Insourcing cheap labor, need your help

[Robert Oak]

Please help and call your Senator. We need you to help us!

Immediate Calls Needed to Stop Judiciary Committee Proposal to Increase H-1B Visas

This Thursday, October 18, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider allowing 60,000 more H-1B visas to be issued per year for the next five years. These visas would be in addition to the current 65,000 a year cap and the 20,000 exemptions approved in last year's omnibus spending bill.


Backed by Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), authorizes 60,000 new H-1B visas and a new $500 fee, which Congress expects to raise $30 million annually to off-set spending in other parts of the federal budget.

The H-1B program is riddled with abuse, displaces American workers,
depresses wages and discourages Americans from pursuing careers in the
high-tech industry.

Our best shot at defeating this is on the committee level. If approved by the committee, the H-1B increase will be incorporated into larger budget legislation, making it very difficult to defeat.

Take action today to fight this outrageous proposal

Please call today and ask the Judiciary Committee members to vote against the proposal. Do not assume that somebody else will make this call for you.
Call as many Judiciary Committee members as you can before Thursday.

If your state's senators are not on the committee, you can still help by contacting committee members and voicing your opposition to the H-1B increase. If they ask why you're calling their office, tell them that as a member of the Judiciary Committee, the decision they make affects the entire nation, not just people from their state.

Call the capitol switchboard [phone] or [phone] and ask to be connected.

Sample phone message:

I recently learned that there is a proposal in the Senate to create 60,000 new H-1B visas as part of this year's budget process. I'm calling to express my strong opposition to this plan and to urge the senator to oppose it.
<<GIVE YOUR PERSONAL CONNECTION TO THIS ISSUE.>> The H-1B program is
severely flawed and harmful to American workers, particularly those seeking employment in the high-tech sector. I understand that the Senate is considering raising the cap as a way of raising additional funds to help shrink the deficit, but this is not a viable solution. Balancing the budget on the backs of ever-growing numbers of displaced American workers is absurd. If Congress needs to raise additional funds, perhaps you could raise the fees charged for existing visas, including L visas. Such a solution would be much better for workers and the US economy.



DEMOCRATS



Joseph Biden (DE) 202-224-5042

Richard Durbin (IL) 202-224-2152

Russell Feingold (WI) 202-224-5323

Dianne Feinstein (CA) 202-224-3841

Edward Kennedy (MA) 202-224-4543

Herb Kohl (WI) 202-224-7703

Patrick Leahy (VT) 202-224-4242

Charles Schumer (NY) 202-224-6542




REPUBLICANS



Sam Brownback (KS) 202-224-6521

Tom Coburn (OK) 202-224-5754

John Cornyn (TX) 202-224-2934

Mike DeWine (OH) 202-224-2315

Lindsey Graham (SC) 202-224-5972

Charles Grassley (IA) 202-224-3744

Orrin Hatch (UT) 202-224-5251

Jon Kyl (AZ) 202-224-4521

Jeff Sessions (AL) 202-224-4124

Arlen Specter (PA) 202-224-4254

The H-1B is being seriously abused to bring in cheaper labor and displace American engineers. The unemployment rate in high tech is still 5.8% with many who simply were forced out of their field.

Our links have much more information on this and I recently wrote a diary on dailykos about it also.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/16/165748/95

Please take some time and show solidarity with the American worker.
Please help.

[unblock]

1. not to worry, h-1b's are only when there are no u.s. citizens for the job!

[MazeRat7]

2. So let me see if I have this straight...

You are concerned that allowing another 60,000 workers/yr into the US is going to make a significant difference ?

According to the BLS there were 142.4 million workers in the us last month giving us an employment/population ration of 62.8%.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

As a 23yr professional engineer in the tech industry, I can tell you personally there is a talent shortage. As it stands H1-B workers represent less than 1.5% (2002 numbers) of the tech workforce.

http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policy_reports_2004_hightechbub...

Frankly, I don't see why this bill is a problem. Another 60,000 workers/yr is basically insignificant when you look at the total numbers.


MZr7

[Robert Oak]

3. used in EE/CS

mainly used in high tech and yes it does make a difference.

They use H-1B for labor arbitrage in high tech. and the H-1B has been linked to a high unemployment rate for US engineers.

We are engineers also, there is NO talent shortage. There is a shortage
of young and super cheap engineers, which is age discrimination.

H-1B is NOT 1.5% of the engineering labor force.

By attemping to mix total workforce with engineers in the US
plus miquoting your post is a red herring, not factual.

[glasalle]

4. this added to

the massive offshore outsourcing and Indian firms bringing in unlimited numbers of their workers on L-1 visas is the straw that breaks the back of the American work force.

[glasalle]

5. talent shortage

If employers really could not find qualified American tech workers I would support the H1-B with one caveat: they must be paid substantially higher than an American. Employers routinely pay these people less than average salarys and they have admitted this in Congressional-sponsored surveys. If companies insists that they have to have a non-American worker, make them prove it by paying the penalty. With things as they are, the H1-B has two advantages for employers: they get cheap labor and the increased labor supply holds down American salaries.

[Robert Oak]

6. Labor arbitrage

I too support the original intent, which was to bring in talent
not available in the US and when one gets into the real levels of expertise in engineering and science, that is truly a needed VISA..
often there are only 1 or 5 people in the world in a particular area who really have mastery over it.

But, currently H-1Bs are being paid 20% to 80% less than the American who was displaced. DOL just approved an H-1B VISA for 10 dollars an hour! 50k H-1Bs are being held by the DOL and they have refused to release them to Americans so Americans can apply. We also had a falsified outsourcing report presented to congress. The Indian MSc
and many MScs are accredited as BS US degrees and it's been documented that resumes are false extensively from foreign nations for it's so difficult to verify. So, in a nutshell, H-1B is being used for labor arbitrage and shows another major problem with US corporations...
they do not value talent and it's now showing in the massive slowdown
in innovation coming from US companies (in comparison to earlier times).

[newyawker99]

17. Hi glasalle!!

Welcome to DU!!

[unlawflcombatnt]

7. No Need For More Workers, only More Jobs

We don't have any "talent" shortage whatsoever. We do have a job shortage, however. From the link you posted we have 7.6 million unemployed workers. In addition, 300,000+ jobs were lost in internet technology industries since 2001. We still haven't replaced those jobs. Why on earth do we need more workers when we have less jobs. We don't need 60,000 more workers to help drive down wages even further. Allowing for 60,000 more workers in an industry that has lost 300,000 jobs is idotic.

Overall, inflation-adjusted wages have declined a whopping 2.3% this year alone, as well as 1.2% in the last month. Real wages are actually less than when Bush took office in 2001. http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?dat...

Increasing the oversupply of labor in this country will lower wages even further. Allowing for an increase of 60,000 H1-B visas is nothing but economic treason. It offers further proof of who our "elected" officials really represent. They represent the interests of their rich campaign contributors exclusively.

unlawflcombatnt
EconomicPopulistCommentary
___________
The economy needs balance between the "means of production" & "means of consumption."

[dcfirefighter]

9. Payroll tax

a 15.3% tax on the price of labor
causes a tax wedge, reducing the number & price of labor units consumed (job shortage and low wages)
Assume demand for labor is relatively inelastic (it is in the short term).
Removing a 15.3% tax on the price of labor should increase labor consumption by 5-7%, or 7-10 million new jobs. Officially, 7.5 million people are unemployed.

Removign such a tax should be balanced by reduced spending, alternatively, it could be raised by increasing taxes on things that are not labor or products of labor - which doesn't leave much, mostly government-granted priveleges: pollution, titles, permits, licenses, and patents.

[unlawflcombatnt]

11. Labor Demand

The demand for labor is determined by the demand for production. Increasing worker wages would increase aggregate consumer income, increasing consumer spending and demand. Reducing the tax-induced "cost" of labor might help some. But it is the demand for the production labor provides, not its cost, that is the major determinant of hiring. Create increased demand for production, and increased hiring and wages are guaranteed. And that increased demand for production will only come from increased aggregate labor income, not cost reductions for employers.

[dcfirefighter]

16. I would consider that a second order effect

and expect that you are correct, in that it would probably be larger than the first order effect.

But there would definitely be a first-order effect, as purchasing additional labor inputs becomes relatively more cost-effective than purchasing more capital or land inputs.

[2Design]

8. that is a 23 yo perspective - there are millions in their 40s and 50s

out of work - this is how they got this passed 10-15 years ago - said same thing - while dismissing 40s and hiring 20s

so it is a problem if you are over 40 and pushed out of work and into big box mart jobs because of lies

[glasalle]

10. Study shows H1-Bs paid less

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/10/25/44OPreality_1...

<Snip>

The H-1B swindle A new study shows that companies hire foreign workers for cheap labor, not skill

Reality Check, By Ephraim Schwartz
October 25, 2005

It appears there is hard evidence to prove that employers are using the H-1B visa program to hire cheap labor; that is, to pay lower wages than the national average for programming jobs.

<Snip>

[glasalle]

12. Dept of Labor makes H1-B Job list unavailable

As discussed in this article,

http://comnews.com/stories/articles/1005/1005edit.htm

the DOL refuses to open up the database of H1-B jobs to American citizens. It is widely believed that this is done to prevent American workers for applying for these jobs. This makes the argument for H1-Bs - that employers can't find American workers - quite disingenuous. Clearly , Americans want to apply for these jobs and clearly the Feds and the corporate lobbyists are only interested in cheap foreign labor.

[Robert Oak]

13. Thanks

WE need to increase awareness. Most people know what outsourcing
is but they don't get "insourced outsourcing" at all.

[glasalle]

14. insourced outsourcing

Robert,
I am very frustrated by the lack of coverage of this topic. Now a days, when I talk to family and acquaintances, I try to illuminate them about the hoards of guest workers competing against Americans.
Many Americans will admit that offshore outsourcing is bad, but believe that not much can be done about it. I tell them that their own government is working against them and this is something that we can protest.

[Quequeg]

15. Call your senators in the morning of Thu, Nov 3

We're facing an historic calamity on the issue of labor-related immigration. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved an increase of 350,000 more legal immigrants, which could result in the annual loss of 350,000 jobs to American citizens.

Over the next 10 years, this could result in the importation of more than 3 million workers.

This would directly harm our country, since we have 14 million people who cannot find full-time work.

Also, our country is barely wheezing out 150,000 jobs per month. This increase in foreign labor could wipe out 2-months worth of jobs that otherwise would be available to American citizens. And these jobs would be wiped out every year for the next 10 years.

This would be the biggest increase, since legislation passed way back in the year 1990.

Of course, our corporately controlled media barely reports this. (Watch Lou Dobbs. He's the one guy who reports on these matters.)

But there's still something we can do. Thank goodness for Senator Byrd. He has proposed an amendment to strip out this immigration increase from the Budget Reconciliation Act S.1932.

So, call your senators tomorrow morning (Thu, Nov 3) and let them know that you want them to vote for the Byrd amendment.

Also, tell your senators that if the Byrd amendment fails, then vote against the whole Budget Reconciliation Act S.1932.

Holy Job Destruction - it's supposed to be about "Budget Reconciliation", not immigration. If they want to create this sort of legislation, then they should call it the "Job-Destroying Labor Importation Bill, Slap in the Face of the American Worker."

But they do this on purpose. They try to sneak hugely unpopular legislation in seemingly innocuous bills and they think we won't notice. Well, I noticed and my blood is boiling. I hope yours is too.

If you read this in time, please make every effort to call your senators. After tomorrow, this bill could be law.
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www.GlobalismScorecard.org

[newyawker99]

18. Hi Quequeg!!

Welcome to DU!!