Here we are, heading into a recession, and the mass layoffs of American workers have already begun. The last thing we should be doing is expanding the foreign skilled guestworker programs, yet that is what we did back in 2000. There followed years of hell for American job seekers who were freed up by layoffs and then could hardly find openings or get interviews because we kept bringing in nearly 200 thousand foreign workers per year until 2003, because of an imaginary 'shortage' of tech talent. It is estimated that in 2001, 9 out of 10 IT job openings in America were given to foreign workers while American tech talent went begging for work, any work. Now it's deja vue all over again.
The H-1B program in particular is so rife with fraud, abuse, and over-usage that it should be ended or curtailed, not expanded. The fluffed up resumes, the body shops, the shell companies, the massive batch applications for visas by companies engaged in global labor arbitrage are destroying the American middle class. All these practices are in violation of the original intent of the H-1B: to temporarily fill spot shortages of skilled labor until Americans can be found or developed. Instead, competent, productive Americans (the same ones who made this nation a technological, engineering, and innovation world leader) have been simply put out by the curb on trash day, replaced with foreign workers in their own land.
If you don't want to take this trip down memory lane, it's time to get loud and active. Join here to tell your story, volunteer to speak to the media, and make a difference this recession: http://www.hireamericansfirst.org/
Posted on January 22 at 2:48 p.m.
Here we are, heading into a recession, and the mass layoffs of American workers have already begun. The last thing we should be doing is expanding the foreign skilled guestworker programs, yet that is what we did back in 2000. There followed years of hell for American job seekers who were freed up by layoffs and then could hardly find openings or get interviews because we kept bringing in nearly 200 thousand foreign workers per year until 2003, because of an imaginary 'shortage' of tech talent. It is estimated that in 2001, 9 out of 10 IT job openings in America were given to foreign workers while American tech talent went begging for work, any work. Now it's deja vue all over again.
The H-1B program in particular is so rife with fraud, abuse, and over-usage that it should be ended or curtailed, not expanded. The fluffed up resumes, the body shops, the shell companies, the massive batch applications for visas by companies engaged in global labor arbitrage are destroying the American middle class. All these practices are in violation of the original intent of the H-1B: to temporarily fill spot shortages of skilled labor until Americans can be found or developed. Instead, competent, productive Americans (the same ones who made this nation a technological, engineering, and innovation world leader) have been simply put out by the curb on trash day, replaced with foreign workers in their own land.
If you don't want to take this trip down memory lane, it's time to get loud and active. Join here to tell your story, volunteer to speak to the media, and make a difference this recession: http://www.hireamericansfirst.org/