Backlash grows in US over foreign worker visas

[Engineer]

http://news.yahoo.com/backlash-stirs-us-against-foreign-worker-visas-135208422--finance.html

Kelly Parker was thrilled when she landed her dream job in 2012 providing tech support for Harley-Davidson's Tomahawk, Wisconsin, plants. The divorced mother of three hoped it was the beginning of a new career with the motorcycle company.

The dream didn't last long. Parker claims she was laid off one year later after she trained her replacement, a newly arrived worker from India. Now she has joined a federal lawsuit alleging the global staffing firm that ran Harley-Davidson's tech support discriminated against American workers — in part by replacing them with temporary workers from South Asia.

So we're bringing in 'skilled' people because we have a shortage yet we have our citizens 'train' them and then the same citizens are let go?

They say Manpower, for example, last year posted U.S. job openings in India but not in the United States.


"We have a shortage in the industry all right — a shortage of fair and ethical recruiting and hiring," said Donna Conroy, director of Bright Future Jobs, a group of tech professionals fighting to end what it calls "discriminatory hiring that is blocking us ... from competing for jobs we are qualified to do."

"U.S. workers should have the freedom to compete first for job openings," Conroy said

Nice. We have tech. openings and they aren't even posted here? The US worker didn't even get a chance.

I guess it's not only the 'human garbage' (per one of the smug people here) workers (like manufacturing, etc) that are getting outsourced. Ah hell, we can all sit at home, collect government checks and never work again and we import our way to prosperity...in both items and labor. Life will be a paradise.

and our dumbass Senate (both Democrats and Republicans - just like so called 'free trade') decided that we need even more while at the same time stripping out language that we must look at US candidates first? I guess the top 'job creators' need more talent and more money to create more jobs.....but not for US citizens. They are too expensive and need not apply (except for a credit card to buy the stuff - must buy the stuff).

 

[master_shake_]

first it was convenience stores...

now its real jobs.

when will the madness end!

maybe they should stop multiplying like ants. that could do it.

in canada we call them "temporary foreign workers"

same premise, employees who train them are replaced by them.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

All I can say is remember this when you head to the voting booth. Personally I'm sick of trade agreements & temp workers.
Bring back temporary work visa after unemployment falls to 3% or so.

 

[Engineer]

All I can say is remember this when you head to the voting booth. Personally I'm sick of trade agreements & temp workers.
Bring back temporary work visa after unemployment falls to 3% or so.

Both major parties support this (as well as trade agreements). Don't know where 3rd party stands on this but I would tend to think that they would go with the flow in most cases, especially once the lobby money is flashed in front of their noses.

 

[Orignal Earl]

Nooooooo...not you too Harley Davidson..
*cries*

 

[senseamp]

This is one case where gridlock in Washington was good for America, because they couldn't agree on a bill expanding H1Bs, even though both sides support it.

 

[Moonbeam]

This is one case where gridlock in Washington was good for America, because they couldn't agree on a bill expanding H1Bs, even though both sides support it.

I see gifted foreign workers having gifted American Citizen kids.

 

[michal1980]

the only STEM shortage is in the minds of CEOs.

 

[alzan]

The overabundance of foreign worker visas is one of the reasons the middle class is disappearing.

 

[Jeff7]

The argument has long been that there aren't enough qualified American workers to fill certain jobs, especially in science, engineering and technology.

"Qualified worker" = Someone with a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering who's willing to work for a $17k/year salary with unpaid overtime and no benefits.

 

[Engineer]

"Qualified worker" = Someone with a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering who's willing to work for a $17k/year salary with unpaid overtime and no benefits.

Considering that I've seen ads lately for Controls Engineering positions with a BSEE and 2 to 5 years experience with pay between $15 and $25 per hour, I don't doubt what you say one bit.

This company, after getting no hits (or at least getting nobody with any real qualifications for the pay) can then lobby for a visa foreign worker to fill the position. I have witnessed this very thing at a previous company I worked for in trying to get a very skilled Mexican controls engineer into the US. Of course, they wanted to pay him half as much as the other US engineers...but that was many times more than his $3.00 per hour in Mexico.

 

[Imp]

I though the word was out in the US a while ago... Canada woke up to it, it's called the Temporary Foreign Worker program here, like last year. We apparently don't have enough burger flippers...

 

[1prophet]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Clearly, because she was laid off one year after she trained the Indian dude, it means that she was laid off because she had finished training the Indian dude.

 

[jpeyton]

Of course it's about one thing: the money.

And your blame should be directed solely at the companies who, for decades, have driven down real wages, cut costs at every corner, cut benefits, and more, all because they are beholden to stockholders and directors who want blockbuster quarterly reports over long-term sustainable growth and profit sharing.

Wall Street is responsible for the destruction of the middle class. Instead of investing in well being of their own employees, companies are directing that wealth to stockholder # 23468.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Good to know the company I work for doesn't hire H1B workers as it has several facilities in Asia and hires local engineers/workers to perform overhauls and repairs on the equipment within their country. There's also need to worry about work from the US being sent there as the company's client require quick turnaround on all work on their equipment.

 

[senseamp]

Bottom line is if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. And it's not that H1B's are stupid, but in their situation, it pays to not act too smart.. They know they have one goal while on H1B, don't take a risk or rock the boat and get yourself fired before getting a green card. That may be OK if you have a well defined task and quality control, but for a tech company, this risk aversion is death. People not only don't try risky new things for fear of failure, they are afraid to speak up against bad ideas too. Eventually it destroys the company culture from the inside. My previous employer loved H1Bs, and it's no longer in business. Times changed, but the culture was don't rock the boat, so they kept doing things the way the old timers set them up back in the day, and over time, these methods were no longer competitive. The top people left, and then the don't rock the boat crowd took over. I don't blame H1B's, they are doing exactly what I would do in their place, watch the clock and take care of my business, which is getting a green card (and as many other bennies I can get out of the company while at it). I know people who were clock watchers on H1B who left and went on to do great things in other companies once they got their green cards.
Also, I don't get is these companies are bringing all these workers to Silicon Valley. Why don't they just hire them in India? Or at least in some regional office in mid-West or Texas somewhere? There is a shortage of housing here driving up prices, which in turn means engineers have to be paid even more to live here, not less.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

I don't begrudge the people that come here on H1B visas - as senseamp stated, I would do exactly the same thing if I was in their place.

My anger is directed at our politicians (both parties are to blame) that allow this to continue and destroy the middle class. There is no one coming across the Rio Grande that could take my job (or most people's jobs on here) yet that seems to be the prime focus of immigration.

 

[Moonbeam]

Every successful person flatters himself on his success at competition, except that is, when competition becomes a real threat. We should have badges for folk who have jobs that others would gladly fill for less money, entitlement whiner badges.

 

[michal1980]

I don't begrudge the people that come here on H1B visas - as senseamp stated, I would do exactly the same thing if I was in their place.

My anger is directed at our politicians (both parties are to blame) that allow this to continue and destroy the middle class. There is no one coming across the Rio Grande that could take my job (or most people's jobs on here) yet that seems to be the prime focus of immigration.

the people coming across the river are taking the manual labor job and lowering the wages for that work.

these are the people democrats want.

The people on the H1b visa's are the people republicans want, so there CEO buddies can lower the middle/upper middle wage jobs. All based on the myth of a shortage of stem workers.


Both parties don't care about americans when it comes to immigration.

 

[Northern Lawn]

I though the word was out in the US a while ago... Canada woke up to it, it's called the Temporary Foreign Worker program here, like last year. We apparently don't have enough burger flippers...

Canada didn't wake up. In fact we're not allowed to. We have more and more of these 3rd worlders coming here so they actually disguised them as temporary foriegn workers. Soon as they are here, they are allowed to apply for citizenship and stay. They all stay.

 

[Victorian Gray]

Canada didn't wake up. In fact we're not allowed to. We have more and more of these 3rd worlders coming here so they actually disguised them as temporary foriegn workers. Soon as they are here, they are allowed to apply for citizenship and stay. They all stay.

You are a liar.

 

[Orignal Earl]

Canada didn't wake up. In fact we're not allowed to. We have more and more of these 3rd worlders coming here so they actually disguised them as temporary foriegn workers. Soon as they are here, they are allowed to apply for citizenship and stay. They all stay.

Any facts to back that up?
Is it only the 3rd worlders you are concerned about?
Which 3rd worlders are you talking about?

 

[Engineer]

Is it only the 3rd worlders you are concerned about?
Which 3rd worlders are you talking about?

The US middle class people who were offshored by US companies?

 

[Zebo]

Americans are waking up too late. Ross warned y'all and everyone laughed at him. But to me it's obvious since I was a teenager.

Offshoring, open southern borders, H1Bs. Capital world wide wants it to be a system of patronage for them and theirs like its always been..economic feudalism.. USA Europe and Japan presented a threat to that world order in the late 20th century and they mean to correct that. As we moved towards egalitarianism - we used to be an example for others to emulate and raise tides within and we demanded others be the same before trade commenced. Now we are all going China model. If one govts people gets uppity they will shut down facilities and move to next who are deliriously happy for scraps they get. They flood first world with impoverished immigrants and if you dont like it they are quick to call you racist. What's gonna happen is a world wide slave market with low opportunity, low pay, and birth dictates wealth and power like it always has except for that brief period in time in the 20th century.

And it's not just us - 6 presidents destroyed Iraq who presented free HC for all, free education through PhD, free down-payment on house, was as successful as any western economy in the 1970s and getting egalitarian. No one notice real motivation here cos they were brown and a big time negative PR campaign. All the democracy moments on South America and Africa we destroyed as well.

idea of detorying all these movements who were emulating us besides immediate profits, was to weaken us with guilt trip and allow offshoring, inshoring, union busting, h1bs etc.