America
Disney ABC TV reverses plans to outsource IT jobs
By
By Arun Kumar Washington, June 13
Amid reports of a US
government probe of two top Indian IT companies for possible violations
of H-1B visa rules, Disney ABC TV has cancelled plans to outsource IT
jobs, according to a media report
Just two weeks ago, the Disney
ABC Television Group told about 30 to 35 application developers that
their jobs were being moved to an IT contractor with large offshore
operations, Computerworld reported.
But on Thursday, the Disney
ABC TV Media Technology & Strategy development team told the
developers that their layoffs were being rescinded, it said citing a
Disney ABC source although a Disney spokesperson declined comment.
The
employees were notified of their impending layoffs on May 28. Some had
already begun working on the "knowledge transfer" process of training
employees of IT services contractor Cognizant Technology Solutions, a
US-based firm with major offshore operations, it said.
One
affected Disney ABC IT employee cited by Computerworld speculated that
Disney's change of heart the decision is linked to the uproar over the
outsourcing at another division, Parks and Resorts, which runs the theme
parks.
"They (Disney officials), want this to go away -- right now," the unnamed IT employee was quoted as saying.
In
April, Computerworld reported how IT workers at Disney Parks and
Resorts had to train their replacements, some of whom had recently
arrived from India, as a condition of receiving severance.
On
Friday, the New York Times reported that the US has opened a visa
violations probe into Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys for workers
contracted to an electric utility, Southern California Edison, which
recently laid off more than 500 technology workers.
"Many said
they were made to train replacements who were immigrants on temporary
visas, known as H-1B, brought in by the Indian firms, Tata Consultancy
Services and Infosys," the influential daily reported.
Earlier on
June 3, the Times had reported that around 250 Walt Disney employees
had been laid off and replaced with Indians holding H-1B visas.
"Many
of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for
highly skilled technical workers, who were brought in by an outsourcing
firm based in India," it said.
The layoffs at Disney, Southern
California Edison and other companies, "are raising new questions about
how businesses and outsourcing companies are using the temporary visas,
known as H-1B, to place immigrants in technology jobs" in the US, it
said.