https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F0...

Pink Slips at Disney. But First, Training Foreign Replacements.
Julia Preston
        June 3, 2015

ORLANDO, Fla. — The employees who kept the data systems humming in the vast Walt Disney fantasy fief did not suspect trouble when they were suddenly summoned to meetings with their boss.

While families rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and searched for Nemo on clamobiles in the theme parks, these workers monitored computers in industrial buildings nearby, making sure millions of Walt Disney World ticket sales, store purchases and hotel reservations went through without a hitch. Some were performing so well that they thought they had been called in for bonuses.

Instead, about 250 Disney employees were told in late October that they would be laid off. 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. Over the next three months, some Disney employees were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost.

“I just couldn’t believe they could fly people in to sit at our desks and take over our jobs exactly,” said one former worker, an American in his 40s who remains unemployed since his last day at Disney on Jan. 30. “It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it.”

Disney executives said that the layoffs were part of a reorganization, and that the company opened more positions than it eliminated.

But the layoffs at Disney and at other companies, including the Southern California Edison power utility, 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 United States. These visas are at the center of a fierce debate in Congress over whether they complement American workers or displace them.

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  Legal fight ends for Disney IT workers who trained foreign replacements

The attorney who has filed several unsuccessful lawsuits after 250 Disney IT workers lost their jobs to Indian nationals in 2014 acknowledged Wednesday it is a legal fight she cannot win.

“We have lost,” Sara Blackwell said during a news conference in Orlando. “Unfortunately, we lost because it’s legal.”

The information technology workers’ grievances became national headlines after some were forced to train their replacements in 2014, putting a spotlight on the issue of H-1B visas. Some of the Americans were rehired for other jobs within the company, while others became unemployed or decided to retire.

Blackwell filed four unsuccessful lawsuits at the state and federal levels and after the most recent was dismissed by the state, she said she will not plan to refile again. In one of the cases, a federal judge said Disney was following existing immigration laws.

You could try to join the class

"It should be like 125% or prevailing salary in the region & specialty. That will at least make these companies 'consider' a non-H1B"

H1-B is supposed to be for exceptional talent. Employers should pay a premium for premium talent.

You're right. "Rebates" are just "kickbacks" and should be banned

Economic theory says you would benefit by reduced costs to the retailer because they would be able to charge you less while maintaining the same margins. It doesn't mean they would pass along the entire savings to you. Rather you would split the savings but still end up paying less.

So, yes Biden could. But between Trump and Biden, who would more likely do that?

Before Trump, we relied on precedent and Presidential restraint on power that started with George Washington. Trump's first term was like a toddler trying to figure out how to burn the house down while adults (generals) were there to keep the matches away. Trump's second term is your teenage son stealing your credit card to buy a can of gasoline and a lighter.

Trump has said he will be a dictator on day one. He's saying what he's planning to do out loud. For some reason, none of the Republican patriots are taking him seriously

This is very interesting. Thanks

Good point. This is very goose/golden egg-like.

I don't know who's right, but I just had to reply, well done.

You have a basic misunderstanding of how LLM training works. They don't "learn the facts of the content," as you say. They literally learn the word order, which is the most copyrightable part of a NY Times article. They then use that word order to help guess word orders.

Is it transformed enough? I guess that's for the courts. But the word order is what they're stealing and not the "knowledge" or "facts" in the article.

You must be in private school. Public schools are required to provide all materials needed to complete schoolwork, including computers. They cannot require parents to buy computers.

It's not the only economic model for media. It's just the latest.

Television and Radio stations provide content and pay all the distribution costs.

It's possible that a better model would be splitting the cost between producer and consumer. I don't know

I am seriously interested in how you do this additional backup. I have an org that wasn't hit but I've been looking for a solution that I can pass on to the next person.

This. Insightful