Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:50:55 -0700 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: no habla Espanol en Dallas H-1B/L-1/offshoringe-newsletter Note that the Dallas Morning News article below states, # The [Dallas Morning} News also made three filings for permanent visas # during the period. I asked the reporter what positions were involved. Her answer, which I'm quoting with permission, was "My research showed the newspaper had requested permanent visas in 2008 for two photographers and an assistant sports editor for the company's Spanish language paper." Note that this was for green cards, not H-1B. Since green cards, unlike H-1B, require the employer to certify that no qualified American was available to fill the job, that means that the Dalla Morning News actually claimed to DOL/USCIS that it could not find any American photographers to hire! And apparently there weren't any bilinguals in heavily-Latino Texas the paper could hire as assistant sports editor either. This of course is absolutely absurd. And for the non-techies among readers of this e-newsletter, let me say that the abuse is just as bad in the engineering and programming world. Though you might be dazzled by the technical terms you see in job requirements cited by the industry lobbyists, the fact is that there are lots of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are qualified for almost any engineering/programming position that employers are filling with foreign workers. As seen below, TI and others in the industry make a big point of the fact that many of the H-1Bs they hire foreign students at U.S. universities, with the message being that that is somehow "better" than hiring someone directly from abroad. I've never figured out just why that is a selling point--the industry employs highly adept lobbyists, so if they push this point, it must be effective--but it certainly shouldn't make any difference; cheap labor is cheap labor. TI presents the foreign students as "the best and the brightest" from around the world, but the students hired under the H-1B and green card programs are merely cheaper than Americans. Consider for example Girija Subramaniam, who was hired by TI in 1998 as a test engineer and sponsored by the firm for a green card in 2002 (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/06/AR2009030601926.html) Did you catch that--a test engineer! This is very mundane work, nothing like R&D, definitely not a job for the best and the brightest; but the law allows hiring her for less than Americans, which is likely what happened. TI admitted in 1999 that H-1Bs were part of a strategy to hold down labor costs. (US News and World Report, Aug. 30, 1999, cited in "H-1B and IT Workers," DPE, http://www.dpeaflcio.org/programs/factsheets/archived/fs_2007_h1b.pdf) Norm http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/033009dnentH1b-visas.3dce887.html Dallas ISD, area firms sought worker visas amid job losses 08:14 AM CDT on Monday, March 30, 2009 By KATIE FAIRBANK / The Dallas Morning News kfairbank@dallasnews.com North Texas companies and the Dallas Independent School District requested visas last year for hundreds of foreign workers to fill professional positions - even as the nation's economy faltered. The hiring of H-1B workers has been debated nationally as part of the federal stimulus package and locally because of layoffs at DISD. Congress weighed in last month, adding rules that companies that take stimulus money must follow during their next round of hiring. The legislation sets up more regulatory hurdles for companies, including a requirement that companies can't replace laid-off U.S. workers with foreign workers. About 50 companies, along with DISD, applied for H-1B visas for jobs in Texas last year and then announced layoffs of thousands of workers in the state, a Dallas Morning News review of government databases shows. The applications with the U.S. Department of Labor and the layoff notices to the Texas Workforce Commission don't show whether the applications for foreign workers are for the same jobs that were cut. The companies reached by The News all declined to comment on the subject. Visa requests with the Labor Department don't always translate into jobs, but the filings are the only way to check a company's intentions. Companies don't have to report how many foreign employees they have, and most don't give out those numbers. The Labor Department said the number of H-1B requests each year is more than three times higher than the number of visas issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But data provided by the agency shows that in North Texas, companies got visas for most of their initial requests in 2008. Even so, companies don't always follow through on hiring. ST Microelectronics, which has operations in North Texas, filed 21 permanent visa requests last year but wound up hiring only two people. "It's a very expensive approach for us to use visas to fill positions. If we can't find what we're looking for here, then we use a visa, but that's not our preferred method," said spokesman Mike Markowitz. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' filing fees are $320 for an H-1B visa and $475 for a permanent visa, also known as a "green card." Last year, every one of the 65,000 H-1Bs and 20,000 specialty visas allotted by the government was requested on the first day of filing. Magnet for criticism The visa program for foreign workers has been a lightning rod since it was introduced in 1952. Today's version of the visa, an H-1B, is meant for specialty occupations such as information technology and engineering. Traditionally, about half of all workers on H-1B visas become permanent residents, experts say. Hiring under the program took off during the technology boom in the 1990s and has continued unabated since. Meanwhile, complaints have kept in step. Critics claim that the visas are used to displace older, more expensive workers while keeping an artificial cap on salaries. They also say the program has been hijacked by so-called "job shops," which employ large numbers of H-1B workers as contract programmers. "In 2006, four of the five biggest users of the H-1B program were foreign job shops, firms that make no effort to look for American workers and are in business solely to contract out H-1Bs to other companies at allegedly cut-rate wages," said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio. "It's about cheap labor. If I were to tell you that a company takes advantage of every tax loophole they can find, you wouldn't be shocked. With the H-1B work visa, it's the exact same thing for the exact same reason," said Dr. Norman Matloff, a professor at the University of California at Davis who has studied the subject for years. Paul Reeves of Greenville has worked in telecommunications for decades. Now, at 57, he says he can't find a job in his field because they're all filled by foreign workers on H-1B visas. "I've been trying to find work, and it's all tied up with people who make two-thirds of the wages I make," he said. "They cut the pay scale. I know at least 10 people who are well-qualified in telecommunications who can't find work." Locally, some of the largest requests for H-1B visas came from Texas Instruments Inc. and DISD. The News also made three filings for permanent visas during the period. TI said that more than half of its 290 H-1B filings last year were extensions or amendments for people changing jobs - not for new employees. "If you look at the whole semiconductor industry, it's not a big user. It's about 1,000 people annually [across the industry]. Most of those are visa holders who have advanced degrees from U.S. universities. That's also true for us," said TI spokeswoman Gail Chandler. She added that H-1B holders at the Dallas-based chipmaker represent about 3 percent of TI's workforce in the Americas. TI doesn't break out the number of employees it has in the U.S. but says it has 14,600 workers in the Americas and 29,500 worldwide. TI announced 1,200 layoffs in Texas in January and probably won't make as many visa requests during the next round of filings, which begins Wednesday. "Very much like other companies, we're hiring fewer employees overall. That extends to our hiring of foreign nationals," Chandler said. "Our request for visas will be about 20 percent less this year." Dallas ISD tops list DISD had the most filings of any North Texas entity, with 380 requests for H-1B visas and five for permanent visas. "We're obviously trying to find more bilingual teachers to help us with our population," said school district spokesman Jon Dahlander. Students with limited English proficiency now number 53,785 in DISD, or 34 percent of total enrollment. Dahlander added that despite job cuts of about 1,000 positions this school year, "we will be making new requests in April." He said he didn't know how many. The combination of layoffs, job cuts and increased numbers of foreign workers has created a tense atmosphere in the school district - so much so that H-1B holders reached by a reporter were too scared to speak publicly about their situation. Rena Honea, president of the Alliance AFT teachers union in Dallas, said foreign workers are in a tough situation. "They're afraid speaking will make them a target and make them lose their job and be deported," she said. "They're here because they need to be and want to be." Dr. Ron Hira, author of Outsourcing America, adds that visa holders are also victims of a soured economy. Companies are required to let the government know when a visa holder stops working for them and provide a return ticket home for the worker. There is no grace period for deportation when an H-1B visa holder is let go. But many workers try to switch to another kind of visa, such as a tourist visa, while they search for another job. "Many H-1B holders who are laid off will be desperate to find another job on practically any terms - low wages, poor working conditions - in order to stay in the country," Hira said. "This further drives down wages for American workers and puts H-1B workers in even a more vulnerable position to be exploited." In the Know: What is an H-1B visa? The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for positions in the United States. The visas are good for three years and can be renewed for an additional three years. The program is for specialty occupations such as information technology, banking, health care, teaching and engineering. A permanent visa is also known as a "green card." The employer-sponsored visa gives official immigration status and allows the holder to stay in the U.S. permanently. SOURCE: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Visa requests by firms that announced layoffs Here are the 12 companies that requested the most visas for Texas jobs and also announced layoffs in the state. The H-1B requests listed are initial permit filings with the U.S. Department of Labor in 2008 and can include new jobs, extensions or amendments of the status for current workers: Company H-1B requests Permanent visa requests AT&T 57 23 Bank of America 12 35 Cisco Systems 42 0 Countrywide 34 0 Dell 362 70 EDS 48 0 Ericsson 69 16 Hewlett-Packard 95 0 Nortel 87 0 ST Microelectronics 0 21 Sun Microsystems 13 0 Texas Instruments 290 12 SOURCES: Department of Labor; Dallas Morning News research Layoffs by companies that requested worker visas Here are the layoff figures for companies requesting multiple visas for Texas jobs: Company Announced job cuts AT&T 78 jobs in Texas, 12,000 total Bank of America 156 in Texas, 30,000-35,000 total Cisco Systems 129 in Texas, 1,500-2,000 total Countrywide Merged with Bank of America Dell 1,900; additional unspecified cuts to come EDS 29 in Texas; company merged with Hewlett-Packard Ericsson 5,000 total Hewlett-Packard 24,500 total Nortel 5,000 total ST Microelectronics 506 in Texas Sun Microsystems 180 in Texas, 6,000 total Texas Instruments 1,200 in Texas, 3,400 total SOURCES: Texas Workforce Commission; Dallas Morning News research