Programmers Guild response to the guy who calls us "Xenophobes Who Need To Go Back Into Their Caves"

On December 5, 2009 Vivek Wadhwa posted "The Startup Visa And Why The Xenophobes Need To Go Back Into Their Caves."

The new “Startup visa” is sketched out here: http://startupvisa.com/about/ .

Vivek claims that this Startup visa "is about creating American jobs and moving innovation here which would otherwise happen in other countries. We can boost the economy without any cost to taxpayers. It’s not about admitting H-1B visa holders who sometimes make Americans compete for high-paying jobs, but bringing in entrepreneurs who expand the pie for everyone."

Vivek believes that everyone should see the benefit of his idea - and those who don't are "xenophobes": “I was convinced that my last BusinessWeek column on the Startup visa presented such a compelling argument that even these poor souls [aka American tech workers] would support it.”

He refers back to his December 2, 2009 commentary in BusinessWeek, where he makes the case:

"Here's how it would work. Suppose a talented engineer who is not a U.S. citizen has a great idea for a new type of search engine and wants to start a company. This entrepreneur wants to start that company in the U.S., where venture capital markets are the most mature, intellectual property laws are strong, and the talent level is high. It turns out that the would-be founder's search engine idea is actually very good. So a qualified U.S. investor decides to put real money—say, $250,000 to $500,000—into the startup. That investor could nominate the potential founder for a Founders Visa while also making a formal commitment to fund his or her company."

“The idea and the founder's résumé would then need to pass muster with a government or industry-appointed board of venture capitalists, financiers, or technology experts. After passing, the founder would be granted a permanent resident visa.”

“To open up visa slots, Ries, Feld and others propose altering an existing visa known as the EB-5, now for immigrant investors.”

Why Programmers Guild opposes the Startup Visa

1) The new visa category is not necessary. A startup company can already hire foreign talent to their venture via the H-1b and other visa categories. U.S. investors could form Yeehaw Search Engine venture and sponsor the “talented engineer who has the great idea.” (Programmers Guild opposes the H-1b lottery. Instead we advocate that priority be given to the highest skilled workers – with salary being the best proxy for skill.) Currently the H-1b cap has not been reached, so nothing is stopping a startup from using the H-1b to accomplish the intent of Vivek’s proposal.

2) The vast majority of start-ups fail. "A new type of search engine" is a great example - what are the odds that would succeed against the current search engine leaders? Most likely they would burn through the capital within a year. Then what? Vivek grants him a “permanent resident visa” – a green card. So, in spite of being an entrepreneurial failure, he will remain in the U.S. and search for a day-job, competing with 12 percent unemployed Americans.

3) Often founders of ventures prefer to hire people that they already know. A "Founder" from another country is likely to want to bring over his buddies from the homeland. Currently there is no provision that any of the workers hired must be Americans. We already see thousands of cases of Indians starting companies and hiring exclusively Indian immigrants – from Infosys down to the smallest bodyshop.

4) The Programmers Guild does not trust “government or industry-appointed board of venture capitalists, financiers, or technology experts.” We don’t want “unlimited H-1b” Bill Gates or “send the work offshore” http://www.carlyforcalifornia.info/ making immigration decisions. It’s unclear whether the public would be allowed to review and comment on the actions of this board – or whether U.S. immigration decisions would be done by secret panels.

5) The EB-5 Visa has been discredited as full of fraud and abuse, as reported by The Baltimore Sun “INS insiders profit on immigrant dreams,” February 20, 2000. At least the EB-5 required the person obtaining the visa to put up the funds. Under the Startup Visa the sponsored parties would have nothing vested. We believe that fraud and "shell ventures" would be rampant.

Development Design Group in Baltimore, MD, pays H-1b Architects $32,000 salary

Monday, April 21, 2008 Washington post article "For Visas, The Demand Outstrips The Supply - Firms Say They Rely On Skilled Immigrants" profiled architectural design firm "Development Design Group" in Baltimore, MD.

Chief executive Roy Higgs is quoted:

"Some people think this is just about bringing in cheap labor, but it's not. We offer the same salaries and perks whether you're from Baltimore or Bangladesh . . . but we simply cannot find enough qualified U.S.-born staff to fuel our growth."

The Washington Post failed to disclose the salary these H-1b workers are paid. But according to the DOL's LCA database, the MEDIAN is about $42,000, while over 25% earn less than $35,000. Now go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, where one finds that the mean wage for an architect in Baltimore is $69,210.

What skills are required? Development Design Group's website does not list any "entry level" openings, so we have to presume that their pending H-1b applications require these skills - including 3 to 7 years of experience:

PROJECT ARCHITECTS / DESIGNERS

Possess a thorough knowledge, understanding and experience in all phases of the design process including Concept Design, Schematic Design, and Design Development

3 ~ 7 years experience in a multitude of areas including but not limited to retail, mixed-use, entertainment, planning, urban design and residential

Strong design and graphic skills and sketching abilities

Excellent organizational skills

Proficiency with AutoCAD / ADT, Photoshop and other software

We think the facts speak for themselves - Roy Higgs is a "typical" user of H-1b - enriching himself by securing skilled labor at blue-light special salary, shirking his obligation to hire Americans at a fair salary.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords targets U.S. tech workers for displacement

It is well documented that qualified U.S. workers are being displaced by H-1b workers, even at the current cap of 65,000. See the testimonials at HireAmericansFirst.org, for example.

What is Gifford's solution? To double the cap to 130,000. I left a message for staff C.J. Karamargin 520-881-3588 (or 202-225-2542) on March 20th but C.J. did not return my call.

According to the March 19th InfoWorld article "Bill would double cap on H-1B visas," she introduced the bill just one day after Bill Gates had testified before Congress - and no representatives of U.S. workers were invited to rebut Gates:

The Innovation Employment Act, introduced by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, late Thursday, would increase the cap in H-1B visas from 65,000 a year to 130,000 a year... Giffords sees the importance of H-1Bs because Southern Arizona has been growing as a hub for tech companies, Karamargin added. "There's a need to stay competitive and keep the momentum growing," he added. "That means making sure the talent is available to drive the local and national tech economy."

QUESTIONS FOR C.J

In my voicemail I asked C.J., roughly:

Can you name just two tech companies in Southern Arizona that cannot find qualified American tech workers, and failed to get H-1b workers to fill those positions due to the current H-1b cap or lottery?

According to Arizona Central CareerBuilder job search, there are 832 IT positions advertised. But there are also 1840 sales and marketing ads, and 2680 healthcare ads. So how did Rep. Giffords determine that IT workers rather than healthcare, sales, and marketing workers are what are needed to keep Arizona's economy strong?

The InfoWorld article states, "The bill would prohibit companies from hiring H-1B workers, then outsourcing them to other companies, he said. H-1B opponents have complained that outsourcing companies are among the top users of H-1B visas." Can you please show us in the bill where the top users of H-1b "InfoSys, TCS, Wipro..." would be limited in their use of H-1b? We can't find any such language.

Why didn't Rep. Giffords arrange to hear from the U.S. IT workers who will be impacted by her bill before submitting it? Does she care more about the profits of multi-national corporations than about assuring that U.S. citizens have priority for U.S. jobs?

BusinessWeek exposes how Industry really uses H-1b workers

Listening to Compete America one would think that H-1b workers are the "best and brightest" in the world, contributing to "U.S. global competiveness." But as the 1/31/08 BusinessWeek article "Are H-1B Workers Getting Bilked?" exposes, H-1b are being used by Indian consulting firms to bring in cheap labor, driving American consulting firms out of business, and displacing highly-skilled U.S. workers.

First, Indian consulting firm Patni undercut American workers when DOL approved the labor condition applications for a "prevailing wage" of $44,000 per year. This is far below the "$45 to $80 per hour" that the Yoh study found to be the average for U.S. workers with "high demand" skills, such as "Database Administrator" and "Application Developer."

What Patni didn't disclose was that the $44,000 "salary" presumed that their workers put in lots of overtime. Their base pay was only $11.72 an hour - they were expected to reach their "salary" by working overtime. But even with 23 days of overtime, one H-1b's annual pay worked out to only $35,305 in 2004.

As State Farm in Bloomington Illinois was laying off their American staff, the LCA Database reveals that Patni Computer Systems was bringing in hundreds of Indians on H-1b visas - many placed at State Farm. As mandated by the U.S. Congress, the Department of Labor rubber-stamped these LCAs (labor condition applications) for wages as low as $27,000 for computer programmers. H-1b workers must have a minimum of a BS degree and specialized skills.

Many of the LCAs were filed by Dayanand Allapur, Vice President HRD 617-914-8367. Patni's main number Cambridge, MA is 617-914-8000

Among the Americans who lost their jobs was George Moraetes. He reports having "seen 4 - 5 H1-b's living in a one bedroom apartment" and that the same pattern of H-1b usage was employed by GE.

Contrary to helping the U.S. remain "globally competitive," the top users of the H-1b program are Indian consulting firms. They are transferring U.S. jobs and technology back to India and increasing the U.S. trade deficit. Without the H-1b and L-1 visa programs much of this loss of U.S. tech leadership would not be possible.

Patni is headquartered in Mumbai, India. Their website provides roadmaps for transferring manufacturing offshore: http://www.patni.com/

The U.S. Congress needs to wake up to the imminent threat posed to the U.S. economy by shipping our manufacturing to China and now services to India. Or economy cannot sustain this growing trade deficit and gutting of U.S. infrastructure.

Flaws in University of Buffalo Spectrum's call for H-1b increase

The original article is here:

http://spectrum.buffalo.edu/article.php?id=35050

This is an image of the front page where it run in the printed edition.

http://spectrum.buffalo.edu/images/frontpage/fp.pdf

ARTICLE: "Companies are very welcoming to international students because they can pay them less money than the local workers, even if their ability is equal," said Ping Lu, a sophomore management major from China

FACT: Industry would dispute this, claiming that H-1b has a "prevailing wage" requirement. We thank Ping for setting the record straight: H-1b workers are often preferred because they are willing to work cheaper for the opportunity to stay in the USA - and the "prevailing wage" is a sham.

ARTICLE: Henry Mok, a Malaysian student who graduated from UB with a B.S. in electrical engineering, applied to at least 80 jobs during his OPT in the Buffalo area. With only a few interviews and no job offers, Mok spent his summer perfecting his fishing skills at a friend's farm rather than his engineering expertise.

FACT: U.S. graduates are facing a similar job market. Mok's inability to find a job after sending 80 resumes refutes claims by industry that the H-1b cap needs to be raised to solve a labor shortage.

ARTICLE: Employers, in addition to being required by law to pay the fees, have to prove that they could not find any better qualified domestic workers instead.

FACT: The H-1b has no such requirement. Employers can overlook a stack of resumes from more qualified U.S. applicants and hire the H-1b worker instead. The impact on U.S. workers is evident at:

www.hireamericansfirst.org/members/h1b_harm_report.aspx

ARTICLE: The final step is to apply for the visa by April 1 - the first day applications are accepted. Students with a bachelor's degree are competing with over 100,000 others for an allotment of 45,000 visas.

FACT: The base cap is 65,000, not 45,000.

Programmers Guild presents at Sloan West Coast Program on Science and Engineering Workers

On Friday January 18, 2008 Kim Berry represented the "perspective of the U.S. worker" at the Sloan West Coast Program on Science and Engineering Workers, held at UC Davis. PowerPoints of the presenters are in the above link, and an html-friendly version of my PowerPoint is here. The conference was the first of several being sponsored by a Sloan Foundation grant.

Norm Matloff's newsletter gave this account:

Kim Berry of the Programmer's Guild gave a really outstanding talk. I had seen his slides earlier, and they were fine, but his delivery greatly enhanced the content. Here was a real victim, speaking calmly yet with contained anger at the fact that all our respected institutions--both major political parties, the business community and academia--are complicit in maintaining that sham known as H-1B. His account of hiring decision meetings in which he participated, in which qualified American applicants were repeatedly rejected in favor of H-1Bs, ought to have been videotaped; his speech would have been just as effective the Cohen & Grigsby "TubeGate" videos.

I wish the entire event had been videotaped. But since no one else was taking video, and since some people might not want to ask or respond to hard questions on record, I chose not to tape my presentation. But here are a few of my talking points:

SLIDE 2: H-1b Influx is independent from labor market – 2000-2004 record H-1b influx

There is talk about revising the current 85,000 visa cap to a "market-based" cap. We have already tried a market-based cap: In 2001-2004 we had a virtual market-based cap. As documented by the San Jose Mercury News, during this period 25% to 50% of U.S. tech workers in Silicon Valley were pushed out of the job market. And during this same period H-1b influx was higher than at any time during the growth years of 1990-2000. How bad would the economy have to get before a "market-based" cap kicked in?

SLIDES 11-15 Americans are being displaced by H-1b’s lack of U.S. worker recruitment

http://www.hireamericansfirst.org/ was launched on January 13, 2008. Already we have gathered dozens of testimonials of substantial harm by the H-1b program. These 5 slides summarized those testimonials.

SLIDE 25 Programmers Guild H-1b Reforms

The closing slide summarized the reforms that the Guild believes are necessary to add some level of protection for U.S. workers:

• True prevailing wage of at least what average Americans earn within the same job classifications.
• H-1b and L-1 LCAs only approved after the employer has conducted good faith, transparent recruitment, and was unable to find any qualified U.S. candidates, at any price.
• H-1b only granted to U.S. business entities with as direct hires - not to consulting firms (Indian or otherwise) to be re-shopped against American job seekers.
• H-1b to include a $1,200 annual fee that would be used to fund $15,000 scholarships for American college students in STEM programs - consistent with legislation that Senator Sanders has introduced twice.

I liked Stan Sorscher's graphs showing how until about 1980 the economic gains of industrial advancements were shared at all wage levels "what's good for GM is good for America." But since then the gains have disproportionately gone to the top income levels (the elite? The CEOs?). He continued by speculating that globalization is a force that separates the good of business from the good of citizens (one of his last PPT slides).

Lisa Spiegel, immigration attorney Duane Morris had argued that America benefits from H-1b since the $1500 fee is used for training programs. During my presentation I asked how many people would sell their careers for $1500? No hands went up.

AMERICAN WORKERS DON'T WANT TRAINING?

As Norm reported in his newsletter, Jack Trumpbour of Harvard SEWP reported that Industry had told him that one thing they liked about workers in China is that 100% would take advantage of training programs, while in the USA only about 10% of workers were interested in training programs. I disputed this - in my experience at serveral companies, nearly 100% of workers were interested in and attended training programs when available. Jack Trumpbour stated that he would investigate this claim further. From PAGE 5 of Trumpbour's study:

However, many other managers in China implicitly faulted U.S. engineers by noting that 100 percent of Chinese engineers will take training programs offered by the company, while U.S. workers pursue these activities in puny single-digit percentages. IBM China specifically expressed disappointment about the low U.S. participation in company training, but other global companies in China soon confirmed this disparity.

Based on my experience I do not believe these claims by IBM managers that only 10% of workers in the USA would take advantage of company training programs. But we need some specific examples.

NFAP's Stuart Anderson's dishonest use of H-1b statistics

According to a December 16, 2007 article in The Hindu Business Line, NFAP Executive Director Stuart Anderson has released a "study" titled "The impact of high-skill immigration restrictions on America." A key finding of his "study" is that "The 10 most cited outsourcing firms of:

• Wipro,
• Infosys,
• TCS,
• Satyam Computer Services,
• Patni Computer Systems,
• Cognizant Tech Solutions US,
• HCL America,
• Deloitte and Touche LLP,
• Accenture, and
• MphasiS

used "only" 14% of the total H-1b visas in 2006.

Anderson then makes the absurd leap to conclude that "The “vast majority of H-1B visas go to US high-tech companies, financial institutions, and US Universities.”

Anderson reaches these conclusions because he is paid by Industry to lobby to increase the flood of H-1b workers. Although he shows a total disregard for his fellow American citizens, he frets over the welfare of Indian companies. "“Any new restriction on high-skill immigration will hurt the US industry, as much as Indian firms."

In May 2007BusinessWeek published a list of the Top 200 H-1b users.

This list reveals that there are many other outsourcing firms that are not in the top 10, pushing the use of H-1b by outsourcing firms well about the 14% represented by NFAP, for example:

• #11: Polaris Software Lab Ltd
• #12: Convansys
• #13: Syntel Consulting
• #14: HTC Global Services
• #15: (analysis in progress 12/19)

Rank	Employer	H1-B Visa Count
1	INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES	4,908
2	WIPRO	4,002
3	MICROSOFT	3,117
4	TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES	3,046
5	SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES	2,880
6	COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS U.S.	2,226
7	PATNI COMPUTER SYSTEMS	1,391
8	IBM	1,130
9	ORACLE	1,022
10	LARSEN & TOUBRO INFOTECH	947
11	HCL AMERICA	910
12	DELOITTE & TOUCHE	890
13	CISCO SYSTEMS	828
14	INTEL	828
15	I-FLEX SOLUTIONS	817
16	ERNST & YOUNG	774
17	TECH MAHINDRA AMERICAS	770
18	MOTOROLA	760
19	MPHASIS	751
20	DELOITTE CONSULTING	665
21	LANCESOFT	645
22	NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS	642
23	ACCENTURE	637
24	JPMORGAN CHASE	632
25	POLARIS SOFTWARE LAB INDIA	611
26	COVANSYS	611
27	PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS	591
28	QUALCOMM	533
29	GOLDMAN SACHS	529
30	KPMG	476
31	MARLABS	475
32	UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN	437
33	UNIV. OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO	434
34	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	432
35	THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY	432
36	SYNTEL CONSULTING	416
37	CITIGROUP GLOBAL MARKETS	413
38	BEARINGPOINT	413
39	UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND	404
40	KEANE	386
41	HTC GLOBAL SERVICES	382
42	IGATE MASTECH	378
43	HEXAWARE TECHNOLOGIES	362
44	CAPITAL ONE SERVICES	362
45	COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY	355
46	LEHMAN BROTHERS	352
47	YAHOO!	347
48	U.S. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES	339
49	INTELLIGROUP	336
50	HEWLETT-PACKARD	333
51	RAPIDIGM	330
52	MERRILL LYNCH	329
53	GOOGLE	328
54	CITIBANK	322
55	DIS NATIONAL INSTS OF HEALTH DHHS	322
56	YALE UNIVERSITY	316
57	NOKIA	314
58	TEXAS INSTRUMENTS	313
59	CAPGEMINI	309
60	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	308
61	EMC	305
62	SUN MICROSYSTEMS	303
63	RITE AID	301
64	BLOOMBERG	298
65	GENERAL ELECTRIC	292
66	AMGEN	289
67	McKINSEY U.S.	286
68	MORGAN STANLEY	285
69	STANFORD UNIVERSITY	279
70	WASHINGTON UNIV. IN ST. LOUIS	278
71	VERIZON DATA SERVICES	276
72	NYC-HHC HARLEM HOSPITAL CENTER	276
73	UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH	275
74	INDIANA UNIVERSITY	273
75	OHIO STATE	271
76	EVEREST CONSULTING GROUP	269
77	UNIV. OF MINNESOTA	269
78	AMTEX SYSTEMS	268
79	UNIV. OF WISCONSIN AT MADISON	268
80	SUNY-STONY BROOK	262
81	AMAZON GLOBAL RESOURCES	262
82	CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION	256
83	DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT	255
84	UNIV. OF CALIF. AT DAVIS	254
85	NORTHWESTERN	251
86	SYNTEL	250
87	UNIV. OF MISSOURI AT COLUMBIA	247
88	GLOBALCYNEX	247
89	KANBAY	246
90	AMERICAN SOLUTIONS	242
91	UNIV. OF FLORIDA INTL. CENTER	240
92	UCLA	239
93	DUKE UNIV. MEDICAL CENTER	238
94	MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER	236
95	BANK OF AMERICA	236
96	SOFTWARE RESEARCH GROUP	234
97	BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE	234
98	MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL	232
99	CIBER	232
100	VERINON TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS	230
101	EVEREST BUSINESS SOLUTIONS	226
102	VOLT TECHNICAL RESOURCES	224
103	OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY	223
104	COMPUNNEL SOFTWARE GROUP	222
105	U.S. TECH SOLUTIONS	221
106	SYMANTEC	220
107	JSMN INTERNATIONAL	218
108	UBS	216
109	CVS PHARMACY	213
110	THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY	213
111	UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON	213
112	NORTEL NETWORKS	212
113	UNIV. OF CALIF. AT SAN FRANCISCO	211
114	UNIVERSITY OF MASS. MEDICAL SCHOOL	210
115	SPRINT/UNITED MANAGEMENT	209
116	HOUSTON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT	209
117	PURDUE	208
118	GLOBAL CONSULTANTS	207
119	EMORY UNIVERSITY	207
120	UT HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER	207
121	UNIV. OF COLORADO	207
122	VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY	205
123	OBJECTWIN TECHNOLOGY	205
124	DIASPARK	204
125	HSBC BANK USA	203
126	EBUSINESS APPLICATION SOLUTIONS	203
127	BROADCOM	203
128	PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY (MD.) PUBLIC SCHS	203
129	MICRON TECHNOLOGY	202
130	COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS	198
131	TEXAS A&M	198
132	APPLIED MATERIALS	195
133	SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY	194
134	UNIVERSITY OF IOWA	194
135	IBM GLOBAL SVCS. INDIA	194
136	DELOITTE TAX	194
137	CUMMINS	193
138	ITECH U.S.	191
139	COMPUWARE	189
140	INTL. STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS OFFICE	186
141	UNIV. OF CALIF. AT SAN DIEGO	185
142	WALGREEN'S	184
143	HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE	184
144	USC	183
145	VISION SYSTEMS GROUP	182
146	T MOBILE USA	180
147	MULTIVISION	178
148	ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS	177
149	MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	175
150	CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY	174
151	CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV.	173
152	UNC AT CHAPEL HILL	173
153	UNIV. OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM	172
154	DEUTSCHE BANK	170
155	CATERPILLAR	170
156	HALLMARK GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES	169
157	CYBERTHINK	169
158	CORPORATE COMPUTER SERVICES	167
159	ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES	167
160	MEGASOFT CONSULTANTS	166
161	ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS	165
162	FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR	163
163	UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER	163
164	FIRST TEK TECHNOLOGIES	161
165	MICHIGAN STATE	161
166	RESEARCH FDN OF THE STATE UNIV OF	160
167	COMSYS SERVICES	160
168	VIRGINIA TECH	160
169	JUNIPER NETWORKS	160
170	UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA	158
171	IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY	157
172	UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA	157
173	FEDEX CORPORATE SERVICES	157
174	CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON	156
175	BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB	156
176	VERIZON SERVICES	156
177	EBAY	155
178	AJILON CONSULTING	154
179	GENERAL MOTORS	153
180	CAMO TECHNOLOGIES	152
181	MARVELL SEMICONDUCTOR	151
182	CMC AMERICAS	150
183	UT M.D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER	149
184	NVIDIA	149
185	AT&T SERVICES	147
186	WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL	146
187	AXIOM SYSTEMS	146
188	WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY	146
189	MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER	146
190	NORTH CAROLINA STATE	146
191	GENENTECH	146
192	MAKRO TECHNOLOGIES	145
193	SVAM INTERNATIONAL	144
194	MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER	143
195	NUTECH INFORMATION SYSTEMS	143
196	XPEDITE TECHNOLOGIES	143
197	AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING	143
198	LOUISIANA STATE	142
199	FANNIE MAE	141
200	MINDTREE CONSULTING/TD>	141

Gary Scholten, CIO at Principal Financial Group Inc., pays H-1b programmers $43,000 while lobbying for more

As reported in ComputerWorld: "National tech policy battle plays out in Iowa as caucus nears":

"Gary Scholten, a senior vice president and CIO at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, . . . related his IT workforce concerns directly to three Democratic candidates: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sens. Barack Obama and Christopher Dodd."

Among Gary's concerns is that the U.S. is not flooding in a sufficient number of H-1b workers, causing them to have to hire from the local community college, and to set up IT operations in Pune, India.

So what DIDN'T Gary tell the candidates?

Principal Financial Group Headquarters are at: 711 High Street / Des Moines, IA 50392-0001 USA. That is the same address as the LCAs for Principal Life Insurance Company. These LCAs reveal H-1B applications filed by Principal Life Insurance Company:

Approved H-1B applications: 110 Total jobs: 168

Principal's H-1b usage includes many software development positions paying between $43k - $50k.

Gary likely didn't mention that many of these H-1b come through training programs, in the USA, that are closed to American Citizens, for example, through Premier IT Solutions Inc - which cites "Principal Financial Group" among their top clients.

Gary also likely didn't mention that many of the "HELP WANTED" on their website are PERM FAKE JOB ADS, like THIS ONE - run solely to obtain green cards for their dozens of H-1b programmers:

Job Title: IT Application Analyst-(PeopleSoft)
Job ID: 208545
Location: IA - Des Moines

B.S. in computer science, information systems, engineering or related field (or foreign equivalent) plus 5 years experience in the job offered or in a related occupation such as Programmer Analyst or similar duties under a different job title. Experience to include ERP applications (PeopleSoft, Financial Suite, or HRMS suite), PeopleTools, and RDBMS.

THE PROBLEM IS APPARENT: Search for "IT" in Principal Financial Group's job openings. You'll find either positions for new graduates, or positions that require 3-6 years of experience in specific languages and applications. There are NO OPENINGS for Americans with BS degrees and several years of experience, but need the same "on the job training" that is extended to new graduates to get them up to speed.

And as long as employers can flood in H-1b programmers at $43,000, the market forces that would make that happen do not exist.

Shouldn't Presidential candidates get the full story?

Lou Dobbs challenges Bill Gates to debate H-1b visa

Bill Gates has asked Congress for an "unlimited number" of H-1b visas. Watch Lou Dobbs ask Gates to discuss the matter. (We suspect that Gates will decline this opportunity to explain to the world his reasons for wanting an H-1b increase.) Lou Dobbs Transcript November 13, 2007 IS HERE



BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is no shortage of students studying for careers in Math and Science. There is a shortage of jobs. That's the simply bottom line finding of a new study from the Urban Institute.

The study shows that between 1985 and 2000 435,000 U.S. citizens and permanent residents a year graduated with Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral degrees in Science and Engineering. That's three times the number of jobs in Science and Engineering added per year, 150,000 during that time.

Separately Michael Teitelbaum at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation told Congress last week that neither he nor a separate study by the RAND Corporation can find any evidence of worker shortages. These studies are not anomalies.

VIVEK WADHWA, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Bottom line is that all of our research at Duke and now at Harvard shows the same thing. That there is no shortage of engineers; there's no shortage of scientists. Companies aren't going abroad because of skills. They're going abroad because it's cheaper.

Bias against American tech workers by Dan Miller and Juliana Barbassa

Eight firms used 87% of all H-1b applications in 2006 Harrisburg, PA – and all eight are owned and managed by Indian immigrants, with average salary around $45,000

Dear Dan Miller and Juliana Barbassa,

Please consider the Programmers Guild's objections to the bias in Dan's article Tech workers push for immigration reform in today's Patriot News. Dan's article is leveraged from a prior AP article Tech workers still looking for immigration change by Juliana Barbassa.

Note that I am quoted in the AP article, but in such a way that it appears that the Programmers Guild supports expansion of the green card quota, which we do not. Instead, as I had told Juliana on the phone, we believe that H-1b should only be granted in the rare cases where no qualified Americans are available - at any price. Then there would not be so many H-1b trying to use this temporary visa as a basis to obtain citizenship. (What I didn't say on the phone was that I don't believe a temporary work visa should even be a path to citizenship - it should only be used until an American can be located and trained to fill the job: If I took a job in Switzerland on a temporary work visa, I not would be so arrogant as to demand that I be granted Swiss citizenship.):

Legal immigrants who feel squeezed by limits on the number of green cards issued each year are trying to separate their complaints from the protests by illegal immigrants. . .

The green card application system is akin to ''indentured servitude,'' said Kim Berry, president of the Programmers' Guild, a group that opposes current work visa laws. ''It takes years for the green card sponsorship to happen, and they can't leave, can't ask for a raise unless they want to lose their place in line.''

The article states:

"It gets too frustrating sometimes," said Sandeep Bhatia, a software engineer from Mumbai, India, who first applied for a green card in 2001. Since then, Bhatia has completed an MBA.

Of what relevance is getting an MBA? Is there a shortage of MBA holders in the USA? I've known several programmers who obtained an MBA at night school. Typically it has no value in the programming profession. Note that none of the positions on the Harrisburg, PA Craigslist cite MBA as even a desired qualification.

The article states:

American-born tech workers who criticize the visa system argue the annual influx of 65,000 foreign workers like Bhatia takes jobs from Americans and puts a damper on all salaries.

Out of the entire article, that is the only sentence supporting the viewpoint of American Citizen (not "American-born") U.S. workers. Everyone that you quote in your article is a special interest - immigrant seeking citizenship, immigration attorney seeking to expand business, or business trying to maximize profit. You fail to interview a single U.S. worker or representative organization, nor evaluate whether the concerns are valid.

a) Please see the comments from the290 signers of the October 15th IEEE rebuttal letter. Many claim to have been directly harmed by H-1b, and many have indicated that they will speak to the media.

b) I have personally witnessed cases where qualified Americans were not hired solely because an H-1b applicant appeared to have slightly higher qualifications. But in every instance the Americans who were passed over were highly qualified to fill the positions. Bodyshops FIRST bring in H-1b workers, THEN they swamp job ads with the resumes of their H-1b staff. At that point it is ILLEGAL for employers to give any preference to Americans over temporary foreign workers.

c) Here are the H-1b applications for 2006 in Harrisburg, PA, sorted by number of employees sought.

We typically see that the largest H-1b users are Indian-run organizations that blatantly discriminate against workers who do not share their nationality, and pay below market wages.

Bingo. The top user is Mphasis Corporation with 90 applications, all within a salary range of $42,000 to $47,382. And as expected, the management of Mphasis Corporation are Indians.

The second largest user is Fortune 500 Systems, Ltd, requesting 20 "programmer analyst," all at a salary of $40,000. Here are the names of their software developers.Would you agree that this suggests a bias against hiring Americans? Their website conceals ownership information. But the LCA Records reveal that the CEO is DNYANOBA (KEN) KENDRE - the same as the CEO for the fourth largest user, below.

The third largest user is iBusiness Solution, LLC, requesting 17 programmer analysts with salary ranges from $48,000 to $52,000. They appear to be owned and managed by Indians. The LCA was filed by President Srivastava Pramod.

The fourth largest user is Global Heathcare Group - not IT related. CEO "DNYANOBA (KEN) KENDRE" is an Indian "from Latur district in Maharashtra" - same CEO as the second top user. Here he is shaking hands with the Governor Edward Rendell of PA, apparently getting congradulated for displacing skilled Americans with Indians earning $40,000 salary.

The fifth largest user is Satyam Computer Services, Ltd, a large Indian consulting firm, requesting 10 programmers with salaries ranging from $47,020 to $67,413.

The sixth largest user is Prima Technologies, LLC, requesting 7 "computer programmer" for $48,000. The LCAs reveal that the owner is "Nagesh Chilakapati" - and the only street address on their website is in India.

The seventh largest user is CLUTCHPOINT,LLC, requesting 4 "system analysts" for salaries of $48k and $49k. The LCAs reveal that the CEO is SIVARAMA KARISHNA GOGINENI - sounds Indian to me. Google does not even find a website for them. Their LCA address is 600 North 2nd Street, Suite # 500. To avoid the risk of libel, let's just call these facts "suspicious."

The eighth largest user is CYBRID, INC. requesting 3 "Software Engineer" for salaries of $60k to $65k. The LCAs reveal that president is "Kanthy Vaylay." Their website conceals ownership and management information. Google for their address "4807 Jonestown Road" suggests that this is a mail box drop. Their website is strikingly similar to Independent H1B which bills itself as a H-1b sponsorship bodyshop and with greencard services.

THESE EIGHT FIRMS ACCOUNT FOR 167 OF THE 192 H-1B APPLICATIONS IN HARRISBURG, PA, IN 2006

Why is it that the vast majority of businesses in Harrisburg are able to meet all of their staffing needs without a single H-1b visa, but that eight Indian-owned businesses account for 87% of all H-1b applications in that city?

This sampling supports the Programmers Guild's contention that H-1b are underpaid and used disproportionately by Indian bodyshops that discriminate against U.S. workers that are not the same nationality as the owners.

The article states:

Kelly Lewis, president and CEO of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, estimated that workers holding H-1B visas make a small number of high-tech employees in the midstate. "We're probably just in the general Harrisburg area short 500 to 1,000 technology professionals right now," Lewis said.

Indeed. TCCP represents several Indian-based bodyshops that would flood in as many H-1b consultants at $40k per year as possible, giving them a competitive advantage against firms that hire Americans at market wage.

The article states:

Tom Richwine is president of Immigration Support Services, a company in Silver Spring Twp. Richwine said his company helps about 1,000 employers nationwide process H-1B visas and green cards. H-1B visas represent just 0.7 percent of the nation's work force, "so it's not like we are displacing U.S. workers with foreigners," he said. Richwine said the federal government must provide more new H-1B visas and increase green cards available for high-tech workers. "We could easily absorb 150,000 [new H-1B visas] a year without any problem," he said. "We've got to provide a path to come to the U.S."

Tom is a biased in that he is probably getting rich on the backs of thousands of qualified American tech workers by processing H-1b applications. Given his bias, journalism standards suggest that an opposing interest should have been asked to rebut his claim.

FACT: H-1b are concentrated in the tech sector, which has about 3,600,000 workers. Over 500,000 H-1b have flooded into this sector since 2000, while the total number of jobs has remained flat.

FACT: Even the optimistic BLS projection for 2002-2012 project only 146,500 "[t]otal job openings due to growth and net replacements" annually "Computer and mathematical science occupations" (SEE PAGE 83)

FACT: The tens of thousands of Americans graduating with BS degrees in this field are facing unfair competition with skilled H-1b workers willing to work for $40,000 in order to get out of their overcrowded countries.

FACT: There is no requirement to even consider qualified Americans before sponsoring and H-1b, and industry lobbyists are adamantly opposed to adding any such protection. If such a protection were added and enforced, the number of H-1b entering the U.S. would drop substantially, and the "Green Card Backlog" bemoaned in this article would not be a factor.

FACT: The Craigslist postings for Software professionals do not suggest that any special labor shortage exists. There are only a few posts per day, just as for the other occupational categories.

Congress set to triple the H-1b quota in HR 4065!

Author Rep. James Sensenbrenner [R-WI] represents HR 4065 as "To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to strengthen enforcement of the immigration laws, to enhance border security, and for other purposes."

However, section SEC. 1402 contains a provision that would increase the H-1b quota from 65,000 to between 130,000 and 195,000 per year.

The Programmers Guild has sent this FAX to the 10 sponsors.

FULL TEXT of the bill IS HERE.

Congressman Sensenbrenner HR 4065 Press Release on his website. (It provides no explanation for the H-1b increase.)

REQUEST: It is critical that you phone the following Congressmen and ask that they remove this H-1b provision, which has nothing to do with enhancing border security. You can reach them all toll free at 800-614-2803, and ask to be transferred to their office. You might reference the Programmers Guild fax.

1) Rep. Brian Bilbray [R-CA]
2) Rep. Howard Coble [R-NC]
3) Rep. David Dreier [R-CA]
4) Rep. Tom Feeney [R-FL]
5) Rep. Elton Gallegly [R-CA]
6) Rep. Robert Goodlatte [R-VA]
7) Rep. Daniel Lungren [R-CA]
8) Rep. Sue Myrick [R-NC]
9) Rep. Jon Porter [R-NV]
10) Rep. James Sensenbrenner [R-WI]

Ten questions for those who believe H-1B is about a shortage of American workers

James Murphy raises ten questions for those who believe the H-1B is about a shortage of Americans to do the job:

1) If corporations get all the H-1Bs and green cards they want, can the long term consequence be anything other than total dependence on foreigners for technology?

2) Is Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, wrong? He testified to Congress: “Simply producing more engineers and scientists may not be the answer because the labor market for those workers will simply reflect lower wages or, perhaps, greater unemployment for those workers.”

3) Is Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University, a supported of more foreign workers (he is one), wrong? He says “…the problem isn't the supply, it's the demand…we have enough engineers and scientists. The problem is that the salaries aren't there.”

4) Why are law firms, like the notorious Cohen & Grigsby, holding seminars on how to legally avoid hiring qualified Americans? Lawrence Lebowitz’s famous quote explaining of the PERM application process to employers. "Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker, and that, in a sense, sounds funny, but it's what we are trying to do here."

5) Shortage at what price? My undergraduate economics professor made a big deal about it not making economic sense to claim a shortage without a price. For example, claiming that is a shortage of good five cent cigars makes sense. A claim that there is a shortage of cigars is foolish. There is no doubt that there is a shortage of college graduate programmers at $20,000 a year, is there a shortage at what the average American programmer makes? So the question is at what price?

6) If there is a shortage why are real wages going down?

7) Why is it that those employers who claim a shortage of American tech workers laying off so many of them?

8) Is socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrong? He says "What many of us have come to understand is that these H-1B visas are not being used to supplement the American workforce where we have shortages but, rather, H-1B visas are being used to replace American workers with lower cost foreign workers,"

9) Is Nobel economist Milton Friedman wrong when he says the H-1B is a subsidy? He said "There is no doubt, that the [H-1B] program is a benefit to their employers, enabling them to get workers at a lower wage, and to that extent, it is a subsidy."

10) Why not end the H-1B and other work visas and allow a free market solution? An increasing wage will attract more workers to science and engineering and solve any supply shortage that MAY exist. Free markets do not have shortages.

James Murphy has more than 30 years engineering and programing experience and is currently unemployed.