Obama blows it on H-2B question from bricklayer
Obama blows it on H-2B question from bricklayer
Date: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 5:00 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1913 -- 9/09/2008 >>>>>
Barack Obama discussed the economy and jobs at the Schott Glass plant in
Duryea, Pennsylvania on 9/5/2008. I haven't been able to find a transcript but
you can watch the entire video online at:
http://www.c-span.org/search.aspx?For=obama%20Duryea
At 22 minutes into the video, Obama talks about jobs and how to improve our
economy. He repeated the standard industry line that we need more American
born PhDs. Wrong! Wrong! We need more good paying jobs for the American born
PhDs, but of course he never offers that as a solution.
27 minutes into the video, Obama answers questions from the public. That's
when he really blows it!
Somebody from the local bricklayer and craftworker union is concerned about H-
2B visas. The union guy voiced concern that Bush wants to streamline the
review process for granting H-2B visas. His concern is well founded (see this
newsletter for more info: "H-2B Oil Riggers from India protest in DC, No. 1897
-- 7/30/2008"). Not only does the Bush administration want to make it easier
for companies to get H-2Bs, they want to implement a de facto increase in the
number H-2B visas as well. Bush plans to do these things by passing a DOL
regulation instead of asking Congress to pass legislation.
<<< FACTOID and QUESTION >>>
Did you know that Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the U.S. as
an H-2B bricklayer? If not, read the newsletter
"Schwarzenegger is NIV Scofflaw", October 01, 2003".
Obama didn't understand the bricklayer's question -- perhaps because he didn't
understand what an H-2B visa is, and he obviously has no clue about the wide
variety of foreign workers that use guest worker visas. Obama totally confused
H-2B and H-1B, so to avoid getting myself mixed up, I will use "H2B" when
Obama meant H-1B, and H-2B when appropriate.
Obama explained that "H2B" is used for highly specialized workers and then
went on to say: "we really do have a shortage of PhDs, scientists, and
engineers." Compounding his errors, he said that we have: "a continual nursing
shortage" that is caused by a lack of teachers who can instruct new nurses.
What Obama fails to understand is that the number of nursing teachers appears
to be dwindling because it's much cheaper for hospitals to import nurses from
the Philippines than to run nursing schools in the U.S.
To prove his point Obama used an example of an employer who couldn't find an
American for a specialized position, so an Indian with an "H2B" was imported
to take the job. I hate to accuse Obama of racial stereotyping, but that's
exactly what he did! Fact is, only about 50% of the H-1Bs are Indian, and very
few H-2Bs come from India. Obama seemed to buy into the somewhat racist notion
that Asians are smarter and more educated than Americans.
NOTE: If you don't understand the difference between H-1B and H-2B, go to this
page to learn more:
http://www.jobdestruction.info/ShameH1B/VisaTypes.htm
Rewinding a little, at about 19 minutes into the video, Obama talks about
creating energy jobs that can't be outsourced. Uh, what types of jobs are
those, considering that H-2Bs are being used as oil riggers? Obama's job
creation plans are superficial because he doesn't comprehend that almost all
jobs can be outsourced or insourced,
Obama never answered the bricklayer's question. Instead, he voiced a few vague
generalities about how we have to make sure "H2Bs" aren't used to hurt
American software engineers. I would pay good money to see the puzzled look on
that bricklayer's face when Obama was rambling about high-tech workers. LOL!
Obama alluded to wanting to reform "H2B". As Norm Matloff explains in his
newsletter, which is included below, if Obama really wanted to change things
he could support the reform bill from the other Senator from Illinois --
Richard Durbin. Obama has yet to sign up as a co-sponsor of Durbin's reform
bill that really would be a "Change We Can Believe In".
News stories in the U.S. about Obama's Duryea speech on "H2B" are non-
existent, but on international websites, and particularly those based in
India, the stories are propagating. Americans that depend on domestic
magazines or newspapers would have no way of finding out what Obama said about
"H2B".
I find it rather interesting that the Obamite youtubers didn't think to
include Obama's "H2B" comments. Instead they posted a heavily edited and
sanitized version of Obama's speech. To see what I mean, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L31go6-LAs0
The article below by Sridhar Krishnaswami is being repeated on many Indian and
foreign websites. He got his facts straight, which proves he watches cspan,
but I disagree with his contention that Obama said that he wanted to
streamline the H-2B process. If anything Obama was suggesting that we need
better enforcement to protect American workers, which is the opposite of
streamlining since it would involve more bureaucracy. Actually, since Obama
doesn't know the difference between H-1B and H-2B it's unlikely he has any
idea what needs to be done to solve the many problems with these visas. One
thing for sure, Obama thinks there is a shortage of high-tech workers, so
count on him to push for increasing the visa cap.
HELP NEEDED: If any of you happened to record the entire interview please
contact me. I would like to edit it down to just what Obama said about "H2B"
but unfortunately cspan streaming video quality is too low to edit properly.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Norm Matloff [mailto:matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu]
> Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 9:51 PM
> To: Norm Matloff
> Subject: Obama on the "H-2B" visa
As we all know, politicians are good at making statements that are
carefully crafted to give the impression that they mean X when they
actually mean Y. The statements are designed to be technically true but to
leave the politician a way out that isn't noticeable to the average person,
who may be too trusting to read the fine print, or who may lack the
background knowledge needed to see that the politician is hedging, big
time. Just last week, I illustrated this in the context of remarks Barack
Obama had made on tech job offshoring; see
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/ObamaOnOffshoring.txt
Then on Friday Obama brought up the issue of H-1B. He was a bit confused,
and referred to it as "H-2B," but it's clear that he meant H-1B. Again, as
seen in the enclosed articles below from Rediff.com, an Indian news site,
and www.techcrunch.com, a U.S. tech industry news site, Obama seems to be
saying the right things: H-1B shouldn't be used unless there is a shortage
of workers, H-1B shouldn't be used to undercut U.S. wages and so on. He
even alludes to the fact that employers overemphasize specialized skill
sets that could easily be learned on the job by someone who has general
experience in the given field.
But if you look at Obama's remarks closely, you'll see that he is actually
following the industry party line: He says we have a shortage of PhDs and
a shortage of tech workers; he says that if only we got more minorities
into these fields, we wouldn't have a shortage; he says that we need an
H-1B cap increase as a stopgap measure, while the education system ramps to
produce more workers in the fields currently experiencing a shortage; he
implies that abuses of H-1B are due to mainly to insufficient enforcement;
etc.
Every one of these claims is false and has been refuted, but my point now
is that every single one of these claims has been used by the industry
lobbyists repeatedly ever since 1998. In short, Obama is using the
industry's language, probably obtaining such language from the
industry--one of his advisers is Wade Randlett, a Silicon Valley industry
trade organization's liaison to the Democratic Party-- to sound reformist
when in fact he means the opposite.
In addition to the two articles enclosed below (I'm enclosing the full text
of both, including the second, as it's important to note Obama's comments
about education in the latter, which continue his theme that we have a tech
labor shortage), I'm enclosing the text of a letter to a constituent.
There you will see the above points in more detail. Note in particular
this passage:
# I support the efforts of the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security
# to ensure that employers and H-1B applicants follow the intent and
# restrictions of the program. For example, it is incumbent upon the
# Department of Labor to monitor the wages being paid to H-1B visa holders
# and enforce the H-1B program's provision that wages reflect the current
# job market.
There it is, the industry lobbyists' favorite diversionary tactic, to make
it seem that the problems with H-1B are primarily lack of enforcement. As
readers of this e-newsletter know well, the problems lie in the huge
loopholes in the law, not in lack of enforcement...but it sounds plausible,
and very few people know they're getting hoodwinked, victimized by a head
fake as in sports. By bringing up this red herring of enforcement,
Congress goes scot free, not having to fix the real problem, which is the
law itself.
I should point out that even Obama may be one of those being deceived.
Maybe he's just naive, falling victim to the heroic image the press (with
help from the lobbyists) has presented of the U.S. tech industry.On the
other hand, Obama is good friends with, and has been strongly promoted by,
the other senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin. The H-1B
reform bill introduced by Sens. Durbin and Grassley is excellent, and these
two men know, probably better than anyone else in the Senate, that the
industry lobbyists' claims are bogus. (I keep coming back to Grassley's
statement, "Nobody should be fooled" by the industry lobbyists on H-1B.)
One must assume that Durbin has explained to Obama
the truth about H-1B.
In any case, the bottom line is that wittingly or not, Obama's speaking for
the industry. And if McCain brings up H-1B or is asked, you'll find that
he'll use the same predictable language.
Norm
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Obama_for_streamlining_high-skilled_H2B_visa_process/rssarticleshow/3451866.cms
Obama for streamlining the process for the high-skilled H2B visas
More pictures
WASHINGTON: Driving home the point that he is for creating jobs in the US,
Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has favoured streamlining the
process for the high-skilled H2B visas for Indians and other foreigners to
make sure that employers were not "gaming" the system.
"For those who don't know, the H2B visa programme is the programme whereby
people with specialised skills, foreign nationals with specialised skills,
are supposed to be able to come in and be sponsored by their employer.
That's the idea," he said at a campaign event in Duryea, Pennsylvania
yesterday.
Noting that there are some "highly specialised" areas meant to be covered
under it, the Illinois Senator said:"Let's say, you know, you need a
nuclear physicist in a particular area, and you just can't find one. And it
turns out there's a guy who is Indian, who fits the bill. And you've gone
out and you've tried to recruit people. ... And your business needs this.
That's what the H2B visa is supposed to be for."
However, he said, the "problem" is that if employers want "to game the
system, they might decide... We'll get a software engineer from India, even
though there are a bunch of software engineers here... because we can pay
him or her less. And that then undercuts the labour market and wages" in
the US.
Also Read
? Europe is destination next for professionals, workers
? Australian visa for higher education gets tougher for Indians
? Should NRI tag be replaced by Global Indian?
? New US visa rules may hit temporary workers from India
Obama's remarks were actually in an obvious reference to the H1B visa
category in which software engineers would fit into. It is unclear whether
the Senator had inadvertently strayed into the realm of H1B visas in the
course of making his thoughts on the issue known, but he made it clear he
will ensure that the high skilled visas will not be manipulated.
He was asked to comment on reports that businesses are pressuring the Bush
administration to change the ways about determining the employment status
where businesses would grant H2B status instead of having a state agency
ascertain if there is a need.
The H-2B visa category allows US employers in industries with peak load,
seasonal or intermittent needs to augment their existing labour force with
temporary workers. Typically, H-2B workers fill labour needs in
occupational areas such as construction, health care, landscaping,
manufacturing, food service and processing and resort and hospitality
services.
"... I want to return it (H2B) to its purpose, which is to make sure that
it is only for these very specialised jobs where there is a shortage" in
the United States, Obama said.
He said it is also important to remember the fact that US really had a
"shortage" of PhDs, scientists and engineers. "We really do have a shortage
of certain key occupations that, if we want to continue to grow, we've got
to develop our kids here," Obama continued, still perhaps having in mind
the H1B visa that covers architects, engineers, computer experts,
accountants, doctors and college professors.
"We've got to make sure that they are being pushed into the high-skill,
high-wage jobs of the future. And that's got to be a group effort. The
government can do some things. Paying teachers more, giving them more
support, making sure that they're certified in the subjects that they
teach, making college more affordable. Those are all critical areas."
Obama said the US has a "continual" nursing shortage, "not because there
aren't people here who could be great nurses. The problem is we pay our
nurse educators so little, that there aren't enough slots to train the
nurses that we need. And nursing -- working conditions for nurses aren't
good enough to attract enough people into the profession.
"So we end up bringing thousands of nurses from other countries, which by
the way those countries themselves need nurses. So they really need to be
nursing back home. But the problem is we're just not providing the
incentives that are going to create more nurses," the Democrat said.
"I want to start creating jobs here in the United States. That's going to
be my central focus when I'm president of the United States," he said.
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