http://www.openleft.com/userDiary.do?personId=1146 Last week, as part of OpenLeft's ongoing coverage of the Buy America fight, we learned that banks are using taxpayers' bailout money not only to subsidize executive pay and Superbowl parties, but also their efforts to outsource white-collar jobs. Now, the Associated Press reports that Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) will introduce an amendment to the stimulus bill that would end that rip-off scheme:
Two senators on Wednesday proposed requiring bailed-out banks to hire only Americans for one year, after an investigation by The Associated Press showed that banks receiving the most federal aid had requested visas for thousands of foreign workers even as they laid off employees amid the economic collapse.
As I reported in my book, The Uprising, companies routinely use the H-1B visa program to fire domestic workers and replace them with imported workers who are often paid below market wages and who have far less leverage to unionize because their employer controls their immigration status. That's precisely what's happening in the financial industry, and now taxpayer dollars are subsidizing the practice.
Sanders, fresh off his victory on executive pay, is once again leading for our movement, and his ability to get a senior Republican on board augurs well for the bill's chances. Stay tuned.
(h/t Robert Oak at the Economic Populist)
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