyright 2002, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.

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