Edwards proposes to prevent, once and for all, H-1Bs from replacing American workers' jobs

Here are Edwards' full, detailed views regarding H-1B visas:

http://www.ifpte.org/Downloads/Archives/Outlook/JulSept07_final.pdf



The key here is requiring employers to pay the prevailing wage; that effectively stymies, once-and-for-all, any company who would misuse the H-1B simply to hire cheap foreign labor. American workers, finally, would be protected from H-1Bs taking their jobs.

(Why do I get the feeling the Hillary supporters aren't going to be quoting Edwards' statement above?)

Now I can R&K the hell out of it!

:thumbsup::kick:

There is no percentage in it for her.

and they all port here. The cruise lines are here to give us cheap labor.

"Businesses should not be allowed to misuse the H-1B and L-1 guest worker programs to hire foreign workers who will just work for less when American workers are capable of doing the work."

He knows damn well that there aren't enough qualified American workers to do those jobs.

workers to do those jobs."

Not true. It is well known among people who work in the technical industry that a large reason for those worker programs is to allow companies to hire brand new foreign PHD's on the cheap, rather than to let experienced, capable, higher paid American workers retrain for the positions. And that a simple way to get more math and science types into the pipeline is to raise salaries for engineers and scientists. Why do so many math people end up on Wall Street instead of in engineering jobs? It's the salaries, pure and simple.

I applaud Edwards for taking a strong stand on this, and encourage the other candidates to follow his lead.

Just not any who are willing to work for Parents Basement Inn/Daily Kraft mac-n-cheese-level wages.

studies. They had been commissioned to determine whether
or not there is a real shortage of people in the Us who
hold degrees in Math, Science Engineering.

Conclusion from five different studies, (I name three I could remember
off the top of my head) --THERE IS NOT A SHORTAGE of qualified
American Workers.

When Business says we must be competitive. There are referring
to lower salaries.

Why do they import people on H-1B Visas?? They bring them because
they work for cheaper salaries , making 1/3 or 1/2 what they pay
American Workers.

The last group of H-11B Visas were lower level workers. They
were not brought here because they had some great high level
education. INVESTOR CLASS demanding higher profits pressure
CEOs . CEOs go for cheaper labor to increase profits.

a thread whose purpose isn't to bash Edwards but to laud him for his pro-labor stance.

from the OP Edwards quote:

"I will eliminate abuses of the program by strengthening labor law enforcement, and requiring employers to demonstrate that they could not recruit American workers and that they pay the prevailing wage. I will also increase the employer fee in the H-1B visa program, with the resources continuing to support science and math education because we must prepare more Americans for high-paying jobs of the future."

That's an important statement for the people I know who, like my family, have to work for living.

I've nothing against any of the other Dem candidates, and I refuse to bad-mouth any of them like some goddam republican asshole might be expected to do, but Edwards is my pick.

Nice facts. And kick

:kick:

Under his plan, Edwards said he would:

--Insulate scientific research from politics by eliminating political litmus tests for government scientists.

--Make permanent the research and development tax credit.

--Increase funding and lift "stifling research restrictions" for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

--Modernize the nation's 50-year-old patent laws.

--Start a "New Energy Economy" Fund that would invest in clean, renewable energy products and technologies and create 1 million jobs.

--Institute a national policy to bring broadband Internet service to all U.S. homes and businesses by 2010.

--Improve science and math education by investing more in teacher pay and training and providing one year of public college tuition for more than 2 million students.

The Democrat also reiterated his plans for a universal health care system and his support for so-called H1B visas for educated workers – an immigration program that Silicon Valley companies rely heavily on to sponsor thousands of software engineers from Russia, India, China and other countries.

http://cbs5.com/politics/2.458109.html

Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, followed fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain in presenting a science and technology plan during an appearance before the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

Edwards' plan contains many similar elements to those of Clinton and McCain.

All three candidates favor expanding the H1B visa program to allow Valley companies to hire more foreign engineers and programmers.

They all favor expanding science and technology education in the U.S. to train more American citizens to become the next generation of innovators, and they all favor the federal research and development tax credit.

http://www.nbc11.com/news/13802289/detail.html