This is an email newsletter that I get from Dr Norm Matloff of UCLA at Davis.

This particular email was about how the "guest worker" programs can be abused to lower wages. And the employers are not even breaking the law, because the law allows them to do this.

To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter
Subject: "the rest of the story" on H-1B teachers in Las Vegas

Some of you are aware of the recent commotion in Las Vegas regarding the hiring of H-1B teachers.

Joe Guzzardi, a teacher and writer in Lodi (Sacramento area), wrote an excellent column on this recently (enclosed below; more to come, he tells me). Rob Sanchez has also commented in his e-newsletter.

One of the points made is that there is a sizable pool of laid-off
techies who could be great science and math teachers, and that efforts
should be focused on developing that resource rather than using H-1Bs as
a first resort. And a sharply-worded editorial ran in the local Las
Vegas press (enclosed below), expressing outrage that the district is
hiring H-1B teachers even though it rejected an award-winning teacher on
a technicality.

These points are important, but to me they distract attention from the
real issue (once again): The fundamental attraction of the H-1B to
employers is cheap labor.

Here is what the Guzzardi column says:

* If you wonder why the attraction to H-1Bs is so strong, read the 2004
* National Education Association report "Trends in Foreign Teacher
* Recruitment." From the NEA report: "Some foreign teachers receive lower
* pay than comparable teachers in their schools."
* And: "Some school districts pay their nonimmigrant employees as new
* teachers, regardless of their experience and qualifications."

(The term "nonimmigrant" here refers to the fact that H-1B is legally
termed a "nonimmigrant" visa, meaning that the foreign worker is allowed
to work in the U.S. only temporarily, a maximum of six years.)

In other words, the LV district is using H-1Bs just like the tech
industry does, to attain both Type I salary savings (paying an H-1B less
than an American with the same qualifications) and Type II salary
savings (hiring a younger, thus cheaper, H-1B instead of an older, thus
more expensive, American).

And note carefully--file this away in your mind for future use if you
are at all interested in the H-1B program--the definition of "prevailing
wage" in the H-1B regulations is tied to the JOB, not to the WORKER. As
I say in my university law journal article

^ First, it is crucial to keep in mind that prevailing wage pertains to
^ the job, not the worker. The employer can define the job to be Level I
^ [0-2 years of experience] even though the worker has, say, 4 or 5 years
^ of experience. The employer is then hiring a more-experienced worker
^ for the salary of someone will less experience. As immigration lawyer
^ Sean Olender puts it, "This disparity often results in very experienced
^ candidates being underpaid." (Oleander law office Web page,
^ http://www.usvisa-law.com/prevaili.htm, last visited January 9, 2003).

This shows one of the many gaping loopholes concerning the prevailing
wage provisions in H-1B law and regulations. Sounds like the district
has retained a crack immigration lawyer.

Add to that an article from the Las Vegas press which ran last March
(also enclosed below), with this key point:

John Farley, a physics professor and director of the Center for
Mathematics and Science Education at UNLV, said teachers with a
bachelor's degree in Clark County typically start out at a salary of
about $27,000.

Well, duh! No wonder there is a "shortage" of teachers! And by the
way, that award-winning teacher who was rejected by the Las Vegas
district got hired in Bakersfield instead, with a salary of $60K, in
spite of the fact that Bakersfield has a lower cost of living than LV.

The LV district is committing rank fraud. And remember, they're doing
it in full compliance with the law. The LAW is the problem, and
Congress refuses to fix it.

Norm

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/ ... 83515.html
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/ ... 53393.html
http://www. vdare. com/guzzardi/ 050826_vfl.htm