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."

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

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:

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:

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.