09.26.07
Governors Turn Against Workers
I am not an anti-immigration person. I believe that a carefully thought out policy, especially in regard to our neighbor Mexico, is an essential part of maintaining our security. Indeed, Mexico’s own social and economic stresses, if not relieved through emigration to the United States, threaten to spark another revolution right on our border.
However, the Governor of California, along with the governors of some other states, recently wrote a letter requesting an increase in the quota of H1B work visas. In technology fields, at least, this is not used to fill in places where there are no qualified Americans who can do the job. Instead, this program is used to dislodge highly-paid American workers and replace them with underpaid foreign workers.
The letter, which states, “businesses should be able to find the world’s best educated workers,” ignores the fact that thousands of the “best educated workers” who already live in the U.S. have difficulty finding work. The letter also repeats the myth that there is a “critical shortage of highly skilled professionals in math and science.” This myth has long ago been debunked by a Duke University study published five months ago.
A recent case shows that there is some limited recourse to those imported workers, but who (on a temporary visa sponsored by the employer) has the resources to try to fight the pay discrimination? Especially since that is the entire reason why employers bring these guys over here.
From Visa Law Blog, We often receive calls from frustrated employees on H1B visas complaining that employers are not paying them the required wages. Many are about to loose their jobs and want to learn more abot their rights.
Honestly, do you think there are not enough programmers already here waiting for an employer to see their resumes on Dice or Sologig? What about technical support? System and network administrators? Low-level supervisors and middle-level managers, including those with MBA degrees?
What is H1B being used for? When a corporation has some technical work, but does not want to pay the wages that workers in that field require. They import people from third-world countries on visas that give those employees little recourse against any actions that the company takes.
Shame on you, Governor Schwazenegger. Shame on the large companies that were behind this, but shame on the governor for failing to inform himself about the issues affecting California’s workforce and California’s smaller businesses that are trying to compete while following the law.
Let’s make this clear: H1B gives large corporations advantages over competing smaller businesses (including small, locally-owned businesses [SLOBs]) because the SLOBs are forced to pay workers the legal and prevailing rates, while corporations can import lower-pay workers. This cost advantage can be used to lower prices long enough to drive competitors out of business, or to inflate the compensation awarded to the CEO of that corporation.
H1B is a weapon against locally-owned small businesses, the kind of business that is the engine of the economy. I urge California readers to write our governor and ask him to withdraw his letter, instead asking for a level playing field: ZERO H1B visas until all legal residents working in the particular job field are employed in the field. This makes it fair for all of us, instead of just padding the pockets of corporate CEOs.
