If your Mickey Mouse ears are burning, it’s probably because you heard that Disney just committed the ultimate act of corporate douchebaggery.
Yes, the Mickey Mouse Club has closed its doors to 250 of its tech workers at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. No, their jobs weren’t eliminated; they have been replaced by contract workers imported by a company, HCL America, that helps U.S. companies hire cheap labor from overseas. HCL has been contracting with Disney since 2012.
The story doesn’t end there, though. According to the New York Times, the displaced U.S. workers were told to train their replacements; and if the new hires couldn’t perform their new duties after said training, the discharged employees would lose their severance pay and benefits.
The Times reports that 85,000 H-1B visas are issued in the U.S. each year, but it looks like that’s about to change. Companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google are lobbying to increase the number of visas issued, claiming that there aren’t enough “highly skilled” workers available to fill critical positions.
Well, since Disney just displaced a few hundred “highly skilled” tech workers, why not start there, Microsoft?
Too many of us have found ourselves on the losing end of an H-1B visa, often more than once. With Disney pushing the sweatshop envelope even further, it looks like things are about to get a lot worse.
Meanwhile, for those of us who are running out of financial and employment options, there’s only one thing left to do. We need fly to Mexico, walk across our wide open border, and pretend to be from another country. We may not be able to make as much money as we used to, but at least we can secure a nice, low-paying job and free healthcare (right, Obama?).
It’s a small world after all….