Before looking back on 2007, let's look forward to the challenges ahead:
a) Although Congress is supposed to represent "We The People" - the lobbying
group
Immigration Voice, comprised predominately of nonimmigrant foreigners on
temporary visas, are lobbying our U.S.
Congress. According a
July 19, 2007 article in BusinessWeek, Immigration Voice has 21,000 members,
raised over $200,000 in 2007, got
substantial media coverage, hired top lobbying firm Patton Boggs, and "met
with Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to
explain the urgency of resolving the green-card backlog."
Their IV website highlights their accomplishments.
b) In contrast, as reported by
ComputerWorld on December 20th, U.S. worker advocates
TORAW have disbanded due to
dwindling funds and membership.
Accordingly, the bar has been raised for those advocating FOR the liberty
interests that U.S. tech workers have in working within their chosen profession
without undue government interference to have an equal voice before the U.S.
Congress.
The Industry cheap labor lobbyists will be back in business in 2008, and
again we need to be ready.
"A Duke University spokesman said that 40 percent of Duke's engineering graduates cannot get engineering jobs. A Duke University publication suggests that the best prospect for good engineering jobs is for the U.S. government to start another major project like going to the moon."
- Phyllis Schlafly, December 28, 2007
"
Integrity is so lacking in America that the shortage myth serves the interests of universities, funding agencies, employers, and immigration attorneys at the expense of American students who naively pursue professions in which their prospects are dim.
- Paul Craig Roberts, December 4, 2007
2008 PRIORITIES
1) In 2007 the Programmers Guild filed 300 "discrimination against U.S.
worker" cases, and is in the process of settling those cases. In 2008 we hope to
go after the bigger players. But in order to seek larger damage awards we need
plaintiffs who suffered actual harm. We need to build a database of volunteers willing
to simply apply to job ads, submit copies to us, and then become part of the
class action settlements. (Plaintiffs will share in the judgments.)
2) The Programmers Guild is understaffed: We are seeking to fill director
roles with committed activists. We need to do better at retaining current
members and recruiting new members.
3) The Programmers Guild may seek alliances with organizations such as NumbersUSA and CAPS, which have a paid staff and are established in Washington
DC.
4) The Programmers Guild needs to improve its communication with and tracking
of members. We envision setting up a more automated membership database, which would
include summary resumes and flags such as whether the member would be willing to
speak with the media, phone Congress, or apply to jobs as part of the planned
class action suits.
We are looking at www.aweber.com,
www.dotnetuke.com, but are still
searching for the right solution. If you have a suggestion, or can offer
assistance, please let us know.
5) While our biggest challenge will likely be defending against an H-1b or
green-card increase, we will continue advocating for basic protections against
displacement:
Whereas H-1b proponents argue that "the H-1b program is needed to provide
workers to U.S. companies with the best-and-brightest foreign workers when no
qualified Americans are available," the Guild seeks the following reforms:
a) Granting H-1b and L-1 to foreign companies, such as TCS, InfoSys,
Satyam, and Wipro, helps India's global competitiveness, not U.S.
global competitiveness. These predatory firms use the cheaper labor of H-1b
to drive U.S. consulting firms and U.S. workers out of business. Therefore
H-1b use should be limited to bona-fide "U.S. companies."
b) Since proponents allege that H-1b workers are the "best and
brightest," we advocate a provision that they be paid at least the wage paid
to average Americans within the same labor classification.
c) Since proponents claim that H-1b is necessary because no Americans are
available, we advocate that employers be required to first perform
transparent recruitment of Americans as a condition of Labor Condition
Application (LCA) approval.
"H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified
U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be
displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker."
Relying on Board of Regents of State Colleges
v. Roth,
408 U.S. 564, 572 (1972), and earlier cases
of this Court recognizing a right to choose
one’s vocation, the Court of Appeals concluded
that Gabbert had a
right to practice his profession without undue
and unreasonable government interference.
131 F.3d, at 800. -
CONN V. GABBERT (97-1802)
526 U.S. 286 (1999)
- (The reversal does not undo this dicta)
We allege that the H-1b statutes that provide for displacing Americans from their chosen
professions is unconstitutional "undue and unreasonable government interference."
Furthermore, if the reforms we seek were enacted and enforced, the current
65,000 cap would not be reached.
2007 in Review
Overall 2007 was an overall good year for U.S. software professionals. Key was that
Congress did not grant Bill Gates request for "unlimited H-1b workers," and the
tripling of H-1b in the SKIL bill went down along with Comprehensive Immigration
Reform. Congress also did not "staple
a green card to every foreign student's diploma," as Intel and Oracle has
asked. (Imagine how impacted U.S. universities would become if they
became a guaranteed path to U.S. citizenship!)
I suppose we can be thankful that many Congressmen will only agree to
sell out U.S. tech workers enact guest-worker programs in other professions and
grant Amnesty to 12-20 million illegal aliens.
Programmers Guild Rebutted the "Blue Card" Scare
Robert Hoffman and Compete America have been working overtime
misrepresenting that the EU has a "Blue Card" and that it is in any way comparable
to the U.S. "Green Card." (In fact it is more like the H-1b program,
with the exception that employers must first demonstrate that no qualified EU
workers can be found.) On December 26, 2007
www.competeamerica.org had the
following on their homepage, failing to indicate that the EU "Blue Card"
does
not exist and is unlikely to ever exist. Programmers Guild founder
John Miano sets the record
straight.
From CompeteAmerica homepage December 26, 2007
The EU Welcomes Highly Educated Professionals While America Turns
Many Away
FAIR USE DISCLAIMER
The
Programmers Guild has mirrored this document for the purposes of
criticism, comment, and education of the public, legislators, and media,
in accordance with
Title17 U.S.C. Section 107.
Programmers Guild defended U.S. tech workers from assault by IEEE-USA
We had considered IEEE-USA an ally in the fight to protect our profession. So
we were shocked to learn that IEEE-USA had formed alliance with
the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA),
drafting a letter to Congress calling for a substantial increase in green cards
to foreign tech workers. The IEEE-USA letter did not call for any reforms or
reductions in H-1b.
The Cohen & Grigsby clip
that we posted on YouTube of the immigration law firm
instructing employers how to conduct PERM recruiting in a manner that excludes
all qualified American applicants
was a hit. It now has over 250,000 views,
including by media, Senators and other government officials.
The clip was subsequently used in a television commercial run by CAPS:
From the Blog
In order to move faster on issues, in March 2007 we started a blog:
http://programmersguild.blogspot.com/ Please visit periodically to stay updated with the latest news
