Joe Biden’s administration has put an 18-month delay on a proposed pay increase for Indian IT workers in the US, reversing a Trump administration executive order that significantly boosted their wages.
The decision will freeze H1-B workers wages at the 17th percentile of their profession’s distribution, compared to the 45th percentile that Trump secured. This was a huge bump in pay that many Visa workers eagerly anticipated.
“This wasn’t all about us having bigger paychecks. It was an acknowledgement that we were more than just a shadow workforce with no rights,” said Ravi, a Stamford-based IT workers who was afraid to give his full name for fear of ending up on NASSCOM’s black list. “Finally, we were getting the respect that we deserve.”
The Department of Labor’s decision came, despite Biden’s promise for America to become a beacon of hope for immigrants from all over the world. The aging Democrat, whose leads a political party that claims to represent the average working person, appears to have caved to businesses that have made billions exploiting Indian workers.
Industry groups or trade associations like the IT Serve Alliance and the US Chamber of commerce and a collection of universities and IT body shops, which have turned exploiting foreign workers into an art form, have filed lawsuits contesting Trump’s decision.
Some in Washington DC are now speculating that Biden will issue an executive order that will permanently erase this pay increase.
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