Thread: How the pres. can help middle class - H-1B/J-1 visas

From Professor Norm Matloff's H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter
Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The White House has said that President Obama will focus on economic
issues in his State of the Union address on Wednesday. On the defensive
after the Democrats lost the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat to
Republican Scott Brown, and fearing that more losses are to come in the
congressional elections in November, Obama needs to show he is capable
of addressing the dire economic situation of many middle- and
lower-class Americans. He talks about helping Main Street instead of
Wall Street, but is viewed by many as indeed too fixated on helping the
latter. He needs a dramatic gesture.

Well, here's how Obama could hit a home run on Wednesday evening: He
could express outrage at this abuse of the J-1 visa in Florida described
below, and while he's at it, express even more outrage at the scandalous
H-1B visa (http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/h1b.html). He could vow to fix
this disgraceful situation, in which business and their ally, the
American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), have successfully
lobbied for decades for gaping loopholes in immigration law
that enable bringing in cheap labor from abroad, displacing U.S.
citizens and permanent residents from jobs ranging from engineers and
programmers to grocery baggers and deli clerks.

It would take courage on Obama's part to do this. Expressing outrage on
such a staid occasion might be viewed as something of a breach of
decorum, and more importantly, business and the AILA contribute big
bucks to political campaigns (of both parties) and such funds might be
endangered. But I can't think of a better way for Obama to reverse the
frightening momentum building against him these days.

Norm

--------------------------------------------------------------
The News-Press
Publix hires foreign workers
Says local residents don't want the jobs

AMY BENNETT WILLIAMS
awilliams@news-press.com
January 19, 2010

1:10 A.M. -- At a time when Lee Countys unemployment rate is almost 14
percent and about 38,000 residents are jobless, Publix is paying people
from South America to work at some of its Southwest Florida
supermarkets.

For the last three years, Publix has hired hundreds of Peruvians and
Brazilians for its stores in south Fort Myers and Naples during tourist
season because the company says it cant find locals to fill those
spots.

The South American cashiers, baggers, deli, bakery and grocery clerks
work part time at more than 20 area locations, said Publix spokeswoman
Shannon Patten. The company began hiring them in late 2008, when Lees
unemployment was about 6 percent.

It is our experience that potential workers that live year round near
our stores are interested in permanent jobs, not temporary ones, Patten
said.

Many Southwest Florida jobseekers and the people who help them
disagree.

Are you kidding? asked Rita Hursell. The 46-year-old nurses aide, whos
been out of work since 2007, is on food stamps and lives with her
parents in Lehigh Acres.

Hursell, who just completed a computer class at the Career and Service
Center in Fort Myers, said shed be happy to work at Publix even on a
part-time, temporary basis. I wouldnt mind at all, she said.

Pat Angelicchio, who owns Snelling Personnel Services in Fort Myers,
says Hursell is typical of the people he sees at his business, which
matches job-seekers to jobs.

Everybody everybody who comes here would be happy to do a temporary
assignment. Even two or three days. Theyre prepared to do anything for
any amount of time, said Angelicchio. I find it very hard to believe a
company as large and well-regarded as Publix would bring people in from
so far away when so many here are desperate for work. In fact, it makes
me not want to shop there.

The Publix workers, who are forbidden to speak to the press, have
short-term visas known as J1s and are college students, Patten said.

Although numbers arent broken down by county, there are 7,756 J1
visa-holders in Florida, said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Darlene
Kirk. The department calls it an Exchange Visitor Program, allowing
foreign college students to become directly involved in the daily life
of the people of the United States through travel and temporary work.
Publix doesnt reciprocate in the exchange.

Since our students come from the southern hemisphere, Patten said,
their summer break coincides nicely with our winter tourist season. ...
These students are not replacing American workers.

Edison State College ethics and philosophy professor Charles Larkin
calls the Publix policy disgraceful and unpatriotic.

With 14 percent unemployment in Lee County, Publix cant find any local
Americans interested in working part time? Give me a break, Larkin
said. This can hardly have been the intent of the new Kennedy
administration in 1961 when it instituted this program for cultural
exchanges with Central and South American nations which were, at that
time, predominantly military dictatorships.

Florida Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, who hadnt heard about the
practice before, called it terrible.

I guess we need to raise a stink about it, Kreegel said. He intends to
talk to Publix representatives about it in the coming weeks.

Publix re-evaluates hiring needs every year, Patten said. We will
revisit this for 2011.
South Seas Island Resort on Captiva has about five J1 visa workers
doing jobs locals dont want, said Joe Palmer, human resources director.

If we can, we always recruit or staff locally, Palmer said. The fact
is, were 40 minutes from the Sanibel toll and if youre a breakfast
server, that means getting up at 4 a.m. But to anyone in the Fort Myers
community whos willing, we say, Please, come apply. Were happy to talk
to you.

Barbara Hartman, spokeswoman for the Career and Service Center in Fort
Myers says shes surprised Publix would turn to foreign workers.
Usually, she says, companies hire non-citizens for positions that are
either specialized or in remote places neither of which the Publix jobs
are.

Im just at a loss as to why they would not be able to find enough
candidates to fill those positions, Hartman said.

So, shes got an idea for Publix: Check out her agency. With more than
38,000 people looking for work in Lee County, wed love to help them
with their recruitment effort.

--------------------------------------------------------------
The News-Press
Editorial: Employers must hire U.S. workers first
January 20, 2010

It's simply not acceptable for Southwest Florida employers to import
foreign workers when the local unemployment rate is almost 14 percent.

That's especially so when they are using a cultural exchange program to
get those workers visas without having to show that Americans won't
take the jobs.

Publix and some other employers claim they can't find Americans to do
the low-paid, temporary jobs at issue.

Since 2008, when unemployment was already 6 percent, Publix has hired
hundreds of Peruvians and Brazilians for its stores in south Fort Myers
and Naples in the tourist season, when it says it's hard to find locals
for the temporary jobs.

What we are hearing from some of the county's 38,000 jobless and the
employment specialists who try to help them is that this is insulting
nonsense. We agree.

An increasing percentage of our people are having to cobble together a
living from part-time and temporary jobs, moonlighting, even
"daylighting" one job at the same time they're working another, with
poor pay and few if any benefits.

Thousands are already doing that, struggling valiantly to support their
families.

It's not the good pay, good benefits and lifetime employment we once
considered almost a birthright for those with an education and a decent
work ethic, but it is reality for thousands right here in Lee County.
Part-time and temporary jobs are needed.

Good corporate citizenship and simple patriotism demand that employers
refocus their hiring away from foreign workers toward getting America
back to work.

The current slump is expected to persist for years. Unemployment
benefits cannot and should not be extended indefinitely, creating a
culture of dependency and a disincentive to work. The effort to find
local workers for local jobs has to shift into a higher gear.

Barbara Hartman of the Career and Service Center in Fort Myers says,
"I'm just at a loss as to why (Publix) would not be able to find enough
candidates to fill those positions," and she wants to work with Publix
to find local workers. "... we'd love to help them with their
recruitment effort."

Our people deserve first crack at local jobs, and we believe they will
take them. Prove us wrong.

Meanwhile, Congress needs to review the J1 visa program. It was not
supposed to take jobs from Americans.

Had a really funny conversation with a Chinese-American programmer. Her path to citizenship was student visa, employment green card, passed citizenship test five years later.

Anyway she has worked as a team leader at a US software company. She told me how uneducated, stupid and ungrateful the Indian H1B programmers are! Went on and on, boy was she angry about it. So it's not just American programmers who loath the Indian H1B's!