Internet personality Mike Cernovich questioned how many H-1B employees Oracle has after the IT company announced it would lay off 30,000 employees worldwide.
IT company Oracle announced a brutal layoff in an email at 6 a.m. on March 31, affecting 30,000 employees worldwide. The email informed employees that March 31 was their last working day and said the elimination of the position was part of wider organizational changes. The massive layoffs raised the key question of “offshoring,” with many on social media asking how many H-1B visa holders Oracle has. H-1B is a special visa program designed to hire foreign workers with specific qualifications, but it has become the most controversial as companies have been accused of abusing the visa program to hire foreigners at lower wages and fire Americans. Indian-American doctor Pradheep J Shanker has been involved in Oracle layoff discussions and said he believes H-1B discussions on social media are biased, but he believes every H-1B should be returned before the company starts laying off Americans. He was responding to a question from right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich: “How many H-1B visas does Oracle have?”“I don’t think the H1 discussion is entirely fair or honest, but I absolutely agree that every H1 should be returned before you start firing Americans. No more H1 applications, at least for the time being,” Shank wrote. Oracle India also announced layoffs of 12,000 employees in India. Sidharth, co-founder of the Indian American Advocacy Council, disagreed with Oracle’s assertion that it was laying off Americans because of H-1B visas, saying that when departments lay off workers, both Americans and visa holders are affected. “I understand the sentiment, but this won’t work. When layoffs occur, it affects Americans and visa holders in that particular department. H1b software engineers cannot be fired because US HR is laid off,” Sidharth wrote. In response to Cernovich’s question, many pointed out that Oracle America sponsors approximately 2,000-3,000 H-1B visa holders. It cannot be blamed alone for the 30,000 layoffs worldwide. “So an h1 director needs to be fired because they are firing an intern,” one person wrote to Dr. Shank. “Firing H1Bs with Americans will only result in entire job functions being moved to India, China, and other countries. There is already documented evidence: the more unreasonable barriers you put up on H1Bs, the more tech jobs will be outsourced. How does this actually help the U.S. economy or American workers?” wrote another.
