H-1B Hubbub Heats Up

Firm launches negative ad campaign

By Richard Bruner

The voice on the radio or television spot sounds both ominous and intimate. But the message is blunt: Congress is about to adopt a bill to bring hundreds of thousands of foreign workers into the United States to fill some of our best jobs.

"These are well paying high-tech jobs that should be going to Americans, especially our technically trained and highly qualified graduates," the voice continues. "Congress is being pressured to pass a foreign worker bill by America's super-rich high-tech companies."

At the end, the message urges the audience and readers to contact a specific congressman identified as a supporter of the legislation.

"Go to your phone right now and call Congressman (Jim) Kolbe. Ask him to vote 'no' on the foreign worker bill. Tell him to save this country's best jobs for American workers."

The campaign—prepared by Davis & Co., a Washington-based advertising agency that specializes in issue-based political advertising—has been spreading its message since March to crucial congressional districts around the country.

At issue is legislation designed to increase the number of H-1B visas allowed for foreign workers who have special skills. The Senate bill is sponsored by Michigan Senator Abraham and would increase the maximum annual number of H-1B visas to 195,000. The House bill by California Congresspersons David Dreier and Zoe Lofgren would increase the limit to 200,000.

Voting on Senate and House bills may come as early as the first week of July or as late as the last week of September.

Dealing with the Worker Shortage

Everyone in the semiconductor industry and other high-tech sectors knows there is a shortage of skilled employees. The long-term solution is to encourage more American youngsters to study math and science and get degrees in engineering. The short-term solution is to hire foreign students graduating from U. S. universities in engineering and computer sciences.

For example, Mike Foster, Intel's manager of college recruiting, has said his company will try to hire thousands of engineers this year. They will come from college campuses, competitors, and the military.

"When we hire, we look for skills. If those skills are (in) U.S. citizens, we hire them," Foster said. Otherwise, Intel hires foreign nationals and helps them to obtain H-1B visas.

Cathleen Barton, an Intel employee on loan to the Semiconductor Industry Association, said that the number of American electrical engineering students has been steadily declining, although computer science students are on the upswing, but not enough to offset the decline in electrical engineering.

"For the most part, our industry hires to a large extent foreign national students, educated in

U. S. universities at the master's and Ph.D. levels," Barton said. "Close to half of them are foreign nationals. A large part of the best students, the most well-rounded students, are foreign nationals."

Shortage or No Shortage?

Words like those send opponents of the legislation into a rage. Merrill W. Buckley Jr., president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)-USA, said, "This legislation is going to allow 300,000 people coming in here in a specialty that happens to be our specialty," Buckley said. "We graduate about 20,000 people each year who are computer electronic engineers."

Not true, Barton said. She said a report by the Engineering Workforce Commission of the American Association of Engineering Societies—of which IEEE is a member—indicates that total bachelor's degrees granted in electrical engineering in 1988 were 24,367, whereas 10 years later—1998—that number had dropped to 12,498. That is not an oversupply in today's employment market.

The Coalition, however, flatly contends that no high-tech labor shortage exists. And the IEEE argues that many of its members cannot find work. Yet, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that the unemployment rate for experienced electrical engineers is just 1.4 percent. Roy Howard Beck, spokesman for the Coalition for the Future American Worker, the sponsor of the radio advertising campaign, scoffs at that.

"The numbers of electrical engineers in the 1990s who run pizza joints and things like that are legion," Beck said. "Our coalition emphasizes that there are tens of thousands of thrown-away engineers and programmers in this country. They're working at other things."

The argument over numbers is unlikely to evolve into a consensus.

There are two “coalitions” opposing legislation to increase H-1B visas. One is the Immigration Reform Coalition, led by Paul Donnelly. The other is the Coalition for the Future American Worker, whose spokesman is Roy Howard Beck, a former journalist. Members of that coalition are: American Council for Immigration Reform; American Engineering Association, Fort Worth, Texas; Americans for Better Immigration, Washington, D.C; American Immigration Control Foundation, Monterey, Va.; BrainSavers.org; Immigration Political Action Committee; POP.STOP Inc., Washington, D.C.; The Programmers Guild, Tennessee; and Virginians for Immigration Control. Roy Howard Beck, spokesman for the Coalition for the Future American Worker, said total membership for these groups is about 180,000.

"Whether there is or is not a shortage (of electrical engineers), the quick answer is that there is no data that overwhelmingly proves there is or there isn't," said Dan Hecker, a Bureau of Labor Statistics labor economist in the office of employment projections.

In the meantime, high-tech industry lobbyists continue to press for passage of the Senate and House bills expanding the number of H-1B visas available. The current maximum is 115,000. And the Immigration and Naturalization Service announced not long ago that it had reached that limit for fiscal year 2000 on March 21.

Radio Campaign Moves Ahead

Meanwhile, the radio campaign opposing the foreign worker bill continues. The campaign is targeting specific districts. These are House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt's St. Louis district; House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's Illinois district; Congressman Jim Kolbe's Arizona district; Congressman Jay Inslee's Washington district; U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham's state, Michigan; and the city of Washington, D.C., for good measure.

The advertising probably has been broadcast in a great many more communities, although neither the advertising agency nor the sponsoring organization will reveal the extent of the campaign.