Permit for exploitation?
Permit for exploitation?
Date: Monday, April 29, 2002 5:53 PM
*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***
Get the Facts on H-1B at www.ZaZona.com
This is the best news article I have seen on H-1B in quite awhile.
Notice that Troussov, the founder of Trusoft, said that he is puzzled
that
the H-1B program is considered controversial. He then goes on to say
that it
wouldn't be efficient to hire anyone but a Russian because he claims
that
communication is a big issue. Perhaps someone should tell Troussov that
discrimination based on national origin is very controversial in the
United
States because we don't operate the way Russia does. Would our courts
uphold
his right to discriminate so he can stay efficient?
They also talked to Murali Krishna Devarakonda who is on the board of
Immigration Support Network (ISN). They were one of the earliest
inductees
to Skunks.org and you can read why here:
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/Skunks.htm#ISN. He said that he received
his
green card in August after 11 years as an H-1B. I hope he doesn't spend
too
much time coaching his militant followers at ISN in how to cheat our
immigration system because he is obviously very good at cheating the
system.
I have often said that companies that are owned or operated by H-1Bs
will
not hire US citizens. That is because many cultures don't share our
ideals
of diversity so they will not hesitate to discriminate against anyone
that
doesn't meet their profile. These racists need to have a few lawsuits
slapped on them so that they learn that behavior of this type cannot be
tolerated in the United States.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/04/29/Business/Permit_for_exploitati.shtml
Permit for exploitation?
Employers say the H-1B program lets them recruit foreign workers for
specialized jobs they can't otherwise fill. Critics argue that the
program
is vulnerable to abuse by giving employers unfair leverage and keeping
wages
low.
By KRIS HUNDLEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 29, 2002
Employers say the H-1B program lets them recruit foreign workers for
specialized jobs they can't otherwise fill. Critics argue that the
program
is vulnerable to abuse by giving employers unfair leverage and keeping
wages
low.
Gregory Troussov is quite clear about why he has hired only Eastern
European
engineers to work at his St. Petersburg software company.
"A Russian genius will cost $40,000 to $60,000," said Troussov, who has
15
employees -- all from former Soviet bloc countries -- at Trusoft
International Inc. "A compatible American would want $200,000 to
$300,000
and probably be an entrepreneur."
Few employers are as blunt as Troussov in acknowledging the financial
incentives of the H-1B program, which has allowed U.S. companies to
recruit
hundreds of thousands of foreign workers with specialized skills. But
after
the economic slowdown and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the program
has
come under increased scrutiny.
The Navy is considering banning foreign nationals, including H-1B
workers,
from working on sensitive but unclassified information technology work.
A congressman from Colorado has proposed slashing the number of visas by
two-thirds to pre-1998 levels.
And President Bush wants to divert the $1,000 fee paid by visa
applicants,
now used for technology training for U.S. workers, to the INS. Its
proposed
use? Speeding up paperwork for foreign workers who want to become
permanent
residents.
The H-1B program was created through the Immigration Act of 1990. It
allows
companies to recruit not just foreign engineers but fashion models,
physicians, chefs and others with specialized talents for up to six
years.
Today, there are thought to be more than 600,000 H-1B visa holders
working
in the United States.
In the boom times of the mid- to late 1990s, there was little opposition
as
technology companies and consulting companies lobbied to raise the limit
on
the number of foreign workers allowed into the United States. Employers
such
as Microsoft, Motorola, Cisco Systems and Oracle -- the program's
biggest
users -- claimed the American work force simply couldn't meet industry's
demand for technical skills.
Last year, however, the visa requests kept coming even as high-tech
companies eliminated nearly 600,000 jobs. For the fiscal year ended
Sept.
30, the Immigration and Naturalization Service received a record 342,035
H-1B applications from employers. It approved 163,200, more than half of
those for jobs in computers and engineering.
In the quarter ended Dec. 31, 54,000 applications were received and
28,000
visas were approved.
That makes little sense to those who have talked to engineers who are on
unemployment or have thumbed through piles of resumes from out-of-work
computer programmers.
"I can't believe they can't find skilled people right here," said Warren
Rogers, a tech recruiter in Tampa. "There's a tremendous pool of talent
here
now, willing to work at reasonable prices. It's rare I get a job opening
and
am not able to find somebody who fits the criteria. I don't even have to
look as far as Orlando."
Iskander Oumarov, the 27-year-old technical director at Trusoft, has
worked
in St. Petersburg on an H-1B visa for four years. He said he tried to
recruit U.S. workers for two recent openings that involved working on
the
company's artificial intelligence software.
"It's difficult to find people with talent and enough passion about what
they're doing," said Oumarov, who filled the vacancies with two fellow
Russians. "I want people who don't worry about working normal hours but
like
to talk five or six hours straight about their work. And I'm not able to
find them here."
A company such as Trusoft that depends on H-1B workers for more than 15
percent of its work force must document that it was unable to find
qualified
American workers, as do companies that have had previous Labor
Department
violations. (Such proof also is required for a foreign worker to obtain
a
green card permitting permanent residency.)
About a half-dozen of Trusoft's imported workers are scattered in
paper-strewn offices in the upper floors of the Snell Arcade building on
Central Avenue. The rest work at client sites.
Troussov, the company's founder, said his workplace looks like any
other.
"We don't have Russian dolls sitting around or anything," he said. And
he
said he would be happy to hire more Americans if they came up with
exciting
ideas.
"But right now all our (software) authors are from Russia and
communication
is a big issue," Troussov said. "It's just more efficient if we all
speak
Russian."
Few local workplaces are as dominated by high-skilled foreign workers as
Trusoft. In the Tampa Bay area, CGI Group Inc. of Clearwater has one of
the
largest contingents of H-1B employees. But Dilip Patel, vice president
of
the computer consulting company, said less than 10 percent of its 3,000
workers in the United States are on the visas. He declines to say
exactly
how many H-1Bs work on CGI's Clearwater campus or for the parent
company,
which is headquartered in Montreal.
Since 1998, Patel's company has filed applications with the Labor
Department
for hundreds of computer-related positions paying $40,000 to $80,000 a
year.
Patel said the pace of foreign recruiting slowed during the economic
downturn in 2001 but may begin to pick up.
"We're seeing a definite increase in responses from our customers,"
Patel
said. "It's not a big boom, but there's a stronger sense of business in
the
pipeline."
And he insisted the company resorts to the program only because it
cannot
find the talent it needs at home.
"Why would I go through all that hassle if I could get a U.S. worker?"
Patel
asked. "With all the fees and processing time, it costs me more to bring
a
worker from overseas."
But Bruce Hojnacki of Largo doesn't buy it. In September, he lost a
programming job after six years as a consultant with IBM. When he
applied
for a new position with IBM in Raleigh, N.C., he said he was told his
resume
was strong and he'd be a good fit, but they'd committed to bring in
someone
with an H-1B for the job.
"When the economy is good, it doesn't bother you," said Hojnacki, who
worked
as an IBM consultant assigned to Eckerd Corp. with dozens of H-1B
workers.
"But now is not the time to displace American IT (information
technology)
workers and bring down our wages."
To ensure H-1B workers won't be exploited and won't undercut the wages
of
U.S. employees, the program supposedly guarantees that visa holders will
be
paid the prevailing wage for their occupation.
But critics say those guarantees are routinely circumvented.
According to the state, prevailing wages in the Tampa Bay area in 2000
were
$36,858 to $54,454 for computer programmers; $46,634 to $57,450 for
systems
analysts; and $33,030 to $55,203 for database administrators. Senior
systems
developers, also known as software engineers, make from $44,262 to
$75,774.
Though one Tampa company filed a Labor Department application this year
for
a software engineer paying more than $72,000, another company said it
would
pay a systems analyst less than $17 per hour, or about $35,000 annually,
well below the prevailing wage.
And Hojnacki said his experience at Eckerd convinced him H-1B workers
were
routinely underpaid.
"I know the subcontractors on visas, most from India, were making $25 to
$30
an hour, while an American doing similar work would want $70 to $80 an
hour," said Hojnacki, 39. "But it was extremely high according to their
standard of living. They were sending money back to support their
families."
Hojnacki said his co-workers on H-1Bs had been brought to the United
States
by an unidentified company that subcontracted with IBM and were not
being
sponsored by IBM or Eckerd. He thinks most of them had their sponsorship
transferred to Eckerd last fall when the drugstore chain decided to
bring
its IT work in-house.
"I think most of the H-1Bs were rolled over and became Eckerd
employees,"
said Hojnacki, who said he turned down the chance to join Eckerd because
he
wanted to remain with IBM. "And they probably did a little bit better
there."
IBM said it couldn't comment on the wage disparity allegation without
further information on the subcontractor.
Labor Department files show Eckerd applied for 112 H-1Bs visas last year
for
information technology workers, including systems analysts and senior
systems developers. All salaries were pegged at $36,774, less than the
prevailing wage as determined by the state.
In a statement, Eckerd declined to say how many H-1Bs were working in
its IT
department, but described their salary range as "fair, equitable,
competitive within our marketplace and competitive within our industry."
A report by the General Accounting Office in September 2000 found
serious
flaws in the Labor Department's review of employers' wage applications
for
H-1Bs. Since the department neither verifies that the employer's figures
are
accurate nor ensures those wages are paid, the program is "vulnerable to
abuse," it concluded.
Murali Krishna Devarakonda, a software engineer in Raleigh who received
his
green card in August after 11 years as an H-1B, said there are many ways
employers can cheat foreign employees on wages. Most common, he said,
are
consulting companies that recruit foreign workers with the promise of a
steady salary when in fact the pay is tied to project work that may not
materialize.
"These 'body shops' don't pay them at all or pay them less than
promised,"
said Devarakonda, who is on the board of Immigration Support Network,
which
assists H-1B visa holders. "We hear complaints like this all the time
and we
pass them on to the INS, but they're totally ill-equipped to handle
them."
Even good employers have leverage over H-1B workers when it comes to
pay,
Devarakonda said, because of the nature of the relationship.
"The H-1B (worker) is not going to ask for a raise because his entire
legal
future is in the hands of that employer," he said. "Because you're
sponsored
by the employer, you're at his mercy. And though the program has checks
and
balances, they are a farce."
Devarakonda said H-1Bs are thrown into a panic when they're fired or
laid
off. "They're not really illegal, but they're considered out of status,"
he
said, noting that the message board on his group's Web site
(www.isn.org)
often gets anguished messages from H-1Bs who suddenly find themselves
unemployed and fear they will be deported. "There's a lot of gray area,
and
the average decent law-abiding engineer just has no clue about these
things."
Patel at CGI said his company, formerly known locally as IMRglobal, has
laid
off H-1B workers, but he refused to disclose the number.
"If you notify the INS right away, they'll generally exercise
discretion" in
the worker's favor, Patel said, adding that the company must offer an
H-1B
worker a ticket home. He declined to say how many of CGI's foreign
workers
took the company up on the offer. "If the work goes, the person may have
to
be laid off, though it's a last-resort thing."
He added that the immigration process is a bit more complicated in a
post-Sept. 11 world. The H-1B procedure takes more time now, Patel said.
"And I can't imagine what it would be like if I were trying to bring
someone
in from Saudi Arabia," he said.
Patel said Florida's bureau of motor vehicles also has started revoking
the
driver's licenses of H-1B workers the minute their visas expire, despite
a
regulation that lets them stay in the country working while extension or
green card requests are pending. "I've had people spend all day trying
to
get their driver's license extended," Patel said. "And the people who
did
all the damage Sept. 11 had driver's licenses."
Gregory Troussov, who has built his software business with an
all-foreign
work force, is puzzled that the H-1B program is considered
controversial.
"Compared to all other forms of immigration, this is the most beneficial
to
the long-term future of the country," Troussov said. He said Sony Europe
has
signed a contract to use Trusoft's artificial intelligence software and
that
most of his company's revenue comes from customers in England and Japan.
"We're bringing money into the American economy and our employees are
paying
taxes here," he said. "Most of these people want to stay in the U.S. and
they're smart, educated and already have jobs."
John Miano, head of the Programmers Guild, a Summit, N.J., trade group
that
has long opposed the H-1B program, doesn't expect the flow of foreign
workers to be affected at all by economic or security concerns.
"It's quite grim right now and Americans are losing their jobs because
of
this program," Miano said. "But this is an issue driven by money, and
the
H-1Bs are a giant source of cheap labor."
-- Times researchers Caryn Baird and Cathy Wos contributed to this
story.
Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or (727)892-2996.
Some H-1B employers in the Tampa Bay area
Company, location, business, number of H-1Bs, work force
CGI Group Inc., Clearwater, computer consulting, maximum of 450, 3,000
(total U.S.)
Tech Data Corp., Clearwater, computer reseller, not available, 2,200
(local)
CAE USA Inc., Tampa, flight simulators, 14, 500 (local)
Soft Computer Consultants, Palm Harbor, software, 30, 450 (local)
Trusoft International, St. Petersburg, software, 15, 15 (local)
Who is the H-1B worker?
-- Almost half are born in India.
-- Average age is 28.
-- 72 percent are males.
-- 60 percent are recruited for jobs in information technology.
-- Median salary is $45,000.
-- California attracts the largest number of H-1Bs (11 percent).
-- Florida has about 6 percent of H-1Bs.
-- Source: Immigration and Naturalization Service, September 2000
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