In Congress, H-1B issue pits tech workers against farm groups

[OhioChick]

A hearing today illustrates why tech groups are blocked on this issue

June 12, 2008 (Computerworld) WASHINGTON -- When U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) led a U.S. House hearing today on bills that would make it easier for highly educated foreign tech workers to stay in the U.S., she had almost everything she needed to make her case. Underscore the word almost.

At the hearing, Lofgren's legislative effort was backed by the leading professional engineering group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE-USA); the Semiconductor Industry Association; and an academic group, the Association of International Educators.

What Lofgren didn't have was the support of everyone on her Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees, Border Security and International Law.

"I think we should give the high-tech industry the innovators they need," said fellow committee member Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). But what do lawmakers tell foreign workers who labor on farms and apply pesticides -- that "you're not really smart?"

Gutierrez called farm workers "just as critical and relevant to the innovation of that industry" as tech workers are to IT innovation. And he urged the committee to take a "holistic approach" to immigration so that the most vulnerable "are not stigmatized by actions of the Congress."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9097578&intsrc=hm_list

Interesting comments:

Employing fear, uncertainty and doubt to justify H1-B expansion is pathetic. Fear that IT can't hire qualified personnel; uncertainty as to availability of US graduates with requisite skills; and doubt that IT can pursue "innovation" without H-1B.

"What unmitigated clap-trap! With the "reductions in force" (RIFs) over the past years, I personally know many IT professionals in the market who MAY get interviews, and be willing to take lower salaries, but don't get jobs that subsequently go to "noncitizens."

We hear how colleges/universities are not developing US citizens as engineers, or professionals, to move into IT. Well, if you were pursuing a higher degree at great expense, would you seek a degree in a field where your own government works hand-in-hand with corporations to ensure that the jobs in that field are only available to noncitizens, or off shore staff?

Until our own federal legislators refuse to be "bought off" by big business and pretend that there are no US citizens qualified to fill IT positions, nothing will change. It is time the voting public took a very close look at how their respective senators and congressmen voted, and to "reward" them the next time they had to stand for re-election."

[ChromeFoundry]

1. this is part of the criteria I use when casting my vote

good article.

[ihavenobias]

2. K & R

[DCKit]

3. Sure, let's talk about my poolboy, a college educated programmer making $7/hr.

The minimum wage in DC is over $10, but they bring these kids in from eastern Europe and pay more than $3 less.

Derive your own opinion.

[AdHocSolver]

4. There are plenty of competent Americans to hire. The foreigners they get are not that good.

A few years ago, I worked at this company that brought in Chinese engineers to "learn the business" as they were planning to open a plant in China. I was hired to "fix" and improve a program that was written in-house. The original author had left and his code was pretty bad.

Initially, I was teamed up with an American engineer to help me with the application logic. He was a real competent guy and a joy to work with. Along the way, there was some shifting of management, and the American engineer was replaced with a Chinese import. The Chinese engineer was not only way out of his league, he was obnoxious as well.

China and India do NOT send their best and brightest to work in America. They send their mediocre engineers to the U.S., the guys who would be unemployed at home, to get jobs in the U.S., since American managers, as a group, are often technologically challenged, and don't know who is skilled and who is just getting by, anyway.

I worked for several years in the computer field. I worked in both business computing and engineering environments. I worked on software that ran the gamut from superb to downright ugly. More often than not, the quality of the software related directly to the technological competence of management. Where management was knowledgeable, which was a rarity, they selected competent programmers and gave significant direction to the effort.

More often the managers overseeing computer technology were technically challenged, sometimes seriously so, and the result was a seriously flawed product. Pie-in-the-sky software specifications, absurd delivery due dates, inadequate tools, cost overruns, product delivery way behind schedule, and often some seriously stressed programmers.

There is another reason that engineering and software managers like to hire H-1B's. Just as employers like to hire illegal immigrants who don't dare complain about bad working conditions, H-1B's would not dare to question the competency of their boss' decisions, since being sent home with a bad reference would be significantly bad for one's career.