CNN Interview with Donna Conroy, Director
Cook County Urges H1-B Reform
One of the largest county governments in the nation voted on Tuesday to open the H-1B visa-hiring program to US citizens and legal residents – in opposition to 13 governors who earlier this week urged Congress to expand the program, without ever requiring employers to seek local talent for top-dollar, white-collar jobs. more...
::: BFJ In Print :::
NYT:"Court Orders Three H1-B Sites Disabled," Dec. 29, 2009 The routine intimidation of Indian tech workers has now been directed at American tech workers who wouldn't snitch on an Indian tech worker, threatening all Americans' free speech on the Internet.
New Jersey and Free Speech: "The action has labor rights activists, free speech activists, and even some beneficiaries of the H1-B visa program united in voicing opposition to the court decision," according to an editorial in the Oakland Journal, a local New Jersey paper.
Businessweek:"Jobs and Protectionism in the Stimulus Package," February 16, 2009 Critics of the H-1B program hailed the inclusion of the amendment as a victory. "The demand to reform corporate recruiting policies that ignore highly skilled local talent now moves center stage," says Donna Conroy, director of Brightfuturejobs.com, a lobbying group for visa reform.
Businessweek: "H-1b Visa Season is Here", March 31, 2009: On Mar. 31, Bright Future Jobs, a U.S. tech worker lobbying group, posted on its Web site 13 advertisements for jobs in which the employer designated a preference for H-1B visa workers or targeted them specifically for the positions, according to the Web site.
Businessweek:"H-1B Visa Law: Trying Again", April 24.2009: U.S. tech worker advocates praised these and other provisions in the bill. "We're thrilled that Senators Durbin and Grassley are requiring employers to seek local talent first," says Donna Conroy, executive director of Bright Future Jobs, a lobbying group for U.S. tech workers. "They recognize that American IT professionals have the talent, knowhow, and experience to push America's economic recovery into high gear."
Businessweek: "An Academic's Labor Helps Fight H-1B Visas," June 28, 2009
Anti-H-1B activists say they're worried less about academic research and more about shaping policy. "The thing that's missing in Norm Matloff's strategy is fighting for a seat at the table," says Donna Conroy, executive director of Bright Future Jobs, a lobbying group that advocates restricting the H-1B visa program. "We need a political movement that allows us to help craft legislation. All the numbers [Matloff] crunches won't have nearly the impact as American technical professionals standing up for themselves."
CIO MAGAZINE: "H-1b Reform Bill Could Complicate Offshore Outsourcing,"
Many rank-and-file IT professionals laud the legislation. "The Durbin bill will put a stop to the outsourcing of American jobs and the discrimination against American IT professionals," says Donna Conroy, a former IT professional and director of Bright Future Jobs, a grassroots lobbying group for American IT workers. "This bill was written for us."
Sanders to the Rescue: Downsizing Companies Can't Displace Americans
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation today that will prevent companies from displacing American workers with visa staff. For the first time ever, the displacement of American workers will move center-stage when the Employ America Act is considered in the Senate next year.
Companies Can't Hire Abroad, Then Layoff Americans The legislation, called Employ America Act, bars downsizing companies from using the H-1b program to fill their US job openings with foreign workers for one year before and one after their mass layoffs. This is a body-blow to the shameful practice of forcing Americans to train our foreign replacements -- a corporate policy American technology companies have become world-renowned for.
Layoff Clause Included in EAA While layoffs are never good news, many tech companies have been reluctant to lay-off visa staff, preferring to burden the US workforce with the pain of unemployment. This legislation will ensure that visa staff share equally in mass layoffs. Visa staff will have 60 days to remain in the US, according to the proposed legislation.
Under current H-1b law, corporations laying off or firing visa staff must pay their foreign workers return flights. Despite this requirement, many visa workers aren't offered company-paid passage home and are forced to become illegal or pay for their own flight. Increased federal monitoring should put pressure on these employers to fulfill their commitment to these workers to ensure their passage home.
Tech Firms Vulnerable For almost 20 years, technology companies have depended upon federal visa programs to bypass qualified Americans. The combination of federal policing by the DOL and USCIS, criminal prosecutions, and proposed legislation add up to an onslaught against tech firms’ arrogant attack against the American middle-class.
Microsoft has been vocal in insisting that layoffs need not be shared between visa staff and American workers. They have been especially vocal in announcing that they will continue to recruit abroad to fill their US job openings - without first seeking local talent, which is legal under current H-1b law. Only S.887, America's Jobs bill, will force these corporations to seek local talent before recruiting abroad.
Tech firms are learning that, "all the lobbyists and all the globalists can't put discrimination and displacement back together again."
Posted by Donna Conroy at 01:29 PM on Nov-19-2009 Permalink
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H-1B Reform Bill Could Complicate Offshore Outsourcing
This article is a must read for every player in September's discussions on comprehensive immigration reform.
Ovbery lays out the case: companies have been misusing immigration laws to outsource American jobs. Don't ask for whom comprehensive immigration reform is for -- it's clearly for us.
Microsoft's arrogance may be its downfall yet. Or it could be Microsoft's use of guest workers as pawns in their attempt to transform US society into the haves and the have-nots. In either case, both elements are at play in Washington state now - and may possibly effect the outcome in the August election for King County Executive.
So far, BFJ members have played a part in this unwinding story. Wanna join in? Here’s the skinny:
Posted by Donna Conroy at 08:12 PM on Jul-16-2009 Permalink
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Microsoft's Audacity of Arrogance
Microsoft's arrogance may be its downfall yet. Or it could be Microsoft's use of guest workers as pawns in their attempt to transform US society into the haves and the have-nots. In either case, both elements are at play in Washington state now - and may possibly effect the outcome in the August election for King County Executive.
So far, BFJ members have played a part in this unwinding story. Wanna join in? Here’s the skinny:
Posted by Donna Conroy at 03:30 PM on Jul-16-2009 Permalink
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Internal Documents Reveal Microsoft Strategy Behind Subsidy Bill
Internal documents on Washtech's blog reveal that the "Microsoft subsidy bill" (HR. 1487) is part of "Microsoft’s efforts to change state laws on immigration." In a misleading statement, Rep. Ross Hunter, sponsor of the bill, remarked to the Seattle Times that he was responding to a "bunch of people in my district" -- allowing readers to conclude that visa workers lobbied for such a benefit.
They did not. At an average salary of $92,000 in addition to generous benefits, these foreign citizens temporarily stationed at Microsoft had no such hand in shifting public funds to employees of Microsoft.
