a new H-1B fight looms

Date: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 12:08 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1620 -- 1/08/2007 >>>>>

The New Year begins, and the cheap labor lobby is very working very hard to
win an H-1B increase.

The first article deals with the efforts of ITAA to increase the H-1B cap.
The second article is a very sobering assessment of the efforts by
corporate America to get more guest worker visas, and then says that the
lobbying push on H-1B is a "less noticed" effort. Unfortunately it is true
that H-1B is less noticed, and that's just the way Microsoft and its
high-tech cronies want to keep it. There is a definite danger that the H-1B
issue could get drowned out in the discussion illegal immigration, and if
that happens the lobbyists might manage to sneak an increase in while very
few people are watching.

A less-noticed drive waged by corporations, universities and
research organizations calls for opening the doors to immigrant
scientists, doctors, teachers and other well-educated
professionals. They would fill the middle-class jobs that
companies and others say they cannot fill with Americans.

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http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9007104&source=NLT_PM&nlid=8

As Democrats take control of Congress, a new H-1B fight looms
Patrick Thibodeau

January 04, 2007 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- With a new Congress taking
office today, Elena Park, the immigration practice leader at Cozen O'Connor
in West Conshohocken, Pa., has this advice for clients who want to hire
H-1B visa holders: Move quickly.

"The fact of the matter is there is an H-1B blackout," said Park. Demand
was so high for H-1B visa holders last year, that the U.S. Bureau of
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reached the 65,000 visa cap
less than two months after it began accepting applications -- a record. And
an additional 20,000 H-1B visas limited to graduate students was gone in
four months.

The blackout ends in April, when the USCIS will begin taking H-1B
applications for visas that will be issued in October at the start of the
2008 fiscal year. Park expects many employers to file applications in
April. "It's sort of like a race," she said.

That race for visas is almost certain to mean that Congress will see
legislation this year that would raise the H-1B cap, according to
interviews with people in industry and labor groups. H-1B supporters, such
as Jeff Lande, a senior vice president at the Information Technology
Association of America, an Arlington, Va.-based lobbying group, doesn't
believe Democratic control of Congress will stymie the ITAA's pro-visa
efforts; he pointed to last year's bipartisan Senate support for an H-1B
increase. But taking office today are some outspoken opponents of the H-1B
visa program, including U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.). In a statement for
Policy Soup, the blog of the Fairfax County, Va., Chamber of Commerce, Webb
wrote: "I do not support guest worker programs. This applies to H-1B visas,
except in the most extraordinary circumstances. I do not believe the myth
of the tech worker shortage."

With Democrats in charge, anti-offshoring legislation efforts could find
new life. For instance, in the House and Senate last year, Democrats --
including U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) -- introduced the Call Center
Consumer's Right to Know Act of 2006. The legislation, which was never
passed by either chamber, required call center employees to disclose their
physical location at the beginning of the call, something its legislative
backers hoped would prompt companies to think twice before offshoring call
centers.

But H-1B visas will likely remain the focal point of debate, and opponents
intend to seek changes in how the program is operated.

"The system is worthless," said Ron Hira, vice president for career
activities at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA.
"The only thing protecting the workforce right now is the cap, and there is
almost nothing protecting the foreign workers from being exploited."

For instance, employers who hire workers with H-1B visas must attest that
they will pay workers the prevailing wage for the job. The employer
includes the prevailing wage data in the labor condition applications (LCA)
that go to the U.S. Department of Labor. But the Labor Department's role in
checking the LCA is limited by law. It looks for errors and omissions
electronically, but it doesn't have the ability to randomly audit companies
to ensure compliance with wage laws and can undertake investigations only
in response to a complaint.

In a report released in June, the U.S. Government Accountability Office
(GAO) said the Labor Department's LCA electronic review process also made
mistakes. It found 3,229 applications from companies using H-1B that
reported they were paying wages below the prevailing wage.

The GAO's finding meant "that potentially 3,000 jobs were given to
foreigners who are paid less than Americans for the same job," U.S. Rep.
John Hostettler (R-Ind.) said at a hearing by the U.S. House Subcommittee
on Immigration, which released the GAO report. Hostettler, who chaired that
committee, lost his re-election bid last year.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0701060142jan06,0,4588375.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Workers making voices heard
Centers sprout, help immigrants speak up, while many employers push to
increase the number of green cards and work visas issued

Advertisement

By Stephen Franklin
Tribune staff reporter

January 6, 2007

All the years Graciela Flores has worked in grungy, low-wage factory jobs,
she felt she didn't have the right to speak up, until recently.

"We thought that because we are immigrants we can't speak up, and we didn't
know anyone that would help us," she said.

Her reluctance changed when a center that assists mostly Latino immigrants
like Flores stepped in last year to help her and about 35 other workers
iron out their pay issues with a Chicago distribution center.

"For the first time I've seen people feel some hope. They see the
possibility of immigration reform and that translates into more rights on
the job," said Ari Glazer, director of the San Lucas Workers Center, one of
four of its kind in Chicago.

Much has changed in terms of immigrants' presence in the workplace. They
are no longer invisible, and dozens of groups have sprung up nationally
with workplace issues like the Humboldt Park-based San Lucas Center, which
didn't exist until six years ago.

But the willingness of workers like Flores to speak out, as witnessed by
the marches that swept the country last year, is only a small slice of the
evolving national debate and drama over immigrants in the workplace. It is
a vast and complex issue that will matter as much in 2007 as it has before
because so many have so much at stake in the outcome.

Corporate America remains committed to some form of immigration reform and
will renew its pressure on Congress. Companies want to keep their workers,
who are included in the estimated 7 million illegal immigrants on the job,
most of them earning low wages.

A less-noticed drive waged by corporations, universities and research
organizations calls for opening the doors to immigrant scientists, doctors,
teachers and other well-educated professionals. They would fill the
middle-class jobs that companies and others say they cannot fill with
Americans.

Related to these efforts is a push to boost the number of green cards
issued annually to 290,000 from 140,000. Proponents also would like to see
the number of H-1B visas given annually to foreign workers rise to more
than 100,000 from 65,000.

Unions representing professional workers are likely to fight any such
efforts. They point to growing unemployment among their white-collar
members.

But organized labor overall is committed to making room for undocumented
immigrant workers already in the U.S. Though most are low-paid, they
account for large numbers of unions' newly organized rank and file. And
this is no small issue as organized labor's numbers plummet.

However, it is not just labor reaching out to immigrants. Many undocumented
workers welcome labor's "helping hand," says UCLA labor expert Ruth
Milkman, because they feel that attaching themselves to unions can ease the
hostility directed at them.

Still, a key provision in most immigration reform packages is not accepted
by much of organized labor. They oppose a system that would allow employers
to temporarily bring in guest workers to meet seasonal needs. The AFL-CIO
says this could lead to abuses of employees, and would gut others' wage and
working conditions.

But John Wilhelm, head of the hospitality division for Unite Here,
disagrees. The solution, he says, is to set up guest worker programs "where
abuses are not possible."

Even if labor and its allies resolve their differences, will immigration
reform pass Congress this year?

That is not so clear.

Last year a proposal focused mostly on border security passed the U.S.
House. A broader plan amenable to much of the business community passed the
U.S. Senate, but then died.

At the minimum, Angelo Amador, an official with the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, thinks Congress will set up a new system for employers to verify
workers' immigration status. The current one is widely criticized by
business. He also is optimistic about a broader package emerging from
Congress,

However, Bill Samuels, the AFL-CIO's chief lobbyist, has his doubts.

"I'm not sure how you are going to be able to put something together that
is acceptable to labor, to business, to the House and the Senate, and the
president," he said.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform,
which supports stricter immigration controls, said he doesn't expect major
changes. "You'll see the kind of reaction from the public that stopped the
Senate bill in its tracks last year. The public didn't support the
Democrats to enact a massive amnesty."

The expectation that change may be coming for immigrants is something that
Glazer has watched grow among workers seeking help at the San Lucas Worker
Center.

"Before, they were saying we have no rights," recalled Glazer, who met
Flores, 32, about 18 months ago.

Flores and her colleagues were complaining that they had not received pay
increases from the temporary help agency that had placed them at the
downtown distribution center for Paper Source Inc., a stationery supply
firm.

Talks with Paper Source officials led the way, said Glazer, for the workers
to be able to move to another temporary help agency and to keep their jobs.

The new agency boosted the workers' pay from $6.50 an hour to $8 an hour,
and provided holiday pay, according Flores.

Paper Source officials could not be reached.

While other workers were fearful of losing their jobs at the distribution
center if they moved to another temporary help agency, Flores was not. She
was the first to make the move and has not regretted it.

"The biggest difference is the salary," she said. "That has made us much
happier."

sfranklin@tribune.com

Key issues in immigration reform

HIGH-SKILLED WORKERS: Companies, universities and research institutions
want to boost the numbers of foreign workers in the health-care and
technology sectors. Unions and others fear the loss of middle-class jobs.

UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS: With an estimated 7 million undocumented immigrants
on the job, companies, unions and others are searching for ways to keep
them at work.

GUEST WORKERS: The AFL-CIO opposes a guest worker program, saying it is
open to abuse. But some unions and immigrant advocates say abuses can be
avoided.

IMMIGRATION LAWS: Advocates of reform are hopeful but not certain Congress
will pass legislation. They expect the Democrats to renew last year's
efforts to change immigration laws. Opponents say the public won't back any
moves to legalize or let in large groups of immigrants.

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