Sowing digital nationalism
By Matthew Rothenberg, ZDNN
June 1, 2000 4:39 PM PT
URL: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2580731,00.html
Face it: Even though emotions may run high among the tech elite, favorite
ZDNet TalkBack topics such as the latest branches in Intel's and AMD's chip
families or even the perennial debate over Mac vs. Windows offer only a
narrow window on the savage garden of human passion.


That's why (as an editor with a taste for drama) I wholeheartedly welcome
the mix of nationalist sentiment, labor consciousness and economic
self-interest stirred up by our recent coverage of high-tech immigration
laws.


A quick recap: Silicon Valley heavies are again asking Congress to increase
the quota of skilled workers allowed to fill Stateside jobs under H-1B
visas. Bipartisan political leaders have responded by proposing a new
ceiling of 200,000 visas per year, up from 115,000.


TalkBack readers were quick to raise concerns about the move's effect on
U.S. salaries and working conditions. The topic is a nerdy conjunction of
technology and labor law, but the same sorts of arguments over immigration
and labor policy have raged in this country since the Industrial Revolution.



One reader had no trouble making the connection to the low points of
19th-century economics. "Let's see," wrote Tony Deets, a Seattle software
engineer. "Software industry bigwigs want to bring in cheap laborers that
can't quit because they lose their right to stay in this country. The
congress is run by a bunch of Southern, white, good old boys who don't have
a problem with this.


"I think it used to be called slavery."


And what about conditions for U.S. residents? "It will get worse," opined
John Bannon, a Rhode Island network analyst. "How can you expect an American
to lower his quality of life to that of a person from another country? If we
do then we will not be the United States or Americans any more.


"Where does any of this stop? There are already remote help desks in Mexico
as well as programmers working remotely. Mexico this year; Brazil, India or
China the next! Believe me, IT will be 10 times worse when inept micro
managers start to realize what remote technology and a decentralized
workforce is."


By jingo! That's some passionate rhetoric; nevertheless, I'm glad to see
that the Sturm und Drang this topic engenders hasn't prevented some readers
from providing more-measured solutions.


Middle ground Jim, an engineer based in New York, proposed a test: "Big
business just wants skilled workers to work for 25K to 30K a year. If
Congress is smart, they will allow visas only to skilled workers who will be
paid a documented salary of 60K-plus a year. See how quickly the demand for
foreign workers disappears."

Other readers took a far more optimistic view of the resilience of the
indigenous IT professional. "U.S. skilled workers need to have more faith in
their ability to compete against foreigners on a fair field," wrote Scott A.
Colcord, a software engineer in Ann Arbor, Mich.


"The U.S. currently has the tightest labor market in 30 years, especially in
the high-tech industry. I can't see any valid reason for a programmer to be
unemployed in this climate. People don't seem to realize that when wages
shoot up, inflation soon follows, making their raises moot.


"Bring on the foreigners! Even better, encourage them to stay permanently,
adding to the collective talent pool in the United States will only be good
for the country in the long run."