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PROGRAMMERS GUILD E-NEWSLETTER
July 2009
American Jobs at Risk
Dear Programmers Guild members and newsletter subscribers,
This is the first newsletter this year. But we have been busy
defending the interests of U.S. workers in the media.
The guild has been calling for an end to the "H-1b Lottery" for the past 3
years. This year there may not be a lottery because, due to a lack of tech jobs
in the U.S., the 65,000 base cap may not be reached. Thus, even as stimulus
money is being spent to create jobs, Congress and DOL will allow any employer
who chooses to hire a cheaper foreign worker over a qualified American the
ability to do so.
Meanwhile
the unemployment rate of U.S. Engineers is at an all time high of 8.6%. How
high will tech unemployment have to go before Congress and DOL will reform these
employment visa to give U.S. workers preference for U.S. jobs?
WFAA-TV: Loophole allows for easy immigration for aircraft mechanics
Click Here for the article and to see the video. The TN visa is similar in
many ways to the H-1b visa, including its provision allowing the displacement of
qualified U.S. workers with lower-paid foreign workers.
"There are more than 100,000 American aircraft mechanics who are out of work
or who have left the business. News 8 has discovered more than 100 mechanics
from Mexico have been recruited by San Antonio Aerospace (SAA) at a time the
company is laying off higher wage American workers."
"The government granted 88,000 TN visas last year, according to USCIS. It
does not track how many went to aircraft mechanics. But, the number of TNs is
expanding, and there is no limit to how many can be issued."
Alan Greenspan advocates substantial increase in skilled immigration for
the purpose of driving down wages of skilled U.S. workers
See YOUTUBE. 3:45 .
. . "augment immigration of skilled labor. We pay the highest skilled labor
wages in the world. If we would open up our borders to skilled labor far more
than we do, we would attract a very substantial quantity of skilled labor
which would suppress the wage levels of the skilled, because we skilled are
being essentially subsidized by government, meaning our competition is being
kept outside the country. But, if we bring in a number of workers to suppress
the level of wages relative to the lesser skilled, we will reduce the degree of
inequality."
I wish Greenspan would cite target wages. With 20 years of IT experience I'm
earning less than the policemen in my town.
Status of Programmers Guild suit against Homeland Security
Programmers Guild founder
John Miano and other attorneys presented oral arguments in an appeal from a
lower court's ruling that "U.S. workers do not have standing to challenge
regulations that affect their employment opportunities." The court has posted
a recording of the oral argument. The Briefs are here (pdf):
Assuming we prevail, the attorneys return to lower court to argue the case on
the merits. You can help by bringing any job ad that references an "OPT" visa
to our attention.
Rebuttal to False H-1b Claims
The "San Fernando Valley Business Journal" published an article that which
incorrectly claimed than an "employer has to go through a series of steps to
show there is no domestic worker available to fill that position" before they
can sponsor a foreign national. The editor declined to print a retraction, but
offered to print a rebuttal. But then the editor ran Kim's rebuttal as a "letter
to the editor" which was not spidered by search engines.
Kim's rebuttal commentary is here.
Businessweek profiles Norm Matloff
UCD Professor Norm Matloff has been a core activist against the H-1b program
for many years. He was recently profiled in BusinessWeek article "An
Academic's Labor Helps Fight H-1B Visas."
How can you help?
The Programmers Guild is run by volunteers. People often ask "how can i
help?" We have placed our most pressing needs on a webpage:
www.programmersguild.org/howcanihelp.asp. Please contact us if you can
assist.
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