QUIZ #1: Which Guest Worker Bill Is it?
QUIZ #1: Which Guest Worker Bill Is it?
Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 12:52 AM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
by Rob Sanchez
October 12, 2005 No. 1343
There are five major guest-worker bills in Congress and another one is being proposed. Expect more because it seems like every member of Congress is falling over themselves in a mad rush to introduce more of them. Every elected politician seems desperate to match willing foreign workers with cost cutting employers.
For today's quiz, can you guess which bill is which? You can find the answers by scrolling to the end.
The text was copied directly off the bills at:
http://thomas.loc.gov/
BILL #1:
The Secretary of Labor shall direct the coordination and modification of the national system of public labor exchange services (commonly known as `America's Job Bank') in existence on the date of enactment of this Act to provide information on essential worker employment opportunities available to United States workers and nonimmigrant workers ...
BILL #2:
The Secretary of Labor shall take any steps necessary to ensure that all State employment agencies and all employers in the United States are able to acquire secure, password-protected access to the Internet-based job database provided jointly by the Department of Labor and State employment security agencies and known as `America's Job Bank' in order to permit the posting of job openings throughout the United States.
BILL #3:
Advertise the availability of the job opportunity for which the employer is seeking a worker in local newspapers in the labor market that is likely to be patronized by a potential worker for at least 5 consecutive days.
BILL #4:
The employer has posted the position in a national, electronic job registry maintained by the Secretary of Labor, for not less than 30 days.
BILL #5:
Allow all businesses to post any job in America on an internet website and if an American doesnt take the job in a short time the business would be issued a guest worker visa.
BILL #6:
The employer shall [snipped] document the employer's reasonable good faith efforts to recruit U.S. workers without success through the Employment Service System and/or through other labor referral and recruitment sources normal to the occupation:
***** Answers *****
BILL #1:
Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act S. 1033
Sens. McCain (R-AZ) and Kennedy (D-MA) (McKennedy)
BILL #2:
Real Guest Act of 2005 H.R. 3333
Rewarding Employers that Abide by the Law and Guaranteeing Uniform Enforcement to Stop Terrorism.
Rep. Tancredo (R-CO)
BILL #3:
Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act H.R. 2092
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
BILL #4:
Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act S. 1438
Sens. Kyl (R-AZ) and Cornyn (R-TX)
BILL #5:
President Bushs Guest-Worker Proposal of 2004
BILL #6
Sec. 656.21 Basic labor certification process for Green Cards, 1990
Sorry about bill #6 - it was a trick question! I was being deliberately deceptive. Some of the veteran activists probably caught me in the act (he!he!).
So after this exercise, what can we conclude about the guest-worker bills that have been put before the 109th Congress?
* All of the bills have some form of Labor Certification to verify that Americans aren't discriminated against when companies want to hire. Unfortunately labor certification is nothing but a charade! We have protections in the law right now, but they are never enforced. I included question #6 to demonstrate the futility of these bills since similar regulations are already in place. None of these bills will do any better than what we have, that is unless the Secretary of Labor has an epiphany and decides to actually do something for American workers instead of pandering to the profit-hungry corporations that demand cheap labor. You can read a lot more about this charade by going to this link:
http://www.programmersguild.org/rir/
* All of the sponsors of these bills use their labor certification schemes as "feel good" legislation. These bills have some type of labor certification in order to placate American labor. This allows politicians that sign their names to these bills to claim that the bills protect American workers. It seems that everyone believes in labor certifications except the Department of Labor. Read this classic to see what I mean - the title sort of tells all:
http://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/pre_1998/06-96-002-03-321s.htm
"The Department of Labor's Foreign Labor Certification Programs: The System is Broken and Needs to be Fixed"
* Most of the bills have something to do with national security or terrorism. Read the titles of all of the bills and you will see what I mean. Why don't they have anything to do with protecting the job security of American citizens from the corporate terrorists that are plundering this country?
* Government funded internet job registries for the purpose of labor certification are a very bad idea. I know most of you won't shed tears if I say that companies like Dice.com and Monster will probably go out of business if these bills pass, so let me give you another reason: McCain, Kennedy, Kyl, Cornyn, Tancredo, and Bush want to set up a central job database that is run by the Dept. of Labor. What this means is that the government will control who is hired, into what job, and for what salary - for the entire nation. This national job registry is a radical proposal that will give the government to the power control the entire labor market. The Department of Labor will be become the job referral and placement service for the entire nation.
I looked at the online Merriam and Websterss dictionary to get the right term for this online job registry. You decide if the shoe fits.
Main Entry: so7cial7ism
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
I'm sure none of you were surprised that Kennedy is pushing this idea, but did you notice that 5 out of 6 of the sponsors of this radical concept are Republicans?
* Centralized internet databases that contain the private information of all American and nonimmigrant job seekers will pose severe security risks. Since most of you on my mailing list are techies, I really don't need to explain why, but if you don't know the risks my previous newsletters on these guest-worker bills spell out the dangers.
* It's probably no coincidence that Tancredo's bill and the McCain/Kennedy bill have almost identical schemes for labor certification. Tancredo's bill was originally proposed in 2002, and was introduced into Congress in 2003. So guess where McCain and Kennedy got the idea from? Bush's proposal sounds very much like Tancredo's original 2002 bill, so guess where Bush probably got his idea from?
Tancredo's supporters have all sorts of rationalizations why his bill is a good idea. My message to them is, "Be Careful What you Ask For ... You might just get it." These bills are like cancerous tumors that metastasize into bigger and uglier messes that should be surgically removed before they do more damage than was intended.
Let's take a second look at Tancredo's bill in the 2002 draft and the 2005 version. You will see how little the bill has changed, and more importantly how this concept has perpetuated itself into the other bills,
2002
(a) IN GENERAL.The Secretary of Labor shall create an
Internet-based job posting system to which all State
employment agencies and all United States businesses
are able to acquire password-protected access to permit
direct posting of job openings throughout the
United States.
2005
The Secretary of Labor shall take any steps necessary
to ensure that all State employment agencies and all
employers in the United States are able to acquire secure,
password-protected access to the Internet-based job
database provided jointly by the Department of Labor and
State employment security agencies and known as
`America's Job Bank' in order to permit the posting of
job openings throughout the United States.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS QUIZ AS MUCH AS I HAD MAKING IT!
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