Plea to Senator Webb: Please co-sponsor Senator Durbin's H-1b reform bill

By: relawson
Published On: 4/3/2007 10:16:04 PM

Untitled Page A bi-partisan bill sponsored by both Senator Durbin and Senator Grassley, if inacted, will curb abuses to the H-1b program.  This bill will protect American labor and foreign guest workers from predatory and unscrupulous employers who previously have sought to skirt the spirit of the H-1b program: filling highly skilled jobs where there is a shortage of American workers.

Folks here on RK are really my only known connection to Senator Webb.  Because of his past strong support of American workers and opposition to the H-1b program in current form, I am hopeful that he would co-sponsor this bill and be a strong supporter of it. 

The H-1b visa also enables offshoring - the biggest losers in this bill are companies that ship software jobs offshore because it prevents "body shopping" which are essentially foreign staffing firms (who don't place local workers).  Also, the bill makes it illegal to place job ads that say "H-1b workers only need apply" - we have found hundreds of these discriminatory ads.

If you are a Webb staffer (or if you happen to be reading this Senator Webb) please take a good look at this bill.  As a software engineer worried about the future of my profession, we really need his help.

A zdnet article describes the bill:
Just before Congress departed for its spring recess at the end of last week, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced a bill--which appears to be the first of its kind in the Senate--designed to curb abuse of the controversial worker visa system.

The 32-page Senate bill would impose a host of additional obligations on employers. They would be required to pledge that they made a "good faith" effort to hire an American before taking on an H-1B worker and that the foreigner was not displacing a prospective U.S. worker.

Employers would also have to advertise job openings for 30 days on the Department of Labor's Web site before making H-1B visa applications, and they would be prohibited from advertising positions only to H-1B holders.

In addition, companies with 50 or more workers would not be allowed to employ more than half of their staff through H-1B visas.

In an attempt to discourage employers from hiring foreigners at lower wages than their American counterparts would command, employers would have to pay all H-1B workers the "prevailing wage," as calculated by a different method that raises the minimum to a higher level than it currently stands.

The proposal also aims to beef up the Department of Labor's authority to investigate abuses, giving the department the power to conduct random audits on employers, to review applications for "clear indicators of fraud," and to hire 200 additional employees to administer, oversee and enforce the H-1B program.

Grassley described the bill as aimed at "closing loopholes that employers have exploited by requiring them to be more transparent about their hiring and...ensuring more oversight of these visa programs to reduce fraud and abuse."




Comments



Right On (norman swingvoter - 4/4/2007 3:53:17 PM)
I have been reading more and more about this program in recent years.  Those who have studied the program in detail claim that companies pay H-1B employees far less than American workers.  In effect this program has turned into a way to get cheap labor and bypass the American worker. bush of course wants to expand the program.  Below are a couple of articles.  The program needs to be brought under control.

http://www.infoworld...

http://www.cis.org/a...



ask Webb (Alice Marshall - 4/5/2007 7:00:56 AM)
Contact Senator Webb