In the case of foreign workers in the U.S., labor protections and laws apply (except perhaps some employment mobility in some industries), and the employees involved pay taxes into the U.S. (without representation, I might add). So I don't see those as being the same situation, even if the final underlying cause (severe wealth disparity among nations due to historical reasons) is the same.
Also, tech workers uses computers and do have free movement by remoting. Managers typically don't allow it. Economically, that's a heck of a lot of power.
Anyway, I'm pretty content with the current status of H1B in spirit. This company obviously didn't attempt to find domestic labor before using H1B, so they are in violation of the agreement. I think the employee(s) responsible should stand trial to see if the loopholes are indeed lawful. If not, I think they should be fined or imprisoned, whatever the law allows. I think they should lose all H1B privileges for 2 years and all of their current H1B's should be allowed to move to another US company. Non of that will never happen though.
It's only fair, you and I would face trial for shoplifting a $1 candy bar, something paid for by taxpayers that directly benefits corporations through determent, among other things.
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/15/165218744/busted-what-happens-...
The main issue is US employees are fortunate enough to have protections under the law, protections hard fought by unions, literally. Those protections cost money but are sensible, such as safety regulations, child labor laws, the right to not be discriminated against, minimum wage, no harassment, physical violence, etc.
When using Indian labor offshore, or any underdeveloped economy really, those protections are mostly gone because India doesn't protect their employees like the US does, which is also unfortunate.
Companies also benefit from the US legal system and infrastructure, including the liability protection from corporations, tax breaks, roads, public utilities, police, etc, all which are paid for by taxpayers.
Of course, to be fair, US corporations who benefit mostly from foreign labor should move their corporation to the country of their labor. Of course they don't want to do that, because of corruption, subpar legal system, infrastructure, etc. They want it both ways. Protection and benefits from the US government and cheap labor where the labor doesn't have the same protection.
It's not just wages US labor is losing. To compete, US labor has to give up all our labor benefits while still paying for corporate benefits through tax dollars. Taxpayers are also on the hook for people who can't find jobs while corporations do nothing but benefit. It's really another wealth transfer from the bottom and middle, up.
Besides it's against the spirit of the law. I'm ok with offshoring if US corporations are OK with losing all their tax breaks. I didn't think so.