If you discovered legislation that would post at least 250,000 job openings yearly (with average wages of $75,000) on the Department of Labor's web site, would you urge Congress to pass it?
If you discovered the legislation would require the company to post the job description, annual salary and contact info to apply to these 250,000 jobs, would you tell your friends and family to support it?
If you discovered that Microsoft's lawyer opposes this legislation--stating in a Senate hearing that it's "too bureaucratic"--would you tell your colleagues and neighbors to support it?
This is what reforming the H1-b and L-1 will look like, under Durbin and Grassley. So we are calling it the "Seek American Talent First Act" (SAT-First).
When this bill passes, Americans will be able to apply for over 250,000 jobs with annual salaries averaging over $75,000--right on the Department of Labor's website.
Why? Because it will force companies to seek Americans first instead of going abroad first.
In 1989, Congress passed a little known bill that restored employment discrimination. Knowing that Americans would find this reprehensible, tech companies have hidden this fact from the American public and even Congressional members.
In an effort to keep this secret hidden, tech CEOs instead have openly attacked our accomplishments, work ethic and education system. In 2009, when asked by an education official why outsourcing giant HCL didn’t hire residents, the CEO responded that American grads are “unemployable”. If he were honest, he would have responded that he depends upon federal government programs to exclude Americans from job competition and to transfer his foreign employees to fill his US jobs.
Make no mistake; these government programs are only for corporations. They are called the H1-b and the L-1. And we need them fixed—now.
This employment discrimination has fueled the explosive growth of white-collar outsourcing and temporary staffing agencies in this country where an astonishing 90% of employees are foreign citizens on H1-b or L-1 visas.
Segregated Recruiting; It's Right in the Help Wanted Ads
A vigorous hidden US job market exists, but not for Americans. Companies now host US job fairs—but you’ve got to go India to apply.
In the darkness of the Indian night, dedicated recruiters from one of the fastest growing US companies, located in Princeton University's shadow, call students for practical training jobs—but only if they hold a foreign student visa[1].
Even US job portals have hundreds of Help Wanted ads targeted to foreign citizens—daily. The messages from the corporate want ads are abundantly clear, “No American Need Apply".
Tech companies have gone to great lengths—including breaking the law—in order to avoid hiring Americans. Outsourcing giant Infosys is now under investigation for possible criminal fraud of the B1 business visa. But they aren’t the only ones doing this.
Other corporations routinely post hundreds of Help Wanted ads on Indian job portals with the insulting message, “Only B1 Visa Holders Need Apply”.
Our nation’s promise—that we would make a better life by working hard and playing by the rules—has been broken by corporate immigration laws created by American lobbyists, for American companies.
Urge your Senator now to make it abundantly clear that “seeking American talent first” is the only way America can restore it’s rightful place among nations as “The Land of Opportunity.”
[1] OPT and CPT are on-the-job-training visas. Foreign students about to graduate or those who have just graduated can only work training jobs in corps with these visas.