H-1B hearing: Companies say foreign workers needed

InfoWorld ^ | Sept. 17, 2003 | Grant Gross, IDG News Service

[Semper Paratus]

Can't get any judges confirmend but watch the H-1b renewal fly through.

[harpseal]

Lets see now we have large scale high tech unemployment among engineers and the other professionals that these companies are seeking H1B slaves for. They are lying and it is an obvious lie.

Ping on or off let me know.

[Texas_Dawg]

Hatch said the Senate should not tolerate fraud and abuse in the H-1B program, but he questioned whether it alone was causing the U.S. unemployment problems. He questioned whether the facts supported accusations that companies are using the H-1B visa program to hire cheap labor. The average H-1B worker salary is $55,000, while the average salary of a U.S. worker with a bachelor's degree is $46,000, Hatch said.

[landorepub]

No kidding. My blood boils when I see crap like this happening. I'd like to see what the job requirements are for some of the jobs they just can't seem to "fill". Must have 3 PhDs, and 15 years experience, blah blah blah. I work for a company that is going the offshore route for many of the supposed "low level" programming jobs. Although I am not a programmer, whats to say several years down the line they decide to ship my job to Pakistan? Remember, when they came for the programmers, I didn't care because I wasn't a programmer. When they came for the...you get the picture.

[Jack Wilson]

The H1-B workers need to pay an infrastructure tax - for using the roads (and other things) that my taxes built.

[EdReform]

BTTT

read later...

[jjm2111]

"Backers of the H-1B program argued Tuesday that the visas aren't taking away U.S. jobs, because some technology companies still can't find qualified workers for some positions. Ingersoll-Rand has searched for more than a year to fill a plastics engineer and an industrial robotics engineer position, finally settling on a Canadian resident in both cases, said Elizabeth Dickson, advisor of immigration services for the industrial equipment manufacturer."

That is such bull.

[harpseal]

There should not be an H1-B worker period. If people wish to work in the USA let them become legal immigrants to the USA not guest workers who can not leave one employer for another without the consent of the first employer.

[von Lettow]

Correct! There's always an excuse from "Patriotic"Companies to sell out American workers!!!

[Lazamataz]

The average H-1B worker salary is $55,000, while the average salary of a U.S. worker with a bachelor's degree is $46,000, Hatch said.

Apples and oranges, Troll_Dawg. One figure is $55,000 for an H1-B. H1-B's typically work in high-tech. The average salary for a US high-tech worker with a bachelor's is $68,000 (Source: ComputerWorld, 2003). The figure you and Orinthal James Hatch presented was the average salary of a U.S. worker in any field with a bachelor's degree is $46,000.

Thusly, every H1-B saves american business on average, $13,000 -- at the expense of qualified American workers. This is direct government intervention that you so loudly proclaim you are against.

I know it is imperative to you to try to destroy as many US jobs as possible, but I won't let you get away with your lies.

Besides, someone with a college education would know to look out for such a transparant manipulation of the origins in the statistics. I did. You didn't.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

It's a RACKET! If engineers had powerful lobbyists to bribe a few congressmen MORE than these corporations are, they would prevail. OR, we could expose this corruption to the voters, so they can rid Congress of this filth.
Phyllis Schlafly, a noted Christian Conservative has written at length on this racket.

[Carry_Okie]

Lets see now we have large scale high tech unemployment among engineers and the other professionals that these companies are seeking H1B slaves for. They are lying and it is an obvious lie.

Worse, these corporations are training their future competition. The workers take their money and set up shop at home. Between that and the number of immigrants our tax-supported universities have turned into future professors, America has effectively produced and financed the infrastructure for effective foreign competition at the expense of its own citizens.

[JosephW]

I can't believe it. I'm actually agreeing with Fineswine! Must be an error in the article or else I'm not feeling well.

[Mr. Bird]

How about this? Commence an audit of H1-B hires. Select a representative sample of companies, and scour their HR records. If H1-B is being abused, this should reveal it. If it's not, it won't put an end to these threads, but it will help...

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Thousands of American high-tech have been forced (with threats of losing their severance pay) to train their Indian replacements before being fired.
The abuses are OBVIOUS and have been reported by many news sources, but the unemployed do not have the money and power that their employers have to bribe Congress. Congress is doing nothing about illegals either because too many businesses are profiting. Despite the fact that a large majority of Americans want the borders protected.
Phyllis Schlafly, a Christian Conservative writes here:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/ps20030602.shtml
[ Follow the money. The big corporations hire Indians and Chinese for less than half what they pay their U.S. employees, work them long hours without overtime pay and treat them like indentured servants unable to quit for a better job. The corporations partner with the U.S. government by making political contributions to assure the passage of legislation that legalizes the importation of cheap foreign labor.
This racket started when Section 1706 was slipped into the Tax Reform Act of 1986. This uniquely discriminatory section required anyone who is an "engineer, designer, computer programmer, systems analyst or other similarly skilled worker" to be classified by the Internal Revenue Service as an employee rather than as an independent contractor, which hundreds of thousands of tech workers were at that time. ]

Hatch has introduced a bill to allow foreign-born to become President. Hatch was most recently seen hispandering to a crowd of illegals wanting free college. So, of course he would be supporting some corporations here. His pockets are full of money from lobbyists.
Utah needs to get rid of Hatch.

[Orbiting_Rosie's_Head]

Backers of the H-1B program argued Tuesday that the visas aren't taking away U.S. jobs, because some technology companies still can't find qualified workers for some positions. Ingersoll-Rand has searched for more than a year to fill a plastics engineer and an industrial robotics engineer position, finally settling on a Canadian resident in both cases, said Elizabeth Dickson, advisor of immigration services for the industrial equipment manufacturer.

This situation is caused by the fact that these companies hiring want an exact match in qualifications, even though most engineers can come up to speed on just about any system or software package in a matter of weeks, if not days (I am an engineer with 16 years experience). Brain-dead Human Resources managers don't get it. They would rather hire an idiot with all the right words on their resume than a smart person who is talented and can adjust skills quickly to meet any demand. Couple this idiotic hiring practice with the fact that Ingersoll was probably offering about half of the $$$ that they should have, and it is easy to see why they are having "trouble" filling positions.

[old-ager]

Warning to all: Texas_Dawg trolls all of these discussions. Probably best to ignore Texas_Dawg.