While Washington, D.C. politicians in both parties scheme to expand the number of foreign workers admitted every year under the H-1B visa program for temporary workers, more Americans are realizing that the program has been hijacked by staffing companies that import cheaper foreign workers to replace more expensive American workers — or to keep them from getting hired in the first place.
In many cases, American workers train their Indian replacements brought in under H-1B by outsourcing/staffing companies like India-based Infosys Ltd., showing that employers use the program to cut labor costs, not fill positions for which no American workers are available. Contrary to corporate propaganda (echoed by bought-and-paid-for politicians) that we need to bring in more of “the best and brightest” foreign tech workers, most of the H1-B workers fill lower- and mid-level tech positions for which many Americans are available. The “comprehensive immigration reform” bill passed by the Senate last year and now stalled in the House would increase annual H1-B visas from 85,000 to 180,000.
Last month, three American tech worker advocacy groups launched a labor boycott against Infosys, IBM and the staffing company ManpowerGroup, citing a “pattern of excluding U.S. workers from job openings on U.S. soil.” They say Manpower, for example, last year posted U.S. job openings in India but not in the U.S.
“We have a shortage in the industry all right — a shortage of fair and ethical recruiting and hiring,” said Donna Conroy, director of Bright Future Jobs, a group of tech professionals fighting to end “discriminatory hiring that is blocking us… from competing for jobs we are qualified to do.”
Source: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/06/Backlash-stirs-in-US-against-foreign-worker-visas
Posted by Lewis Hubbard 7/7/14