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  1. #1
    ceelynn's Avatar
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    Oracle working with Sen. Cantwell to to increase H-1B visas

    From Human Resource Executive Online:

    http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=17996959


    Immigration Reform Efforts Revive Debate Over Visa Programs

    As Congress wrangles over immigration reform, a battle is raging among technology companies, employee groups and politicians over H-1B and L visas for skilled workers and whether or not the programs in place go too far or not far enough.

    By Louis Greenstein

    The proposed immigration reform bill that failed to clear the Senate this week included important provisions concerning visas for foreign workers to fill critical jobs in the United States. Although the bill will probably not be revived until after the 2008 elections, the debate will likely continue for the foreseeable future between high-tech companies such as Oracle, Google and Microsoft, which contend they're faced with skills shortages that can only be alleviated by hiring foreign workers, and their opponents, who accuse the companies of seeking to hold down the wages of U.S. workers.

    Among the senators who offered an amendment to the immigration bill was Sen. Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.), who said the H-1B and L visa programs -- which allow U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for jobs in the United States -- are in effect stifling the wages of American workers because the companies pay foreign employees less than they pay Americans to perform the same jobs. In particular, Durbin and his supporters claim the L visa program -- originally intended as a means to facilitate inter-company international transfers -- is being abused by employers that are manipulating it to bring thousands of foreign workers to the United States.

    Durbin's proposal would have had the Department of Labor -- not the employer -- determine prevailing wages for both H-1B and L visa workers, put a cap on the number of H-1B workers a company may employ and place a heavier burden on employers to find a qualified U.S. citizen for a position before hiring a foreigner.

    Chris McManes, a spokesman for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers¿USA, a New Jersey-based professional association for technical workers, says his group supports the Durbin proposal. He says IEEE-USA's salary survey conducted several years ago revealed the first-ever drop in salaries for electrical engineers. Asked whether foreign workers were the cause of the salary drop, McManes admitted that causes are only anecdotal at this time. "You can't really show a causal relationship," he says.

    "The [H-1B] program is riddled with fraud and abuse," says Marcus Courtney, president of WashTech, a Seattle-based technical workers union. "The whole point is not to hire American workers," he says. "The program disqualifies qualified applicants because they're U.S. citizens. If it were a booming market with rising wages, it would be one thing. But year after year they keep saying there's a desperate labor shortage. They say they can't find qualified people. But there is no labor-market shortage. The whole idea is to undermine and cut the wages paid to technology professionals."

    Robert Hoffman, vice president for government and public affairs for Oracle, the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based technology giant, strongly disagrees with this assessment -- and with Senator Durbin's proposal. "They're legislating by anecdote," he says. "Durbin heard from a small group of folks who complained about not being able to find jobs."

    In reality, says Hoffman, depending on the legal costs and processing fees, companies spend anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 to hire an H-1B worker -- over and above what it would normally cost to fill the position.

    According to Hoffman, wage violations are minimal in H-1B programs. "Ninety percent are paperwork offenses, not willful violations," he says. "Current law says we have to pay H-1B workers the prevailing wage or whatever we'd pay someone else in that position," he says.

    "We face an unemployment rate of 1.7 percent in the high-tech industry," says Hoffman, citing data from the Department of Labor. He vigorously denies that qualified Americans are losing jobs to foreign workers. "The notion that it's foreign vs. U.S. workers is wrong," he says, noting that the H-1B visa cap was met on day one of this fiscal year. "So, the majority of foreign-born U.S. university graduates cannot be placed in permanent jobs right now. We can hire that person to work overseas, but we can't place them in the United States. So you might as well staple a deportation order to their diploma."

    Hoffman says Oracle is working with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D.-Wash.) to double the cap from 20,000 to 40,000 H-1B visas -- along with proposing a set-aside for advanced degree holders.

    He says employers should be contacting their Congressional representatives to help ensure any immigration reform that's ultimately passed addresses H-1B and L visas in ways that meet their needs.

  2. #2
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    You know this is typical. To work on Oracle you need to be Oracle certified. It's one of the most expensive certifications you can get. And as if that's not enough now they want to make it completely impossible for Americans to work with them by hiring foreigners.

  3. #3
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    Cantwell is nothing but a puppet to big corporate lobbies - especially in the software industry. She has a horrible voting record on just about EVERY immigration-related vote and she needs to be unelected or just quit at the next soonest available opportunity.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  4. #4
    Senior Member SamLowrey's Avatar
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    Dear Senator Cantwell:

    Recent video proof of unethical, if not illegal, practices by Cohen & Grigsby confirmed what many of us in the Information Technology world have known for many years - the H-1B program is rife with fraud.

    The program was meant to be temporary, yet it still exists! WHY?

    Claims of labor shortages were unfounded from the beginning and continued even after the IT "bubble" burst. Do you honestly think there is a shortage of American professionals to do these jobs?

    I have never been able to receive an answer where the money from the program has gone - the money supposedly earmarked to retrain Americans. DO YOU KNOW?

    The program doesn't solve the "problem" but rather perpetuates it. If you drive down the wages of Americans in an industry, how are you going to address a supposed "shortage"? The idea behind it was inherently flawed, as you can clearly see.

    This is the time to end the program, not expand it!

    Americans are growing tired of a distant Congress filled with members who range from indifference to outright antagonism towards their own constituents!

  5. #5
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    Absolutely, to the quote.

    If we need more trained workers, I would rather put money into training Americans than many of the other things we do in this country.

    The same thing with nurses. Why can't we spend money to train or help them get training to be come nurses? Of course, Jimmy Carter's son would be out of a lucrative job - that of importing nurses for America.

    My daughter came home to change her major and become a teacher. She worked herself to a frazzle, working full time, and other things and at the end of the first year, her friend from the state where she lived sent her a news clipping.

    It seems the most affluent school district in the state was solving it's financial problems. They were forcing retirement and early retirement on those that were eligible and importing teachers from India. Somehow, that didn't sound like a teacher shortage to me.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  6. #6
    Super Moderator imblest's Avatar
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    It seems the most affluent school district in the state was solving it's financial problems. They were forcing retirement and early retirement on those that were eligible and importing teachers from India. Somehow, that didn't sound like a teacher shortage to me.
    If you don't mind, what state is this happening in? If it's mine, I'm going to pitch a fit to the state Dept of Public Instruction!!

    Thanks!!
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  7. #7
    Super Moderator imblest's Avatar
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    Dear Senator Cantwell:

    Recent video proof of unethical, if not illegal, practices by Cohen & Grigsby confirmed what many of us in the Information Technology world have known for many years - the H-1B program is rife with fraud.

    The program was meant to be temporary, yet it still exists! WHY?

    Claims of labor shortages were unfounded from the beginning and continued even after the IT "bubble" burst. Do you honestly think there is a shortage of American professionals to do these jobs?

    I have never been able to receive an answer where the money from the program has gone - the money supposedly earmarked to retrain Americans. DO YOU KNOW?

    The program doesn't solve the "problem" but rather perpetuates it. If you drive down the wages of Americans in an industry, how are you going to address a supposed "shortage"? The idea behind it was inherently flawed, as you can clearly see.

    This is the time to end the program, not expand it!

    Americans are growing tired of a distant Congress filled with members who range from indifference to outright antagonism towards their own constituents!
    SamLowery, great letter! This is a problem that has affected us, and when I saw the Cohen & Grigsby video, I couldn't hardly breathe, I was SO upset! My DH has had some physical problems too, and combined with being unable to get another IT job, we are barely above the poverty level! Now, the excuse he gets as to why no one will hire him is because he hasn't been in the IT industry in several years!! How is he supposed to get more recent experience if no one will give him a chance?!?! Must not be any kind of REAL shortage!!!

    Could you and ceelynn please help keep the ALIPAC nation advised on this issue so we can fight back on this also? These H-1B workers are also taking jobs from Americans just as the illegals are, as well as holding down wages!

    Thanks to both of you for posting!
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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