American Worker Making More than $60,000 per year, “Your Job is up for Grabs”
A bill before the United States Senate would triple the number of “guest workers” under the H-1B guest worker Visa program, according to testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee recently.
Howard University Professor Ron Hira told the committee that the Senate “I-Squared” bill would triple the number of guest workers for high tech jobs and send a message to American workers making over $60,000 annually that “your job is up for grabs.”
The professor informed the committee that “it is a myth that companies pay guest workers prevailing wages and actively look first for Americans to fill the jobs that are eventually given to H-1B guest workers.”
Testimony before the committee indicated that there are more than enough STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) graduates to more than fill the number of jobs available, however, companies are using the H-1B worker Visa program to get cheap labor and reduce cost.
Rutgers University Professor Hal Salzman said the proposed Senate bill would allow 180,000 H-1B visa’s per year when the tech industry needs only 120,000. That would fill all the jobs industry needs to fill with 50 percent left over to replace more American workers.
Professor Hira said the abuse of the guest worker program is “flagrant.” He named several companies he said have “gamed the H-1B program to displace American workers.” They included Southern California Edison, Disney of Florida, Cargill in Minnesota, Harley Davidson in Wisconsin, Pfizer in Connecticut, and Xerox in Rochester, NY.
An employee who lost his job for exposing a company’s abuse of the guest worker program emotionally testified before the committee. I’m the American worker who can’t speak out due to being harassed, blackballed or possibly sued … the one who was forced to sign a non-disparaging remarks agreement in order to get a severance package.” He concluded, “It’s all about cheaper labor.”
The committee did not discuss the problem with terrorists coming into the country through the high tech worker program. There is increasing concern about that problem as the number of foreign workers increase.