Thread: SoCal Edison To ‘Layoff’ Of Hundreds Employees and Replace Them With Immigrants

By Sera Wilson
0
12:38 pm February 12, 2015


Tuesday, over 300 member of the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) protested alongside of Southern California Edison employees in Irvine, California. The protest was to bring light to what SCE employees are calling unfair labor practices.


So how is SCE getting away with this?


They are using a wonderful little gem known as the H1-B Visa program. Under the HB-1 visa program, businesses are permitted to temporarily hire skilled and educated foreign workers if they unable to find US workers due to labor shortages.


Well, allegedly Edison is taking a different approach with the program… Laying off hundreds of skilled workers to replace them with cheaper immigrant workers. Obviously SCE denies that they are replacing the current workforce with immigrants under the HB-1 visa program but tell that to the employees that are receiving their pink slips.

Scott Wetch, a Sacramento lobbyist for several locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Edison is “systematically outsourcing jobs.”


“As people come over on H-1B visas, they literally lay off other people at the Irvine tech center,” Wetch said.


He said the timing is especially bad coming on the heels of Edison winning a legal settlement at the California Public Utilities Commission. The settlement allows it to collect $3.3 billion from ratepayers and $1.4 billion from shareholders to fund the cost of closing the San Onofre nuclear power plant near San Clemente.


“It’s all part of the same narrative,” said Wetch, adding that legislation in response to the layoffs is already in the works in Sacramento. “They are bringing in cheaper labor … and sticking it to ratepayers.”
Several lawmakers also lambasted the utility.


Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from Vista, said Edison is “merely replacing current workers with lower-paid counterparts.”


“This appears to be an example of precisely what the H-1B visa is not intended to be: a program to simply replace American workers en masse with cheap labor from overseas,” he said in a statement.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) said the Edison layoffs are part of a growing trend of companies that use H-1B visas to bring in foreign workers for jobs that could be filled by Americans.
“You come in on the H-1B visa program for the sole purpose of taking a job,” Sessions said in a speech on the Senate floor last week. “They come solely for a limited period of time to take a job, and they work for less pay too often.”


John and Ken of KFI AM 640, a local talk radio station in Los Angeles, California spoke about the issue on yesterday’s program. During the program the pair interviewed IEEE USA Director of Government Relations Russ Harrison, who stated that SCE is not the only company to utilize the visa program in this manner. Harrison stated that this is actually happening all over the US and that Disney “Just announced it is doing basically the exact same thing in Orlando.” Harrison went on to state that “What is surprising about this case is not that it is happening, but that we found out about it.”

Here are some of the questions burning in my mind… Are companies like SCE really laying off hundreds of workers to replace them with cheap foreign labor? Is this a ploy by labor unions to pull at the heartstrings of the American public as businesses try to sever ties with them? Or is this something in between?
Tell us your thoughts… We want to know.


http://www.libertynews.com/2015/02/s....BqTEerq4.dpuf

Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from Vista, said Edison is “merely replacing current workers with lower-paid counterparts.” “This appears to be an example of precisely what the H-1B visa is not intended to be: a program to simply replace American workers en masse with cheap labor from overseas,” he said in a statement.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) said the Edison layoffs are part of a growing trend of companies that use H-1B visas to bring in foreign workers for jobs that could be filled by Americans. “You come in on the H-1B visa program for the sole purpose of taking a job,” Sessions said in a speech on the Senate floor last week. “They come solely for a limited period of time to take a job, and they work for less pay too often.”

Exactly. It's wonderful to see Issa in the House and Sessions in the Senate paying attention to the details of what's happening in America. To Kirk and Flake, you've both made mistakes in abandoning our cause to stop this disaster, a travesty created and sustained by our own out-of-control rogue government that puts the interests of illegal aliens above the interests of US citizens.

Listen up, Republicans, we must have a full 10 year moratorium on new immigration to sort out all the illegal behavior, actions and practices by government, employers and others who are circumventing our laws, overpopulating our nation, destroying the job market for Americans, and running up the budged and national debt paying for this disaster.

Common Sense. Intelligence. Unwavering loyalty to American Citizens. This is what we need from every member of Congress, especially Republicans.

H-1B visa holders aren't immigrants. Their permission to stay in the country ends with the job.

Originally Posted by Mayday

By Sera Wilson
0
12:38 pm February 12, 2015


Tuesday, over 300 member of the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) protested alongside of Southern California Edison employees in Irvine, California. The protest was to bring light to what SCE employees are calling unfair labor practices.


So how is SCE getting away with this?


They are using a wonderful little gem known as the H1-B Visa program. Under the HB-1 visa program, businesses are permitted to temporarily hire skilled and educated foreign workers if they unable to find US workers due to labor shortages.


Well, allegedly Edison is taking a different approach with the program… Laying off hundreds of skilled workers to replace them with cheaper immigrant workers. Obviously SCE denies that they are replacing the current workforce with immigrants under the HB-1 visa program but tell that to the employees that are receiving their pink slips.

Scott Wetch, a Sacramento lobbyist for several locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Edison is “systematically outsourcing jobs.”


“As people come over on H-1B visas, they literally lay off other people at the Irvine tech center,” Wetch said.


He said the timing is especially bad coming on the heels of Edison winning a legal settlement at the California Public Utilities Commission. The settlement allows it to collect $3.3 billion from ratepayers and $1.4 billion from shareholders to fund the cost of closing the San Onofre nuclear power plant near San Clemente.


“It’s all part of the same narrative,” said Wetch, adding that legislation in response to the layoffs is already in the works in Sacramento. “They are bringing in cheaper labor … and sticking it to ratepayers.”
Several lawmakers also lambasted the utility.


Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from Vista, said Edison is “merely replacing current workers with lower-paid counterparts.”


“This appears to be an example of precisely what the H-1B visa is not intended to be: a program to simply replace American workers en masse with cheap labor from overseas,” he said in a statement.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) said the Edison layoffs are part of a growing trend of companies that use H-1B visas to bring in foreign workers for jobs that could be filled by Americans.
“You come in on the H-1B visa program for the sole purpose of taking a job,” Sessions said in a speech on the Senate floor last week. “They come solely for a limited period of time to take a job, and they work for less pay too often.”


John and Ken of KFI AM 640, a local talk radio station in Los Angeles, California spoke about the issue on yesterday’s program. During the program the pair interviewed IEEE USA Director of Government Relations Russ Harrison, who stated that SCE is not the only company to utilize the visa program in this manner. Harrison stated that this is actually happening all over the US and that Disney “Just announced it is doing basically the exact same thing in Orlando.” Harrison went on to state that “What is surprising about this case is not that it is happening, but that we found out about it.”

Here are some of the questions burning in my mind… Are companies like SCE really laying off hundreds of workers to replace them with cheap foreign labor? Is this a ploy by labor unions to pull at the heartstrings of the American public as businesses try to sever ties with them? Or is this something in between?
Tell us your thoughts… We want to know.


http://www.libertynews.com/2015/02/s....BqTEerq4.dpuf

IS (SOCAL IN THE UNION )? IF SO THEY CAN NOT HAVE IMMIGRANTS WORKING WAKE THE HELL UP

Bring the whole fmily - start having kids!!
Spouses of Some H-1B Visa Holders to Be Allowed to Work

For H-1B Holders Being Sponsored for Green Card, Spouses Will Be Eligible to Work Under New Initiative

By MIRIAM JORDAN

Updated May 6, 2014 3:49 p.m. ET0 COMMENTS
Spouses of H-1B visa holders being sponsored for a green card by their employers will be allowed to work in the U.S. as part of a new initiative by the Obama administration to attract high-skilled foreign workers.

Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker announced Tuesday that the administration plans this and other revisions to regulations for the H-1B and other skilled-worker visas.

Mr. Mayorkas said the goal was twofold: to "encourage highly skilled, specially trained individuals to remain in the United States" and to maintain U.S. "competitiveness with other countries that attract skilled foreign workers and offer employment authorization for spouses."

Ms. Pritzker said that 28% of new U.S. businesses are launched by immigrants, who represent 13% of the population, and that four of 10 Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their children. She mentioned Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel Corp. , who was born in Hungary; Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin , born in Russia; and Jerry Yang , who co-founded Yahoo and is originally from Taiwan.

The rules, which will be published soon in the Federal Register, are expected to go into effect after a 60-day public-comment period.
Congress allows 85,000 new H-1B visas to be issued each year, 20,000 of which are reserved for people with advanced degrees. Under existing regulations, the Department of Homeland Security doesn't extend employment authorization to dependents of H-1B visa holders, who normally have specialized skills in engineering, programming and other high-tech fields.

The decision stops short of giving spouses of all H-1B visa holders blanket approval to work in the U.S. Spouses would become eligible only after the visa holder's company has petitioned for an immigrant visa for the foreign employee, putting the employee on track for legal permanent residency, known as a green card. Lawful permanent residents generally qualify to become U.S. citizens after five years.

"Allowing H-1B spouses to work would be an important change. Sometimes people aren't willing to come to the U.S. if their spouse can't work," said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School.

Another revision announced Tuesday will ease requirements for applicants of an EB-1 work visa, which is issued to researchers and professors with extraordinary ability. To qualify, applicants for the visas currently must submit awards, scholarly articles and a host of evidence to prove their outstanding recognition in and contribution to a particular field. The new rule will allow applicants to present comparable evidence that is acceptable, the official said. The U.S. issues 40,000 such visas each year.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014...44550269535992

Originally Posted by Judy

Exactly. It's wonderful to see Issa in the House and Sessions in the Senate paying attention to the details of what's happening in America. To Kirk and Flake, you've both made mistakes in abandoning our cause to stop this disaster, a travesty created and sustained by our own out-of-control rogue government that puts the interests of illegal aliens above the interests of US citizens.

Listen up, Republicans, we must have a full 10 year moratorium on new immigration so sort out all the illegal behavior, actions and practices by government, employers and others who are circumventing our laws, overpopulating our nation, destroying the job market for Americans, and running up the budged and national debt paying for this disaster.

Common Sense. Intelligence. Unwavering loyalty to American Citizens. This is what we need from every member of Congress, especially Republicans.

JUDY IF SOCAL EDISON IS IN THE UNION THEY HAVE A GOOD FIGHT THEY CAN NOT DO THIS WHAT IF THIS HAPPEN TO THE WH HOW WOULD THEY LIKE IT & DON'T SAY IT CAN NOT HAPPEN IT WILL

It has been going on in the STEM industries for years. No one stopped it, so like a cancer it spread, as farm workers spread to unskilled labor decades ago. Why not, monkey see, monkey do, and American government nor America's voters do anything meaningful. I suggested this would come in the 1970's to co-workers and was laughed at, so it goes, you shall reap what is sown! Now, I do not think the genie can be replaced into the bottle, do you? It will require arresting nearly all employers, (think Congress will allow that?), and deporting millions of aliens and militarizing our borders!

Originally Posted by artclam

H-1B visa holders aren't immigrants. Their permission to stay in the country ends with the job.

True, but they overstay their visas and become part of the massive illegal alien population in the United States. Over half of all illegal aliens in the US are people who overstayed their visas.