Two disgruntled employees of Patni Computer Systems, an Indian technology outsourcing company, has filed litigation that they were grossly underpaid, contravening their employment contract when brought over to the US on an H1-B visa. This may come as a surprise to some but is something that has been going on for quite a while now. In fact, it will not be incorrect to claim that such wage difference – covertly or overtly perpetrated by outsourcing companies – is at the heart of the outsourcing business. The reason why qualified immigrants brought over by US companies, supplied by the outsourcing shops, can’t be paid wages less than that for peer groups in the US is allegedly to protect the US workforce. But who is expected to protest if this norm is violated? Knowledge workers are non union-ized, ruling out collective bargaining or collective remediation. Institutions bringing the knowledge labor in is least likely to even raise an eyebrow because cheaper “raw material” costs directly inflates the bottom line (leading to several thumbs-up from Wall Street analysts).

I don’t know the solution but something tells me that factors of production, especially if they are scarce (and most importantly, human beings), should be nurtured well. I am not sure if someday the knowledge industry will perish by the same sword that they wield to rule the world today.

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