NASA Shuttle - Back Door to H-1Bs

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 10:09 PM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

A NASA spokeswoman explained that NASA can hire H-1Bs but she
downplayed the role they play in building the shuttle. What she didn't
admit is that NASA doesn't hire many H-1Bs directly but their
contractors do. Most of the space shuttle work is done outside of NASA
because they decided that it's cheaper to use contractors instead of
direct employees.

Dr. Gene Nelson has been researching whether the hiring of cheap labor
could be one of the reasons that quality has slipped on the space
shuttle. The evidence shows that many NASA contractors use H-1Bs to cut
labor costs.

Dr. Nelson compiled a spreadsheet that lists the Shuttle Contractors
that were listed in the LCA Database.
Go to this page for the spreadsheet:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/Shuttle_Contractors_DoL.PDF

Following the the EE Times article is a letter to the editor of the NY
Times that Gene Nelson wrote. The LTE didn't get published.

http://www.eet.com/sys/news/OEG20030311S0038

Bill seeks to retain NASA engineers

By Margaret Quan, EE Times
March 12, 2003 (11:44 p.m. EST)

MANHASSET, N.Y. Proposed legislation seeks to modify NASA's workforce
policies to recruit and retain qualified engineers and scientists.

The NASA Flexibility Act of 2003 sponsored by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert,
R-N.Y., chairman of the House Science Committee, also aims to
revitalize the space agency that faces a lengthy accident investigation
and a "huge retirement bulge" over the next five years.

Twenty-five percent of NASA's workforce would be eligible for
retirement by 2008.

In recent Senate testimony, Boehlert said NASA's personnel problems
have been a concern for many years, but have been magnfied since the
loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which broke up Feb. 1, killing all
seven crew members.

The proposed legislation "allows NASA to offer larger recruitment and
retention bonuses than are permitted currently and to offer bonuses to
employees shifting between federal jobs without relocating," Boehlert
said.

The bill also increases voluntary separation incentives from $25,000 to
up to 50 percent of an employee's annual salary and authorizes term
appointments be extended from four to six years.

The House Science Committee plans to hold a hearing on the bill
Wednesday (March 12).

One critic of the proposal is concerned, however, the bill may be
designed to enlarge the use of H-1Bs, both by NASA and its
subcontractors. "The language is vague and I question why it increases
voluntary separation incentives and increases term appointments from
four years to six years, the term that fits with the period an H-1B
worker is allowed to stay," said Gene Nelson, a manpower expert in
Dallas who tracks NASA.

H-1Bs are temporary work visas issued to foreign workers in specialty
occupations.

A NASA spokeswoman explained that NASA can under certain conditions
hire people with temporary work visas. However, she noted that H-1B
workers and others with temporary visas can only be used to fill
non-competitive, or "excepted" civil service positions, "but they are
usually very specialized job requirements and the candidates have
extraordinary qualifications," she added.

Connect the dots between the H-1B visa program and the shuttle Columbia

There are adverse consequences when employers substitute "fresh
(inexpensive) young blood" - now mostly from overseas, for experienced
American citizen professionals. A very likely conclusion of the shuttle
Columbia inquiry will be that the H-1B visa program led to the loss of
knowledge of sophisticated space systems when American citizen
professionals were displaced by noncitizen labor to shave costs or
boost corporate profits. The loss of knowledge inexorably doomed the
shuttle Columbia.

A recent study shows that in just two years, over 3,225 H-1B visas were
issued to the top 40 NASA shuttle subcontractors listed by The New York
Times on February 9, 2003. That means over 3,000 American citizens
permanently displaced by NASA subcontractors. See:
http://edc.dws.state.ut.us/casesearch.asp

One of the NASA subcontractors that uses H-1Bs, Lockheed Martin,
blundered in 1999 when they transmitted incorrect units to NASA-JPL
[1.] with the result of the Mars Polar Orbiter burning up while
entering the Mars atmosphere. Language and cultural issues and the
"need to please" of the H-1B visa holder who is beholden to the
employer for "Green Card" sponsorship could have been a Lockheed Martin
problem in 1999.

The February 1, 2003 Columbia disaster may have been caused by the
re-entry trajectory being too steep. The confirmation of
an engine cover tile on February 21, 2003 in Littlefield, Texas [2.]
(360 miles west of Fort Worth) is consistent with this perspective.
Maybe one (or more) NASA contractor H-1Bs made an error - or did not
want to disclose a mistake they discovered.

A GAO report issued in January, 2003 (before the disaster) falsely
claims that NASA is facing "workforce shortages" and needs more
"personnel flexibilities."[3] This is code for more H-1Bs. Bad idea.

Instead, Times readers should use the free citizen activism tools at
www.NumbersUSA.com to help prevent the next space disaster.

Gene Nelson, Ph.D. (Former NASA employee, 51 years old, presently
seeking employment)
c0030180@airmail.net = email

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