More H-1B visas, McCain's top priority

[OhioChick]

Source: Rediff News India

May 23, 2008

"I believe we have to secure our borders, but we must enact comprehensive immigration reforms. And we must make it our top priority," Senator John McCain told chief executives of several high-tech companies on Thursday, when he visited the Silicon Valley for a fundraiser event.

Praising the innovative strengths of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, McCain said California's booming technology industry was proof of American competitiveness and why the United States needs to keep international commerce as open as possible, without erecting new barriers that would impede progress and growth.

McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, was flanked by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former eBay President and CEO Meg Whitman, at a roundtable discussion on high-tech innovation on the production floor at Finelite, a maker of lighting systems for offices and schools.

The declaration came after several Silicon Valley CEOs complained about the need for highly skilled employees and the problems they face over the cap on visas for skilled workers.



Read more: http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/may/23visa1.htm

---

No Surprise Here...

[acmavm]

1. Well that should endear the crazy old man with the American

worker.

edit :saracasm:

[BearSquirrel2]

11. Probably won't faze him ...

We have to remember that H1-Bs go to high tech, skilled workers which are a minority of the population. In my estimation, Blue Collar workers could by and large give a shit less about white collar workers unless it's their kid. I've seen it over and over again and it's been reinforced by patronizingly ignorant facades to candidates all working under the "common sense" doctorine.

More H1-Bs ARE a disaster. It takes away the motivation for people to go to college and earn high tech skills when Apu is going to come along and do the job for far less than a union steelworker makes. So ... why bother. Why not just get in line with the rest of the ignorants and put in your time?

That's something you'll NEVER hear a politician say. And our country will continue to become more ignorant and more dependent for it when college no longer pays off.

[Phred42]

2. If True - Make sure to share this link with your Reich-wing friends

[OhioChick]

14. I work with one

that I'm aware of and I've already sent it to him. :)

[Phred42]

19. Good on ya!

Let's remember that its not the H1-B's fault. It's the Corporations fault

[OhioChick]

20. Agreed.

I don't blame H-1B's, but rather the U.S. greedy-ass Corporations.

[snappyturtle]

3. Can American citizens get H-1B visas?

:sarcasm:

[mcollier]

5. WOW

The Guy is out of touch! How about ensuring Americans get those good paying High Tech jobs....

[snappyturtle]

23. You're right on! This isn't just happening in the high tech fields.

My husband is a home builder and we have men, who have been carpenters, plumbers, landscapers for thirty years, stopping by and asking if we have a project going they can work on. Cheap labor, as I see it, only benefits the contractor, not the home owner. It's greed no matter what industry is effected. The hourly rate for skilled workers has dropped too, that is for the ones who do find work.

[antigop]

4. Sending this to all the tech workers I know...n/t

[EnviroBat]

6. I love this statement:

"The declaration came after several Silicon Valley CEOs complained about the need for highly skilled employees and the problems they face over the cap on visas for skilled workers."

There are skilled workers right here in the US. These "CEO's" just don't want to pay them a decent salary.

Fuck them all.

[SnowCritter]

7. Can I get an "Amen" here?

After gradutating in 2000 (Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, Magna Cum Laude) I couldn't even get an entry level programmers position. Of course, I was a non-traditional student (older) and already had some 14 years of programming experience under my belt, so maybe it was agism.

Corporate American is interested in cheap labor and they don't care how many Americans are put out of work for them to get it. Unfortunately, the business model is not sustainable.

[EnviroBat]

10. They're going to find out soon enough.

This housing bubble, recession, you name it, can all be attributed to putting Americans out of work period. The greed model is starting to bite everything in the ass now.

[BearSquirrel2]

12. Most are out by their mid 30s ...

The statistics show that most computer programmers are out by their mid 30s. In that same time, I was laid off and could not find another job. I gave up when I realized that headhunters were merely bringing me in as their "3rd candidate". After 7 years out ... I know I will never get a job again in that industry.

You're right about the cheap labor. There is also the issue of captive labor. As an H1-B, you are sponsored by your company and you are bound to their servitude unless you go through another lengthy uncertain process. The sure fire way to break H1-B then is to remove the sponsorship provision and make the Visas transferable to other companies. At that point you will see the H1-B rate plummet as they will know that they will no longer be able to "bait and switch" on salary and that these people will have freedom just like American workers.

Oh yeah, and I want all those H1-B SOBs to PAY FUCKING INCOME TAXES!!!!

[eridani]

22. My husband never had a regular job in the industry after he turned 40

It's been intermittent contracts ever since.

[OhioChick]

18. Speaking of Silicon Valley...

Isn't that U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren's (D-Calif.) district?

With H-1B in limbo, Congressional backers push Green Card fix

Head of key House committee has introduced three bills in two months

May 14, 2008 (Computerworld) Efforts to increase the H-1B cap have been stuck in a legislative swamp, but U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) has introduced three bills in the last few weeks to help foreign nationals already working in the U.S. to obtain permanent residency. She announced her latest legislative effort late Wednesday.

Fixing the permanent residency, or green card employment-based, visa program has been a top legislative goal of high-tech industry proponents, on par with their efforts to raise the H-1B cap.

And Lofgren, who heads the U.S. House Subcommittee on Immigration, is in the position to move legislation to the head of the class. But it remains to be seen whether she can jump over the legislative stalemate created by lawmakers who want comprehensive immigration reform or nothing at all.

Lofgren's latest bill, HR 6039, which is not yet available online, will exempt graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science and tech -- the so called STEM degrees (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) -- from the annual 140,000 limit on these permanent residency visas. The bill was officially introduced yesterday.


http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9085658&intsrc=hm_list

[liberalmike27]

8. Yes, By All Means

Let us continue to replace American workers with foreign workers for a fifth of the salary. They've already torn down the salaries of the lower, and middle class. Now they are working on the top sectors too, stabbing college educated folks in the back.

The whole H-1B visa is based on NOT being able to find workers, but in truth, these workers are available, but corporations just want to pay less.

We inevitably need to move to a system like Japans, where we guard our population and people, we move folks to a living wage, and regulate our health system, and provide health care to people. Free trade is like punching holes in the American economic bucket, and expecting it to hold water. Needless to say, the American bucket was full, and it will leak to other countries.

[VP505]

9. Why would anyone be

surprised that the candidate for the Party of Corporations by Corporations would want to appease their corporate masters with more imported labor.

[yellowcanine]

13. H-1B visas are used by companies to get CHEAP LABOR. It allows more jobs to be outsourced from out

of the reach of American workers.

[AzDar]

15. K & R...

:kick:

[lovuian]

16. Wow is he NOT going anywhere with this

this is so Corporations

[IronLionZion]

17. K+R

:patriot:

[ChromeFoundry]

21. Spoken like a true republican CEO. n/t