Corporate
Backlash: Comcast Executives Push Employees To Protest Trump’s Popular
Immigration Reform
by Neil Munro 2 Feb 2017
NBC’s corporate parent, Comcast,
is joining the corporate backlash against President Donald Trump’s popular
immigration reform, partly prodded by the company’s Indian-born Chief
Technology Officer, Sree Kotay.
The company provided employers at its Philadelphia
headquarters time off on Thursday to protest Trump’s popular
policy, which is designed to reduce the inflow of costly refugees
and to exclude migrants carrying “hostile
attitudes.” Company protests were
also expected in Washington D.C., New York and California.
Trump’s new policy seeks to exclude people who:
do not support the Constitution, or those who would place
violent ideologies over American law … those who engage in acts of bigotry or
hatred (including “honor” killings, other forms of violence against women, or
the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or
those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Trump underlined the pro-American nature of his reform
today, saying at the National Prayer Breakfast that;
Our nation has the most generous immigration system in
the world. But there are those who would exploit that generosity and undermine
the values that we hold so dear. We need security. There are those who would
seek to enter our country… to spread violence or oppressing other people based
upon their faith.
We will not allow… intolerance to spread in our nation…
So in the coming days we will develop a system to make sure those admitted into
our country fully embrace our values of religious and personal liberty and that
they reject any form of oppression and discrimination. We want people to come
into our nation but we want people to love us and love our values. Not hate us
and hate our values.
In Philadelphia, the 45-minute protest against the
“hostile attitudes” policy was held just after lunch.
The growing campaign by corporations — including Google,
Starbucks, Amazon, Lyft and Netflix — against the newly elected president and
his immigration reform is shaped by their bottom-line desire to raise the
inflow of immigrant consumers and cheap workers.
But the corporate backlash is also boosted by sympathy
from many top-level managers — both native-born and immigrant — towards
striving migrants, regardless of the migrants’ political or ideological
views.
Comcast’s Kotay, for example, arrived in the United
States as a child and worked his way to the top of the nation’s high-tech
sector, alongside other Indian immigrants who now running Google and Microsoft.
In his Twitter account, he describes himself as “comcast. chief technology
officer. immigrant.”
Kotay made his political sympathies clear in a message to
his employees, in which he appears to describe the elected President as “the
enemy,” and also suggests that Trump is similar to now-dead Venezuelan dictator
Hugo Chavez.
The screenshot was leaked to a radio station, New
Jersey 101.5.
Kotay’s Twitter feed also shows his personal dislike of
Trump’s policies, which may end up reducing the inflow of Indian-born migrants
and contract-workers into the United States.
Trump’s policy is designed to exclude “hostile
immigrants,” including those who reject the U.S. constitution or who support violence via Islamic holy war
or “jihad.” The new policy would also exclude people who
endorse “honor killings” of women and girls, which is a widespread
problem in India and a growing
problem in the United States.
Like many other progressive advocates, Kotay praises
immigrants while downplaying the accomplishment of ordinary Americans, who
either birthed most of Comcast’s workforce and customers, and also remain the
vast majority of Comcast’s employees and customers.
At a Jan. 26 speech to an awards event, Kotay declared,
according to his
notes, that
It is hard, of course, to be up here and not be mindful
of the current environment around us… the rise of Nationalism, and what that
says about patriotism…. discussions abound on race and gender, orientation and
religion… and of course, on that illusive notion of ‘Privilege’ and how that
shapes us (or doesn’t)…
People are often surprised when I tell them about where I
grew up — in the middle of nowhere Virginia… And yes, as an Indian
immigrant, I encountered my share of racism — mostly the casual racism of
ignorance and exclusion, less so the angry racism of hate and fear… and that
was its own privilege. Adversity builds character — and, you know, I pushed
back too… my own brand of casual reactionary-ism. But all things said, it was a
wonderfully surprisingly supportive place to grow up…
[a] hero of mine, Neil
Degrasse Tyson (who I think of as my personal chocolate
Jesus :P), recently tweeted: “I dream of a world where the truth is what
shapes people’s politics, rather than politics shaping what people think is
true.”
I am also certainly privileged to be an Indian man in the
technology industry in the good ol’ US of A….
During the Philadelphia protest, Kotay stood at the front
of the crowd of native-born and immigrant workers, wearing glasses pushed back
to the top of his head. He also wore a coat with a yellow armband.
Comcast officials downplayed the company’s role in the
backlash against Trump’s popular immigration policies, which complement his
“Buy American, Hire American” campaign promises.
“We understand that some of our employees are concerned
and we respect their desire to express their opinions,” Comcast flack John
Demming said in a
statement to the radio station.
“Our primary focus is to make sure that all of our
employees feel safe in their jobs, including while traveling. We have assured
our employees that no one will be asked to travel to a place that would
result in them feeling vulnerable in any way.”
Although progressives argue that Trump’s policies promote
violence, much actual violence is being directed
against Trump’s supporters.
Many companies reduce their labor
costs and boost their profits by relying on immigrants and foreign
contract-worker labor.
Since 2013, Comcast has tried to hire hundreds of cheaper
foreign white-collar professionals workers to take the jobs sought by young,
debt-burdened American graduates. Many of those foreign workers come from
India, according to the
MyVisaJobs.com website, which displays government
provided data. Without the extra inflow, companies would be forced to raise
salaries to attract Americans into those professions, so nudging up salaries
for all American white-collar workers.
The MyVisaJobs.com site also shows that Comcast is
seeking Green Cards for foreign white-collar workers.
Each year, the federal government provides up to 150,000
Green Cards to foreign workers sponsored by U.S. companies, such as Comcast. Of
course, each new Green Card worker nudges down the average salary that
Americans companies have to pay their domestic employees.
Legal immigration also delivers roughly 1 million new
prospective customers each year to companies. Legal and illegal immigrants now
comprise one out of seven people living in the United States. But many of the migrants
are unskilled, and so many rely on
taxpayer-provided welfare payments to fund their living
expenses, including Comcast services.
In 2015, Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt bemoaned the slow population growth in the United
States, Japan and other countries, asking “how are you over a couple of decades
to deal with the fact that one third of your customers are going to go away?”
“Well, one [way] is produce more customers through
immigration,” he said at the March 18
event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute.
However, Comcast, like many other companies, has to deal
with government on many critical issues. One huge issue for Comcast is the
planned merger of AT&T with Time-Warner, which would give AT&T a huge store of media products to help it compete
against other companies, such as Comcast. Trump has voiced opposition to the
merger, but his deputies have yet to announce a decision.
From 2009 to 2015, Comcast gradually bought the NBC
media company.
Comcast
Comcast
Corporation was a funder for the Center
for American Progress.
Note: Steven J. Spinner
was a senior fellow at the Center for
American Progress, and the president of strategic partnerships for NBC.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center
for American Progress.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, Jonathan
Soros’s father, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society, and a supporter for the Center
for American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Brookings Institution (think tank), the International
Rescue Committee, and the New America
Foundation.
Judith
Rodin was an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), a director at Catalyst, and is a director at the Comcast Corporation.
Beth E. Mooney is
a director at Catalyst, and a director at AT&T Inc.
James W. Cicconi
is a senior EVP at AT&T Inc.,
and was an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Ted
Gayer is the VP for the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and was a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (think tank).
Kevin B. Rollins
is a trustee at the American Enterprise
Institute (think tank), and was a director at Catalyst.
Clifford S. Asness
is a trustee at the American Enterprise
Institute (think tank), and a director at the International Rescue Committee.
Tom
Brokaw is an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, and was an anchor for the NBC Nightly News.
Jeff
Zucker was an executive
producer for the NBC Nightly News,
and is the president of CNN Worldwide.
CNN Worldwide
is a division of CNN.
Ted
Turner is the founder of CNN,
and was the vice chairman for Time
Warner Inc.
Fareed Zakaria
GPS is a CNN program.
Fareed Zakaria is
the host of Fareed Zakaria GPS, and
a director at the New America Foundation.
Jonathan Soros is
a director at the New America Foundation,
and George Soros’s son.
Eric E. Schmidt is the chairman of the New
America Foundation, was a funder
for the New America Foundation, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Helene D. Gayle is
a director at
the New America Foundation, a
trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and a director at the ONE
Campaign.
Kati
Marton is a director at the New
America Foundation, and an overseer at the International Rescue Committee.
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
Eduardo G. Mestre
is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and a director at the Comcast Corporation.
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
Michelle Obama
was an advocate for the ONE Campaign,
and a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Bradford A.
Berenson was a partner at Sidley
Austin LL, and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (think tank).
Alex
J. Mandl was a trustee at the American
Enterprise Institute (think tank), and the president & COO for the AT&T Corp.
AT&T
Inc. acquired the AT&T Corp.
Beth E. Mooney is
a director at AT&T Inc., and a
director at Catalyst.
Judith
Rodin was a director at Catalyst,
an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and is a director at the Comcast Corporation.
Comcast
Corporation was a funder for the Center
for American Progress.
Steven J. Spinner
was a senior fellow at the Center for
American Progress, and the president of strategic partnerships for NBC.
Laura D'Andrea
Tyson was a fellow at the Center for
American Progress, a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), is a director at AT&T Inc., and married to Erik
Tarloff.
Erik Tarloff is
married to Laura D'Andrea Tyson, and
was the writer for “All in the Family”.
All in The Family Theme Song "Those were the
Days" (PAST RESEARCH ON “ALL IN THE FAMILY”)
Saturday, January
28, 2017
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