In light of all the questions raised about a visa program that allows U.S.companies to hire foreign workers, Congress should push for an investigation of it.
Has Congress put the whims of corporate America above the job security and intellectual capital of the American people? An immediate and thorough investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor of the H-1B visa program that allows U.S. companies and universities to hire foreign scientists, engineers, programmers and others could provide the answer and perhaps protect evaporating American jobs and intellectual curiosity.Congress does, after all, work for all of its constituents, not just big business. And that is why Connecticut's congressional delegation should take a leadership role in calling for an investigation of H-1B amid allegations that it is being abused to fill traditional American jobs with less expensive overseas labor. It is absolutely the business of Congress to determine if the visa program lacks safeguards to protect U.S. workers and fix it or rescind it if it does.
The matter is all the more timely given recent news reports that Pfizer Inc. is moving forward with a plan to outsource possibly hundreds of jobs of independent IT contractors it employs in New London and Groton with foreign workers. The Day has been told that many of these jobs will be taken overseas, or performed by foreign workers in the U.S. on H-1B visas and employed by Indian companies like Satyam Computer Services and Infosys Technologies.
Congress must determine if qualified American workers are being bypassed because loopholes in H-1B allow businesses to hire less expensive overseas labor. Shouldn't U.S. citizens get first dibs at U.S. jobs? Critics argue that employers rarely, if ever, have to certify that no qualified U.S. workers are available before hiring from abroad under H-1B.
With the U.S. unemployment rate now at its highest level in 14 years - 240,000 jobs were lost just in October - it is imperative that every possible job be saved. Congress has a role here, and so does President-elect Barack Obama, who has promised to save American jobs.
Two decades ago when H-1B was created it was intended to help U.S. companies find foreign workers with specialized skills for jobs not easily filled by Americans, but times have changed. Today, India's $63 billion IT and business processing outsourcing industry is growing at the expense of U.S. workers. And the visa program may be threatening U.S. intellectual curiosity, with American students avoiding fields that they know foreign workers are being tapped for.So far, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd and Rep. Joe Courtney have intervened in the Pfizer case to ask the pharmaceutical giant to reconsider any plan that would replace U.S. workers with foreigners. But that is inadequate. Too many questions have been raised about H-1B. A full probe of the program is warranted to identify and correct its flaws, not just for workers in Connecticut, but all across the country.
Sen. Dodd and Rep. Courtney would better serve their constituents by requesting the Labor investigation of H-1B and advocating for sanctions of employers who abuse it. Americans are struggling. Every job is critical. Congress can't ignore that.
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http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=71aab1b8-9d80-4674-98d6-3267dca04294
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