Thirty thousand people lost their jobs before breakfast. Oracle reportedly sent the email at 6am on March 31 with no warning, no preamble. Just a message informing employees that the day they opened it was their last. The tech giant called it a broader organisational change. The Internet called it something else entirely.
The mass layoff did not just shake the tech world. It threw fuel on one of America’s most charged immigration debates.
Within hours, social media was asking one question: how many H-1B visa holders does Oracle have? The H-1B is a specialty visa that allows US companies to hire foreign workers with specific qualifications. It has long been a flashpoint, with critics accusing firms of using it to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labour.
Right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich was among those who raised the question publicly. Indian-origin US doctor Pradheep J Shanker responded, and his answer was pointed. He said the H-1B debate on social media had not been entirely fair or honest but added that he firmly believed every H-1B holder should be sent back before a company begins laying off Americans.
“I think the H1 discussion hasn’t been totally fair or honest, but I absolutely agree every single H1 should be sent back before you start laying off Americans. At the very least no more H1 applications for a while,” Shanker wrote.
Not everyone let that stand. “So an h1 director needs to be sent off because they are laying off an intern,” one user shot back at Shanker.
Not everyone agreed. Sidharth, co-founder of the Indian American Advocacy Council, pushed back on the narrative that Oracle axed Americans because of H-1B workers. He argued that layoffs affect entire departments, Americans and visa holders alike.
“I understand the emotion but that won’t work. When there’s a layoff it affects both Americans and visa holders in that specific department. Can’t fire an H1b Software engineer coz the American HR got fired,” he wrote.
Others on social media pointed out that Oracle America sponsors roughly 2,000 to 3,000 H-1B holders, a fraction of the 30,000 jobs cut globally.
Several warned that cracking down on H-1Bs could backfire badly. One user argued that firing H-1B workers alongside Americans would simply push entire job functions offshore to India, China and elsewhere and that there was documented evidence showing that restrictions on H-1B visas led to more tech jobs being offshored, not fewer.
Separately, Oracle India also announced a layoff of 12,000 employees.
Also Read: Sudden Layoffs Shake Remote Workers Amid Corporate Restructuring https://www.vibesofindia.com/sudden-layoffs-shake-remote-workers-amid-corporate-restructuring/
