Job Nut: Media

Monday, November 23, 2009

H1B Stories You Won't Find on Google

If you depend on Google for information about the H1B program, you will find numerous references to articles about getting work in America from AsiaTimes.Com and other web sites devoted to promoting the interests of the H1B industry, along with thinly-disguised advertisements by the immigration law industry on how to find H1B jobs and sponsors for H1B jobs in America.

In other words, you will find very few articles about the growing opposition by Americans to the H1B program. Don't ask why, it just is.

I wonder if Google is using the same technology that they developed to suppress stories the Chinese government doesn't want their citizens to hear.

H-1B Visa Beef May End Up in Supreme Court - another attempt to limit the power of the Department of Job Destruction ( a.k.a. the Department of Labor )

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Fox News to the Rescue !

Flash March 19 2009: Headline from FOX news.

As Economy Slumps, Firms Line Up to Hire Skilled Foreign Workers ...

... IT communications workers complain that H-1B visa workers take jobs away from Americans.

What's happening here ? Is this coming from the same Fox News we used to know ? Has there been some unannounced shakeup or takeover at Fox ? Or has the political capital of corporate America fallen so low that even the allegiance of Fox News is in doubt ?

What will happen next, hedge fund gunslingers signing up for a union ? Will failed bank executives return their multi-million dollar bonuses skimmed from bailout money without a court battle ? Once this sort of thing starts, where will it end ?

But wait a moment, don't be too quick to judgment: like Fox News, we must be fair and balanced. The article continues with: "Bank of America was granted just 32 H-1B visas last year".

So, let me see if I can figure this out ... it is true that just 32 H1Bs worked at BOA, including all the contractors from the many 100s of insourcing/outsourcing firms running H1B projects in the United States ? Not just the tiniest bit of 'suggestio falsi' in that statement, is there ?

The H1B industry should take particular comfort in the statement by Harvard economist Greg Mankiw that "restrictions on H-1B visas is simply poor economic policy, reflecting xenophobic populism rather than hard-headed analysis."

According to Fox, the H1B program should be allow to continue nibbling away at us and the erosion of employment of Americans computer science graduates in the American software industry should be allowed continue as it has for the past 10 years. Crisis over, an outbreak of xenophobic populism averted.

According to Fox, the American government should continue drilling holes in our boat with one hand while bailing us out with the other. Greg Mankiw will be pleased: our policy couldn't get much more "hard-headed" than that.

Why Do This ?

This year marks my 30th anniversary in the American IT industry, 18 years as a consultant, in roughly 100 projects in 30 companies. I have seen many changes in both technology and business.

However, these changes were nothing compared to the changes brought on us by the foreign worker programs ( H1B, L1, etc. ) of the last decade. I never thought I would live to see America lose its lead in Information Technology, yet that is what is happening before my eyes.

Proponents say that foreign worker programs help make America more competitive. As far as I can determine, the only competition in the H1B/ L1 worker programs is to see how far American politicians can shove their greedy snouts into the feeding trough. Competition in these give-away programs is so limited that, literally, Americans need not apply for jobs in the H1B market.

The Durbin-Grassley Bill is not perfect, but it will go a long way toward leveling the playing field to help young Americans compete for IT jobs in this country that are currently earmarked for foreign workers.

Summary of the Durbin-Grassley Bill

From Summary of H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2009 at govtrack.us, reformatted.

H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2009 -

Amends the the Immigration and Nationality Act to revise employer and government provisions regarding H-1B (specialty occupation) and L-1 (intracompany transfer) nonimmigrant aliens.

Amends H-1B employer application requirements to:

(1) revise wage determination requirements;
(2) require Internet posting and description of employment positions;
(3) lengthen U.S. worker displacement protection:
(4) apply certain requirements to all H-1B employers rather than only to H-1B dependent employers;
(5) prohibit employer advertising that makes a position available only to, or gives priority to, H-1B nonimmigrants;
(6) limit the number of H-1B and L-1 employees that an employer of 50 or more workers in the United States may hire.

Revises application review provisions. Authorizes the Department of Labor (DOL) to:

(1) investigate applications for fraud; and
(2) conduct H-1B compliance audits.

Directs DOL to conduct annual audits of companies with large numbers of H-1B workers.

Authorizes DOL to initiate H-1B employer application investigations. Increases employer penalties.

Revises provisions regarding initiation of employer violation investigations by DOL.

Provides for information sharing between DOL and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding employer noncompliance.

Authorizes DOL to hire 200 additional employees to administer H-1B programs.

Prohibits, with a specified waiver by the Secretary of Homeland Security, an employer from hiring an L-1 nonimmigrant for more than one year who will:

(1) serve in a capacity involving specialized knowledge; and
(2) be stationed primarily at the worksite of an employer other than the petitioning employer

Specifies L-1:

(1) employer petition requirements for employment at a new office;
(2) wage rates and working conditions; and
(3) employer penalties.

Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to initiate an L-1 employer investigation.

Requires a report to Congress regarding the L-1 blanket petition process.

Also see description of the Durbin-Grassley Bill at durbin.senate.gov.

Job Nut

Monday, November 23, 2009

H1B Stories You Won't Find on Google

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Fox News to the Rescue !

From Tiny Acorns ...

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Why Do This ?

Summary of the Durbin-Grassley Bill