Work visa's success fuels resentment

Date: Monday, December 02, 2002 9:00 AM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

H-1B supporters are trying to marginalize us as a small, but vocal,
minority. That argument, while it may be true if compared to the entire U.S.
workforce, is irrelevant and it falls apart if the effect of H-1B is
discussed in the context of the types of workers it affects - mainly high
tech. It could be argued that NAFTA and outsourcing also affects a minority
of the workers in the US, but the cumulative effect on US jobs is enormous.
This nation will be in serious trouble if our government waits until the
majority of workers in the US are unemployed before taking action. We need
to save jobs now!

It is encouraging that the voices of American workers are starting to be
noticed in articles like the one below. The bogus arguments of the
immigration lawyers are drowned out by the real life experiences of American
workers who are losing careers because of the importation of cheap labor by
using H-1B.

H-1B and it's cousins such as the L visa have been silently destroying the
American middle class, and it's about time that the media recognize that.

Here is a summary of some of the classic but false arguments made by the
H-1B shills:

* Most employers wouldn't mess with a work visa if they could find qualified
U.S. workers

* By some estimates, about 890,000 H-1B visa holders work in the United
States. By comparison, the U.S. labor force is 142.7 million people. The
number of H-1Bs is therefore insignificant.

* Complaints against H-1B is nothing but "sour grapes."

* The issue is really about performance and skill set, not cheap labor.

* U.S. industry was built on the talents of foreign workers.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/frontpage/MGB9W00C69D.html

Work visa's success fuels resentment
BY CAROL HAZARD
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Once the darlings of the high-tech economy, many information technology
workers would be content to just have a job interview now.

Pavan Kale has watched as friends - unable to find work here - returned to
India. Others went home to work on U.S. projects that were shipped to India.

Kale, 26, an aspiring entrepreneur, works as a systems analyst for Code X
Inc., a Richmond job placement and contracting company.

He feels fortunate to have a job in the United States. "Absolutely," he
said.

Here, he can be on the front end of technology before it is shipped
overseas, as developed projects sometimes are, where they can be managed for
less money.

On an H-1B visa, he can work in the United States for up to six years -
provided he is sponsored by a U.S. company.

H-1B visas are not as easy to come by as they were a year or so ago.
Companies cut back on work-sponsored visas after Sept. 11, when the economy
faltered and layoffs increased.

Even with the pullback, the temporary work program for skilled workers has
come under fire as jobs have become scarce. Some U.S. workers say their jobs
are being done by foreign workers at a cheaper price.

"It boils my blood," said an information technology worker who was laid off
from a Richmond company about a year ago. He says his job and those of about
10 others are being done by visa workers for less money. He still has not
found work.

If people are worried about manufacturing jobs going offshore, they should
look closer to home and the skilled jobs that are being lost on this shore,
critics say.

Advocates of the work visa program say skilled foreign workers make U.S.
companies more competitive. Besides, foreign workers make up only a small
percentage of the work force, they say.

The United States opened its borders wide to skilled foreign workers in 2000
when President Clinton signed the American Competitiveness in the 21st
Century Act.

The law, enacted mostly in response to a shortage of technology workers,
raised the ceiling of H-1B work visas to 195,000 a year from 115,000 in
1998.

Congress will vote next year on whether to keep the 195,000 ceiling in
place. Legislation has been introduced that would scale back and tie the
numbers to the U.S. unemployment rate.

IT and engineering industry experts would like to see the temporary worker
program scaled back to the pre-1998 level of 65,000 work visas a year, now
that the tech boom has cooled.

U.S. companies are supposed to pay prevailing industry wages to their
foreign workers. But IT experts say some companies violate the intent and
spirit of the H-1B program by paying cheaper wages.

"The driving factor is the cost of labor," said Vin O'Neill, senior
legislative representative for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers Inc. - United States of America. "It's all about access to cheap
labor."

The IEEE-USA, a professional organization of 235,000 engineers, advocates
reducing the H-1B visa quota and stepping up training programs to help
displaced U.S. engineers find work.

The increasing reliance on temporary foreign workers is exacerbating the
problem for jobless U.S. citizens, said LeEarl Bryant, IEEE-USA president.

"Why do we keep bringing people in when we have unemployed people here?" she
said. "We can close the door a little."

She said claims about a shortage of skilled workers are exaggerated.

Electrical and electronic engineers have lost 241,000 jobs in the past two
years, the association says. Computer scientists, which include systems
analysts, are looking at 175,000 fewer jobs.

Supporters of the current visa program acknowledge that criticism is
mounting. But they claim the critics are a small, but vocal, minority. They
dispute charges about cheap labor hurting America.

They claim the current quota system is working. The number of visas issued
last year dropped off significantly last year, reflecting the slow economy,
they say.

About 118,000 H-1B visas were granted in fiscal 2002, ending Sept. 30,
compared with 162,000 the year before.

"As a general trend, companies are not bringing in new people," said Dustin
Dyer, an immigration attorney with McDonald Dyer in Richmond. "They're
trying to take care of the ones they have here already."

Dyer said he saw the influx of foreign workers begin to slow in March 2001,
when the recession officially kicked in.

The slow economy aside, the United States is still the land of opportunity
for many foreign workers, even if the opportunities are not as plentiful as
they were two years ago.

Yuki Murofushi, multicultural director for RadioRichmond, says she has not
yet reached her job goals. But she worries about holding onto her work visa.
Four of six colleagues returned to Japan this past year.

"It's very hard to find a company to support a work visa," she said.

As sponsors, U.S. companies pay a $1,136 filing fee for an H-1B visa
worker - a skilled worker from a foreign country. They provide jobs and pay
for return trips home should the jobs be eliminated.

H-1B visas are good for three years but can be extended for another three
years.

"Most employers wouldn't mess with a work visa if they could find qualified
U.S. workers," said Mark Rhoads, immigration attorney with McCandlish
Holton.

"What employer will go to the expense not just in transportation but in
filing fees - plus, they have to pay the prevailing wage?" Rhoads said.

Capital One Financial Corp., the largest nongovernment employer in the
Richmond area, is among the top 100 companies in the country that employ
H-1B visa workers.

"We wouldn't exclude someone because they need H-1B help," said Capital One
spokesman Hamilton Holloway.

Holloway said less than 5 percent of Capital One's employees are H-1B visa
workers.

Companies whose H-1B workers make up less than 15 percent of the work force
are under no special restrictions. Those with 15 percent or more must verify
that they actively recruited U.S. workers. Also, they are prohibited from
laying off U.S. workers 90 days before or after hiring visa workers.

By some estimates, about 890,000 H-1B visa holders work in the United
States. Some work in medicine, education and the service industries, but
most are computer programmers and civil and mechanical engineers.

By comparison, the U.S. labor force is 142.7 million people.

Of the 118,315 H-1B visas issued last year, most - 44,012 - were issued to
people from India, according to the State Department Bureau of Consumer
Affairs. The second-largest group was from China, with 7,576 work visas,
followed by Great Britain, with 6,135.

Ranjit Sen, chief executive officer of Code X, acknowledges arguments that
the United States has been too lenient with work visas. But he dismisses the
complaints as "sour grapes."

"It's all performance and skill set," he said. "That's what it's all about."

Sen said the IT industry was due for a shakeout, regardless of the H-1B
situation. A programmer in India, for example, works for $600 to $1,000 a
month, while a U.S. programmer gets as much as $5,000 a month for the same
job, he said.

"Competition is no longer local or regional; it's global," said Van Wood,
marketing and international business professor at Virginia Commonwealth
University and the Philip Morris chair in international business.

U.S. industry was built on the talents of foreign workers, Wood said. "We
have been a magnet for intellectual capacity, allowing people to be the
painters of their own lives, while hanging onto their cultures but taking
advantage of all the things America has to offer."

It boils down to simple economics, he said. "To be successful, you must
produce the best quality product at the lowest possible price.

"Quite frankly, companies don't care about ethnic background," Wood said. "I
think America should embrace highly skilled individuals who bring great
things to the competitive table."

In the past, companies would provide training if new skills were required,
said a former IT worker at First Health Services Corp., a health-care
management and administration company in Richmond.

He recalls the day he got the pink slip.

"I was doing my work about 10 a.m. on Dec. 4 and the department head came by
and said to come to his office when I had a chance. My heart sunk. I knew
what he was going to do. And he did! I was not on probation or warning or
anything. Just out of the blue, gone. And so was my boss who had been there
eight years and another employee also. In January, visa workers were hired."

Teresa DiMarco, president of First Health, said the company did lay off
about 12 people in the IT department. "We were moving to new technology
platforms," she said. "In some cases, individuals did not have the skills to
make the transition. Their jobs were no longer needed."

She said the company employs 270 people in IT. Of those, 24 people, or about
9 percent of the IT department, work under H-1B visas, she said.

"We try to hire locally," DiMarco said. "We don't see that changing."

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or chazard@timesdispatch.com

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