Tesla has replaced some of its US employees who were let go as part of a big wave of layoffs...

Summary

Tesla replaced many laid-off U.S. workers with foreign H-1B visa holders after a 2024 wave of layoffs affecting 15,000 employees.

These visas, tied to employer sponsorship, often lower compensation and give employers significant leverage over workers.

Critics argue this displaces U.S. employees, as senior engineers were replaced by lower-paid junior engineers.

CEO Elon Musk, while advocating for expanding H-1B visa caps, faces backlash, especially from conservatives, for “job-stealing” concerns.

Musk contends there’s a U.S. skill shortage, but critics highlight potential exploitation tied to Tesla’s demanding work culture and visa dependence.

  • @CharlesDarwinEnglish
    3•5 days ago

    This is a good summary of H-1B issues. I don’t think they’re bad in principle since bringing in talent is great for the economy, but in practice they can be abused and push down wages of American workers.

    A fairly obvious workaround to the obvious problem inherent in the scam that is H-1B is to kill H-1B dead and work towards enabling people to emigrate here as permanent citizens and fill in this supposed need companies cry about.

    Since the entire “problem” is mostly bullshit, that’s not what the moneyed interests are trying to do here. They want to break the back of the American engineer.