Yesterday, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a press statement asking companies who specialize in offshore outsourcing to release information on their use of the H-1B Visa.
Well, look at how these companies think trading people is a WTO USTR issue!
I am taking it up with the US trade representatives that such letters are better written through the US TR’s than being written to companies because it causes lack of predictability. In this, I have expressed concern. Services are an ongoing part of our negotiations in the WTO and will form an important component, and anything, which viciates the atmosphere of these service negotiations will not lead to a breakthrough, which we are looking forward to.
The GALL of this guy, the outrageous insolence, the effrontery, look, he is giving OUR Senators a WARNING!
This is what Durbin and Grassley said:
More and more it appears that companies are using H-1B visas to displace qualified, American workers,” Grassley said. “Now, as we move closer to debate on an immigration bill, I continue to hear how people want to increase the number of H-1B visas that are available to companies. Considering the high amount of fraud and abuse in the visa program, we need to take a good, hard look at the employers who are using H-1B visas and how they are using them.
More importantly, look at this, we have an Indian company trying to claim that Visas, or immigration, is under the purview of the WTO. Since when is United States domestic policy overridden by trade rules?
Look at what
Assocham President Venugopal Dhoot said:
The chamber asked the US to facilitate changes in the WTO agreements as to allowing free movement of natural persons (mode 4) under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
Assocham is the India version of the US Chamber of Commerce and obviously they want to trade people via WTO, GATS mode 4.
The Doha mandate aims for liberalisation of international trade in services but movement of human capital has been missing from the WTO agreements, Assocham said
Realize that these Offshore outsourcing companies, which derive 70% of their profits from L-1 and H-1B Visas, view any quotas or true prevailing wage laws as barriers to trade.
On Charlie Rose, Robert Zoellick, former Bush Administration trade representative said:
There are a series of tests for H1-B workers that demonstrate that you can`t find an alternative American worker, but some will argue that, no, you shouldn`t do that.
Now this is a bold faced lie, one does not have to look for an American first before hiring a H-1B guest worker.
Here is the IEEE-USA requesting (to no avail) Zoellick meet with them to address these concerns about people being traded:
I am writing to you to express IEEE-USA’s very serious concerns over the current round of WTO GATS negotiations. We believe that any concessions in the horizontal commitments over Mode 4, movement of natural persons, will be harmful to U.S. engineers and the U.S.’s ability to continue to lead the world in technological innovation. Technological innovation is at the heart of our country’s national and economic security, and U.S. engineers are major drivers of technological innovation
Remember Liarman? Look at what he wants to do, give unlimited migration to any person in the world holding a MSc, which is actually more equal to a US BS degree (120 credit hours).
…and just in, the Durbin-Grassley bill has just been amended to “comprehensive immigration reform” but of course the only useful provision in the bill, to modify existing prevailing wage to stop some of the labor arbitrage, has been stripped out. So, the amendment does nothing, it’s just for show.
Please people, stop this labor arbitrage insanity and call your Senators to defeat the trading of people under the guise of “comprehensive” immigration reform (being ramrodded through the Senate as I type).
UPDATE: RED ACTION ALERT! Bill has the SKIL BILL in it, which is an absolute disaster for working professionals, nurses, teachers, especially STEM through insourcing (guest worker Visas) That’s it, we must, must defeat this bill.
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