Do you agree with this Senator's press release on H-1b visas?

U.S. Sen. X: To make qualified American workers a priority
9/28/2010

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, September 28, 2010

WASHINGTON – Senator X is pressing for consideration of two key amendments to ensure American workers are filling job vacancies in the United States when companies seek to use temporary visa programs to fill those jobs. The amendments were filed to the so-called offshoring bill that is currently being debated in the Senate.

“If this debate is truly about protecting American jobs, these common-sense amendments will go a long way to preventing work from being shipped overseas and ensuring that qualified American workers are first in line for the job openings. Instead of blocking these amendments, the Majority Leader should bring them up for a vote,” X said. “In tough economic times like we’re seeing, it’s even more important that we do everything possible to see that Americans are given every consideration when applying for jobs.

“If there aren’t qualified Americans, then companies can legitimately use the visa system. But, today, too many Americans remain unemployed, and we still allow companies to import thousands of foreign workers with little or no strings attached. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask businesses to first determine if there are qualified Americans to fill the vacant positions, and be held accountable for displacing Americans to hire cheaper, foreign labor,” X added.

One of the X amendments mirrors legislation X coauthored with Senator Z. The amendment would prevent any company engaged in a mass lay-off of American workers from importing cheaper labor from abroad through temporary guest worker programs. Companies truly facing labor shortages could continue to obtain employer sponsored visas.

The other amendment is similar to legislation he and Senator Y have introduced that would root out fraud and abuse of the H-1B and L Visa programs while making sure Americans have the first chance at high-skilled jobs in the United States. The H-1B visa has been labeled the “outsourcing visa” by India’s former Commerce and Industry Minister.

X said the H-1B program is well-known for encouraging companies to take their work offshore. The New York Times reported in 2007 that the H-1B Visa is “a critical tool for Indian outsourcing vendors to gain expertise and win contracts from western companies to transfer critical operations like Bangalore. As Indian outsourcing companies have become the leading consumers of the visa, they have used it to further their primary mission, which is to gain the expertise necessary to take on critical tasks performed by Western companies, and perform them in India at a fraction of the costs.”

The H-1B and L Visa amendment would require employers to try and recruit U.S. workers before hiring H-1B visa holders; require employers to pay a better wage to visa holders who take these jobs; expand the powers of the federal government to go after abusers; create new rules regarding the outsourcing and outplacement of H-1B and L-1 workers by their employers to secondary employers in the United States; and establish a new database that employers can use to advertise positions for which they intend to hire an H-1B worker.

Why bring in foreign workers if there are Americans willing and able to do the job. If we were at 4% unemployment, and companies could not fill positions that would be one thing, but I think with unemployment where its at, we should issue as few H-1B visas as possible.

It's a press release from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa):
http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.Iml?Article=212276

he is a surprise.

that would force companies to do all those things.

and telling the truth about this rotten program is a breath of fresh air

What possible 'powers' do they not already have in this?

that press release pretty much cuts through all the bull on this issue and lays the truth of what's really going on bare

why cant more of them?

as they would to a local person, plus pay their way over and have to fork out for their lodging and meals. This would ensure that they hire local people first if at all possible. As it stands now, they get the foreign worker cheaper and of course that's all they care about.

American tech workers have lived under what even Milton Friedman called a 'subsidy' from the middle class to corporations

It's just like a farm price support program for tech workers

except, it's the exact opposite

By the time the worker figures out they are being screwed, the company got what they needed from them and dumps them. This happened to several Phillipino workers at my last company. Multi-national companies are heartless monsters.

The Swedish government told them you can bring in as many Polish workers as you want (EU rules) but you have to pay them Swedish wages not Polish wages. As a result the company hired Swedes almost exclusively. If you have to pay the prevailing wage, you're going to hire locals rather than import workers.

Grassley is doing what Republicans always do, introduce mirror bills that push their corporate tax agenda and strip out the oversight and other measures to reduce fraud.

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.