High rate of H1B Visa abuse found by DHS

Thanks to Ah Xoc Kin at Democratic Underground for posting this, from the pages of BusinessWeek(excerpted):

A report released Oct. 8 by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) reveals that 13% of petitions filed for H-1B visas on behalf of employers are fraudulent. Another 8% contain some sort of technical violations.

The study, released to members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, marks the first time the agency, part of the Homeland Security Dept., has documented systematic problems with the controversial program. Technology companies, in particular, have come to rely on the H-1B visa program to bring in skilled foreign workers to fill jobs that employers claim can't be filled with U.S. candidates. Tech companies like Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOG) have pushed to get more visas, claiming that a shortage of skilled workers is hampering U.S. competitiveness. Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has twice testified in front of Congress on the issue.

Critics say H-1Bs help U.S. companies replace American workers with less costly foreign workers. "The report makes it clear that the H-1B program is rife with abuse and misuse," says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "It shows the desperate need for an auditing system." However, both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), have said they support expanding the program.

Continued

A USCIS spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. The report's conclusion states: "Given the significant vulnerability, USCIS is making procedural changes, which will be described in a forthcoming document." A spokeswoman, Beth Pellett Levine, says Senator Chuck Grassley (D-Iowa), a longtime critic of the H-1B program, is drafting a letter to USCIS in response to the study.

The H-1B visa program has become increasingly controversial in recent years as groups such as the Programmers Guild and WashTech, which represent U.S. tech workers, allege it is being abused, resulting in mistreatment of foreign workers, wage depression, and the displacement of U.S. workers. The program was originally set up to allow companies in the U.S. to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such workers are in short supply in America. But data released this year by the federal government show that offshore outsourcing firms, particularly from India, dominated the list of companies that were awarded H-1B visas to employ workers in the U.S. (BusinessWeek, 3/6/08) in 2007. Indian outsourcers such as Infosys (INFY), Wipro (WIT), and Tata (TCS.NS) accounted for nearly 80% of the visa petitions approved last year for the top 10 participants in the program.

There is also evidence that workers on H-1B visas are being mistreated. In a pending case (BusinessWeek, 1/31/08), H-1B workers for State Farm Insurance allege they were underpaid.

Critics say such instances of abuse represent the tip of an iceberg of deeper problems with the visa program. Academics and U.S. tech worker advocates point out the requirement that even employers who abide by the law—for example by paying the required "prevailing wage"—are able to underpay workers .

"We shouldn't forget that the major problem with the H-1B program are caused by massive loopholes that allow firms to legally pay below-market wages and force US workers to train foreign replacements," says Hira. "Those wouldn't show up in this investigation because they are entirely legal." Hira says that a bill proposed by Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) bill in 2007, S. 1035, would address both fraud and legal loopholes in the program.

Continued at BusinessWeek, in the story entitled "High Rate of H-1B Visa Fraud"

Justice Department breaks law in it's hiring practices

Applications that contained what were seen as “leftist commentary” or “buzz words” like environmental and social justice were often grounds for rejecting applicants, according to e-mails reviewed by the inspector general’s office.

Wow, all the way at the top, discriminatory practices at the US Justice Department come to light in a NY Times report that shows that, while under the authority of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, higher qualified candidates for jobs were rejected for "political and idealogical" reasons. Which of course is against the law.

Heres a small clip from the story entitled "Report Sees Illegal Hiring Practices at Justice Dept." by Eric Licthblau (3/25/08):

Justice Department officials over the last six years illegally used “political or ideological” factors to hire new lawyers into an elite recruitment program, tapping law school graduates with conservative credentials over those with liberal-sounding resumes, a new report found Tuesday.

The blistering report, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general, is the first in what will be a series of investigations growing out of last year’s scandal over the firings of nine United States attorneys. It appeared to confirm for the first time in an official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged that the Justice Department had become overly politicized during the Bush administration.

“Many qualified candidates” were rejected for the department’s honors program because of what was perceived as a liberal bias, the report found. Those practices, the report concluded, “constituted misconduct and also violated the department’s policies and civil service law that prohibit discrimination in hiring based on political or ideological affiliations.”

And you thought all those rulings that weaken the labor movement and are directly made with the intent of screwing the working people was a coincidence, think again.

heres some cool stuff I copied and pasted here, just to see how it would turnout

Multimedia

Back Story With Eric Lichtblau (mp3)

Related
Text of the Report (pdf)
Times Topics: U.S. Attorney

Got a great video from Xipe Totec at Democratic Underground, from 4/07:

Big thanks to Common Man News for the heads up to the story

Audio file of the week: Forty years since Memphis, struggling to keep King's legacy alive

Forty Years Since King: Struggling to End Racism, Sexism, Poverty, and War with Dr. Clayborne Carson,author & editor of several books about the civil rights struggle in the US, including "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr."

*Click above to listen to story

Dr. Carson joins us to take stock of the legacy of Dr. King and how we, standing at the crossroads of change or regression in 2008 much as we were in 1968, can be informed by his prophetic understanding & activism.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., speech at the 30th Anniversary Rally of District 65 at Madison Square Garden in NYC in October 1963. A speech in which he addresses the issues of race and class.

for more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at www.wbai.org, as well as many other stations across the country, check links below for more info

Find out more about Building Bridges at Internet Archive and BBR's archive of past shows.

NY Labor Unions Helping Fulfill MLK's Dream of Equality

From:

NY Labor Unions Helping Fulfill MLK's Dream of Equality

*Click above to listen to story

New York, NY - On the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination, a pair of new studies shows that unions play a major role in lifting black workers to positions of equality. The reports, by the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Center for Economic Policy Research, say unions raise the pay of African-American workers by 12 percent, and more than one-third of New York's black workers are union members.

David Dyssegaard Kallick with the Fiscal Policy Institute is not surprised by the study results. He says unionization was part of Dr. King's vision.

"Toward the end of his career, he began to speak out more frequently on how blacks needed to earn a decent salary to achieve real equality in America, and I think he saw labor unions as one of the key ways to make it into the middle class."

Kallick says King's support of trade unions was reflected throughout his life. King was in Memphis to support efforts to unionize the city's municipal sanitation workers when he was murdered, forty years ago on Friday. Kallick explains King supported their cause, and believed that unions stand for the dignity of workers.

"What King said was, 'All labor has dignity. You're reminding, not only Memphis, but the entire nation, that it's a crime for people to live in this rich country and receive starvation wages.'"

The CEPR report is available online at www.cepr.net. State-by-state unionization statistics can be found at www.fiscalpolicy.org.

John Robinson/Don Mathisen, Public News Service - NY

I urge my readers to check out the Public News Service website, heres a snippet from their About the organization page:

Media Trends and PNS

Today six major corporations control the information in most media outlets. The trend is consolidation and cross-marketing – resulting not in more voices, but more of the same voices. Under these pressures, journalists are often overworked, underpaid and driven toward increasingly sensationalized content.

From our perspective, the ability of mainstream media to support a vibrant democracy is in jeopardy. Gaining access to the public airwaves is increasingly dependent on being able to relate to journalists in time-saving ways. Often this expertise comes with a hefty price tag, and those with fewer resources have a harder time being heard and taken seriously in the public arena.

In response, more independent and alternative media are being created, but most people still get their news from mainstream sources.

What we do …

To support democracy and promote public dialogue in a rapidly changing media
environment, Public News Service (PNS) is a member-supported news service
that advocates journalism in the public interest. PNS's network of
state-based news services distribute high quality public interest news and
information to both mainstream and alternative media on a daily basis.
Support comes from non-profit organizations, foundations, individuals and
businesses for social responsibility.

Read More

More H1B Visa abuse news

More supporting news on the story-> Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse, the 1-2 punch to knockout US tech workers

Comment On Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse....

(3/16/08) I was listening to the testimony of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his points on requesting Congress for increase in H1 B visa quotas. He was mentioning that H1 B employees gets paid very high salary and most of the H1 B guys remain in US through Green card. See companies like Microsoft do not abuse H1 B visas program but there are many-2 big Indian companies are abusing these programs and also pay very low salaries to the H1 B workers keep them in a pathetic condition in USA.

Comapnies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS get the job of Software Designer, Architecht, Data Base Adminsitrator done from their employees but pay them the prevaling wage of a junior programmar as they file there H1 in junior category and pay them less salary. He only gets paid as per a Junior Programmer salary say 60 K USD where as his day to day job responsibility should be compensated by 100 K or more.

Indian H1 B employee is completely on the mercy of his Indian employer as the moment H1 is cancelled the person becomes illegal in USA so he continue to bear the abusive practices from his employer. Hiring an American would need the IT consulting to pay almost 30 K more per year for the same job responsibilities. This way of paying Indian engineer less salary brings down the overall salaries for Americans.

Most of the Indian IT consulting do not file Green Card for the employees as they want employee to be temporary for six years in USA and always be dependant on the H1 sposnoring employer. Say if they file H1 B Visa for 1000 employees but only file 10 Green card out of those 1000 H1B guys.

Mr Gates was asking to increase the quota for H1 B but most of the quota would be abused by the Indian IT Companies. Only 20 % of the quota would be used by the big American companies like Microsoft and they might be
utilizing this H1 B program correctly but rest of the 80% would be used by Indian IT consulting companies who would abuse the emoloyees and bring down the entire salary level for American employees.

One H1 B employee works in USA and be a Onsite coordinator but in his team there are 5 engineers in India. So he becomes a coordinator and 5 people work in India. So one h1 B is replacing atleast 5-6 jobs in USA.

I know a very close friend of mine who is on a H1 B program and get paid only 65 K per year whereas the same job being done by an American is getting paid about 90K per year. He cannot raise his voice as his Indian employer would kick him back to India. So this way the abuse continues and if the congress increase the H1 B quota the more Indian employees would get exploited, IT salary would come down further and jobs would continue to get shipped to India.

And From The Star Ledger

Editorial: Going after the skills of foreign workers (3/16/08) Excerpt
A well-intended visa program needs expansion and reform.

Four years ago, the Office of Management and Budget found the program "vulnerable to fraud or abuse" and made several suggestions for reform, none of which has been implemented.

In most cases, the H1-B program does not require that employers hire a U.S. worker who may want a particular job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from a job in favor of a foreign worker, according to the Department of Labor. In fact, contrary to widely held belief, most employers using the H1-B program do not have to search at all for a U.S. worker willing to fill a job.

Of the 10 companies that filed the most requests for H1-B visas in 2006, seven had headquarters in India. Those companies use H1-B visas mainly to send workers to the United States for training before bringing them back to work in low-wage countries.

Oversight has been less than rigorous. The Department of Labor certified 99.5 percent of the nearly 1 million applications that it reviewed from 2002 to 2005. A check of the same applications by the Government Accountability Office found thousands of instances where the wage rates being paid to H1-B workers fell significantly below the prevailing wage, a violation of the rules. And that GAO review merely looked at the information provided by the employers themselves, without verifying the information's accuracy. In fact, the H1-B program does not require any verification of the information presented by employers. Many of the workers brought in under the program actually earn less than the median U.S. income.
Read Full Story

Thanks to Global Writers, a blog which according to their about: The blog is linked to the ILO International Training Centre course ‘Communicating labour rights’. Blog

Slavery: Alive and well in USA Pt.2, Indian pipefitters abused in H2B Visa scam, main stream media picks up story full year after facts are released

Main Stream Media, are they lazy, or is it in their best interest not to report factual information.

In November 2007, I wrote a story entitled "Slavery Alive and Well In New York and the rest of the US" at Union Review , in which i run through the various ways in which is not only tolerated and unregulated but the facts are so underground the real tallies on these human rights infractions are almost impossible to figure. From the Long Island, NY perfume barons who had actual slaves living in their house, the slave like conditions in which undocumented workers in the construction industry must endure, to the prostitution industry that uses indentured servitude to pay their way to the states which the NY Times reported on way back in 1994. Before that story, back in 7-08, I wrote about the H1B Visa abuse, mostly in the tech sector, that a law firm actually had the audacity to produce a video training seminar where they boast on how to use this procedure. That story, "Corp Objective: Disqualify Qualified American Workers, Get H-1b Visa's For Non-Citizens." and it's follow-up, "Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse, the 1-2 punch to knockout US tech workers" are among my two most read entries since I have been writing about the labor movement. Which brings us to the newest in the trend of slavery and Visa abuse that is alive and well in these United States.

From:ABC News 3-07-08

Revolt in Mississippi: Indian Workers Claim 'Slave Treatment'
Workers Call for Signal International to Be Prosecuted on Alleged Human Trafficking Charges

Rebelling against alleged "slave treatment," some 100 workers recruited from India staged a dramatic protest at a Mississippi shipyard Thursday, claiming they had been tricked into coming to the United States.

The workers, brought from India to work as welders and pipe-fitters at Signal International shipyard in Pascagoula, hurled their hard hats at company gates and demanded a federal investigation.

The workers claim they were defrauded by a Signal International recruiter in India who promised them green cards and permanent residency in the U.S. in exchange for a $20,000 fee. The workers allege that they instead received 10-month work visas, which was only enough time for them to pay off their recruitment fees.

The workers also claim that Signal forced them to live in substandard housing, with 24 men crammed into a small room. The men say Signal charged them more than $1,000 a month to live in company housing.

"For more than one year, hundreds of Indian workers at Signal International have been living like slaves," said former Signal worker Sabulal Vijayan. "Today the workers are coming out to declare their freedom. This trafficking needs to end."

The workers have reported their situation to the U.S. Department of Justice and are calling for Signal International to be prosecuted on human trafficking charges.

Signal International strongly denied the workers' allegations. The company released a statement saying, "Unfortunately, a few of the workers whom Signal had sponsored for H2B visas and recruited have made baseless and unfounded allegations against Signal concerning their employment and living conditions." According to the statement, "The vast majority of the workers whom Signal recruited has been satisfied with the employment and living conditions at Signal."

Signal called its housing complex "state of the art" and said government inspections have "found that Signal's practices and facilities are fully compliant with the law."

The Mississippi Gulf Coast has faced a severe labor shortage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and many companies have replenished their workforce with overseas labor brought in under a guest worker plan. Human rights groups, however, charge that many foreign workers have been exploited by their employers.

"The U.S. State Department calls it 'a repulsive crime' when recruiters and employers in other parts of the world bind guest workers with crushing debts and threats of deportation," said Saket Soni of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice. "This is precisely what is happening on the Gulf Coast."

How is it that we have temporary Visa's for Foreign workers when we have vast unemployment here in the United States? It's amazing how they are getting away with this, under the cloak of labor shortages, I fucking know plenty of welders who are quite capable of doing the job for an honest days pay. Never mind the fact that big business wants more Visa's. People's Weekly World has a more in depth article, from way back in March 2007:

Guest workers fired after protesting ‘slave’ conditions

Strike line formed when more than 200 workers walked off of the job at Signal, March 9, in solidarity with at 3 employees that they believe were wrongfully terminated and illegally imprisoned by management on Signal’s property. MIRA photo.

Hundreds of guest workers from India are protesting conditions in a Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard that immigrant rights activists compare to slavery.

Many of the workers gathered in a church on March 11 in this Gulf Coast port, after their employer, Signal International, threatened to send some of them home. Signal is a large corporation that repairs and services oil drilling platforms around the world.

According to Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, “they were hired in India by a labor recruiter sent by Signal. They had to pay exorbitant amounts to the company, to the recruiter and to the attorney who did the labor certification for them.”


Labor traffickers globalized
Signal brought about 300 workers from India in December to work in its Mississippi yard, and another 300 to work in two yards in Texas. The workers are part of the H2B visa program, in which the U.S. government allows companies to recruit workers outside the country and bring them here under contract. The visas are good for 10 months, but the company can renew them for those it wants to keep longer. The workers must remain employed, and if they lose their jobs, they must go home.

Signal H2B worker Joseph Jacobs talking to WLOX reporter March 9, about the general despair of mistreated Indian H2B workers at the Signal International, LLC, plant in Pascagoula, MS, including a young man who attempted suicide when he learned that he might have to return to his country without the opportunity to earn the money he had borrowed to come to the United States. MIRA photo.

Workers say they were promised jobs as welders and fitters, and had to pay as much as $20,000 each to the recruiting contractor, Global Industry. Workers also say they were promised that Signal would refund the money.

“I had to pay $14,000,” says one of those workers, Joseph Jacob. “I worked for years in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, and I spent all the money I had to get the visa, which the recruiter promised would be a permanent residence visa. But that visa never came, and finally he said they could get us a H2B visa. That would give us 10 months of work, and if the company renewed it, we might get as much as 30 months. I thought that was the only way I’d ever be able to get back the money they’d taken.”

Signal put the Indian guest workers to work in the yard alongside U.S. workers doing the same job — welding and fitting. The company claims it pays workers from India the same wages as domestic employees. The guest workers say they were promised $18 an hour, but many were paid only half that after the company said they were unqualified. Chandler says the company recruiter in India determined the workers knew their jobs during the process of hiring them.


The new ‘company town’
Out of their wages, workers pay an additional $35 per day to stay in a labor camp Signal set up inside the yard. “The conditions are very bad here for the H2B workers,” Joseph says bitterly. “Twenty-four of us live in a room in a barracks that measures 12 feet by 18 feet, sleeping on bunk beds. There are two toilets for all of us and only four sinks. We have to get up at 3:30 in the morning, just so all of us have time to use the bathroom before going to work.”


Fired for meeting

Indian H2B workers from Signal International, LLC, marine fabrication company meet at a Pascagoula hall to strategize how to present their demands against substandard living and working conditions, March 4. MIRA photo.

A month ago, the Indian guest workers began meeting in a local church to discuss how they might get the company to refund the huge sums they paid to come to the U.S., and to protest the bad conditions. They organized a group, Signal H2B Workers United. It was after the company found out, they say, that it accused workers of being unqualified for their jobs and cut their pay. Eight were told they were completely incapable, and Signal announced it was sending them back to India immediately. Joseph was fired. “I am now terminated because I attended the meeting,” he says. “That’s what the company vice-president told me.”

Signal International President Dick Marler told the Mississippi Press that although workers had been employed since December, the company only discovered recently that they had no skills. Federal law required the company to fire them, he asserted.

Signal did not return calls for this story, but a statement on the company web site says the workers “receive the same pay and are taxed the same as all other Signal craft personnel. Workers from India have a reputation for being pleasant and hard-working.” It quotes Marler, who says, “We are fortunate the U.S. government has such a program that allows us to supplement our workforce during a time of emergency created by hurricanes.”


Deportations, company lock-up
When the company announced the terminations, one worker disappeared. Another, Sabu Lal, slashed his wrists and was taken to the Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula. He told the Mississippi Press that dying would be better than being sent home.

“Lal and I are from the same place in India,” Joseph explains. “I knew he had sold his home, and had no place to return to. He was only able to make back a small part of the thousands of dollars he paid to the recruiter, and he said he couldn’t go home like that.”

Company security guards locked the fired workers in what they call the TV room, and wouldn’t let them leave.

Their co-workers contacted the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, which went to the Pascagoula Police Department. The police went out to the yard and eventually freed the imprisoned workers. Outside the yard, dozens of workers and activists denounced the firings and mistreatment.


DANGER: Guest worker programs

Signal International plant in Pascagoula, MS. MIRA photo.

“We’ve learned about case after case of workers in Mississippi, Louisiana and all along the gulf in these conditions,” Chandler says. “There are thousands of guest workers who have been brought in since Katrina and subjected to this same treatment. Mexican guest workers in Amelia, La., were held in the same way. They also got organized, and came to Pascagoula to support the workers here when they heard what happened.”

According to Chandler, Signal imported hundreds of workers from Peru a year ago, and after sending them home, brought the present group of guest workers from India to replace them. He says the experience of these workers highlights the problems inherent in proposals introduced into Congress over the last two years, which would set up similar schemes for the importation of as many as 400,000 guest workers per year.

“Organizations that are fighting for the rights of workers and advocating on behalf of workers should be totally opposed to these kind of programs,” he says. “The conditions that people work in here are so exploitative they’re worse than the conditions for even undocumented workers.”

The Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance and the Southern Poverty Law Center plan to go to court to stop the deportations. Meanwhile, workers say they are determined to continue challenging the company until the money they paid the contractor is returned to them.

Suppression of News that matters

Whatever your thinking, know this as a fact, this information was out there a full year ago and the suppressive corporate media didn't acknowledge it.

It is us against them, at so many levels. Turn off the damn TV and get to learning.



We knew about the abuses in New Orleans, the facts are never reported on, just take a look at the article at Union review published by Chuck Lazette in Sept 0f 2007, entitled "In the Lawless Post-Katrina Cleanup, Construction Companies Are Preying on Workers", and its further backed by a comment I found on the upcoming attack on the guest commentary found in the NaplesNews that was published on Labor Day in 2007 about unionized teachers entitled "Labor Day ’07: Union bosses’ agenda scary", by corporate lobbyist, and the mind behind "The Center For Union Facts" and other disillusioning bullshit against the people of America, Rick Berman. Here is the counter "attack" and I use the terms loosely, because Mr.Charlie Ward uses FACTS in his comment.

More for Rick Berman: Why didn't the Right to Work Committee defend the rights of the American workers in Louisianna(which is, after all, a right to work state? Recently, the State of Arizona (which is also a right to work state), passed legislation stating that businesses can not hire illegal workers, and illegals can not own businesses. These illegals are leaving Arizona by hundreds a day, selling their houses, leaving for other states or heading back to their homeland. The U.S. workers of Arizona have had enough of their wages being undermined and demanded change--and they got it. Guess who is challenging this new law? The United States Chamber of Commerce. Where is the outrage by you and the Right To Work Committee? Union membership in Arizona has grown by 30% in the past two years. One wonders why. With respect to The Employee Free Choice Act,tell the truth. The glitch in the bill that you and the Right to Work Committee object to is not the way a union is voted in.(card vs. secret vote--they are both legal and valid, and it is diversionary to assert that this is the issue. The issue really is that this bill would stop management from stalling for time and finding bogus reasons not to sit down and negotiate--just as you and the Right to Work Committee assert that unions use this tactic to slow down a decertification process. What is really not wanted is the clause that would require a federal mediator to step in if management and the union representation can not come together, and any employer who commits unfair labor practices shall be fined $20,000.00 for each violation. Thus far it has been passed by the House and it is up to the Senate. They are being lobbied strongly against this bill---by you know who. You are correct, unions do lobby and donate to politicians that they perceive will help them with their issues. As you know,all union members have the right to use the Beck Right Law, which states that they can request that none of their dues be used for political interests to which they do not subscribe. It's a law. Conversely, anti- union organizations and businesses also lobby strongly and donate heavily for support of their interests. So, where's the beef? It's politics. Right now, the NLRB is stacked with anti-union people, mostly Republicans. And yes, you are right, if the Democrats win, the pendulum will swing the other way. That, too, is politics as usual. The only thing The Right to Work Committee has done has been to assure that an individual does not have to join a union or pay dues, even if there is a union in their workplace. But they have done their best to undermine labor laws for all workers: i.e. minimun wage, overtime laws, OSHA and reduced workmans comp entitlements , which have been reduced as much as 50% in some right to work states already, and other laws which protect the rights of workers both union and non-union. In closing, Mr. Berman, I would like to say that with all the faults unions have, they have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, education, betterment of all races, and for the developing of character in man than any other association of men. Clarence Darrow

Remember, before there is profit, there is labor. Abraham Lincoln (Republican President)
Happy Labor Day. Charlie

One more note about Labor Day, according to WIN, Workers Independent News Radio on 3-14-08 "The Department of Transportation came under fire by Senator Byron Dorgan on Tuesday over a controversial “pilot program” that allows Mexican trucks to operate on US roads.", that program, which is Illegally being funded by Mary Peters DOT, was being pushed into operation directly by President Bush to have had a start date of Labor Day 2007.

There is a war against the workers here in the United States and using Labor Day to push our faces in it is showing you just how brazen they are. I don't think if you add all the facts you could come to any other conclusion. Rick Berman, who this site got it's name from, has now launched a new agenda, to find the worst unionized teacher, in the same week here in New York the United Federation of Teachers is fighting for the city to keep its funding for students. Yeah those bad teachers fighting for kids. What a bunch of bullies.

Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse, the 1-2 punch to knockout US tech workers

"he estimated 500,000 people in the U.S. on H-1Bs are by definition citizens of other nations, and they're usually beholden to employers that can transfer them home at will."- BusinessWeek 1-31-08

H1B Visa Abuse
Do as we say or get deported
From the green building in which I recently left, where the entire environmental controls will be monitored from the desk of another country, to the tech support jobs that Dell led the way into the Indian nation, the brighter of our countrymen, the Techie geeks, are under attack. Not just from the threat of offshoring, but by the threat of misuse of H1B Visa's by unscrupulous employers on our own shores. It is called the PERM process and the following video made by Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains just how to disqualify qualified US Workers in favor of foreign workers, who by the way must keep their job at all costs or be deported. Sounds like a new form of slavery.

Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers. See what Bush and Congress really mean by a "shortage of skilled U.S. workers." Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies are running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week.

From : networkworld.com

Cisco caught in maelstrom over fake job ads to hire H-1B visa holders
Submitted by Brad Reese on Fri, 06/29/2007 - 2:04pm.

Patrick Thibodeau reported in Computerworld, that Cisco may have advertised for a U.S. job position that really wasn't open to American citizens.
June 28, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Cisco Systems Inc. placed a help wanted ad for a network consulting engineer in the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, June 3, and David Huber, a networking professional who lives in Chicago, was interested in the job.

The ad copy read, "No phone calls please." But Huber, a University of Chicago graduate whose prior work included being the lead LAN/WAN network engineer for NASA's aborted X-33 rocket plane project, called Cisco and asked for the person named in the ad.

"Before I send my resume into a black hole, I always like to talk to the recruiter first," he said this week. A Cisco telephone operator gave Huber the phone number of an immigration law firm in Santa Clara, Calif. "Why would I be talking with somebody at an immigration law firm about this?" he wondered.

Huber said his question was answered a couple of weeks later when he saw the controversial YouTube video that shows an attorney from a Pittsburgh law firm providing advice to employers on how to deal with government requirements for seeking U.S. workers to fill jobs before hiring foreign workers.

"It seems obvious to me after that video what's going on," Huber said.

This isn't just an isolated incident, most if not all of the major companies are doing this and lobbying to get more H1B visa allowances pushed through Legislature. In fact a recent bill which was supposedly for border enforcement contained wording to increase the allowed H1B Visa's annual cap to increase from from 65,000 to between 130,000 and 195,000(*See Below). The companies keep saying the same old bullshit to allow this, but according to Information Week story entitled No, The Tech Skills Shortage Doesn't Exist:

none of the indicators demonstrates a systemic shortage. While exceptional talent or skills in emerging technologies will always, by definition, be in short supply, the most relevant market indicators--wages and employee risk--clearly show there's no broad-based scarcity of U.S. IT workers. In their zeal to enlist government help to expand the supply of tech workers through foreign guest worker programs, employers are misrepresenting IT labor market conditions.

BusinessWeek points out how many foreign companies are accused of underpaying foreigners on work visas and hurting US wages in the process in the article: Are H1B workers getting bilked?

But this was no dream job come true. Goel's base salary was $23,310, about half the $44,000 that Patni had said it would pay on the visa application, according to a lawsuit he has filed against the company. When Goel complained, one official said that Patni would brand him a "troublemaker" and that his parents in India would be harassed unless he stopped, the suit alleges.

How do the candidates feel about the subject? Heres a CNN story with Hillary from 6/2/07, none of the other front runners seem to have an opinion.

Off Shoring
Cheaper workers, do you see the savings? I think not!
Heres a partial list of the job impact of off shoring by the people at TechsUnite.org who state:

Offshore Events Display
most recent event: 02/01/2007
last updated: 09/22/2005

The offshore tracker is based upon news accounts and employees. It tracks instances of offshoring beginning in January 2001 and using a list of companies derived from media sources. The tracker is not scientific in determining the precise number of jobs lost, since media reports are not always accurate, we do not have access to all media reports, and many instances of offshoring go unreported. However, this tracker is the only source that accounts for and aggregates the number of jobs lost due to offshoring. In fact, we know the current totals are low. For that reason. we need your help to let us know which employers - companies and state agencies - are offshoring jobs. We will be updating the tracker regularly by encouraging individuals to submit new event information and by continuing to monitor the media

Top 10 Offshoring companies

Company------Most Recent---Jobs Offshored--Est. jobs lost

IBM--------------11/20/2006-----63700---------45247

EDS--------------06/27/2005-----22400----------7950

Dell--------------02/01/2007-----17450-----------7100

Cognizant-------11/01/2004-----15000-------data unavailable

Siemens AG----03/02/2004-----15000-------data unavailable

GE----------------12/20/2004-----14250-------data unavailable

Convergys------04/13/2005-----14000-----------160

Accenture------06/27/2005-----13000------------90

Computer
Sciences---------06/27/2005-----10800---------5400
Corp

Intel--------------10/01/2005-----10426----------4126

The complete list of Offshoring can be found here, I don't know what to tell anyone to do about it other than what I always do when confronted with a guy named "Sam" on the phone who obviously doesn't speak English very well, I tell him I would like to speak to someone who is English speaking as a first language, Most companies have a remaining call center in the states for obtuse people like myself. I stopped buying Dell and dropped Verizon DSL because of this exact problem of sending our jobs out of the country. Did it make a difference, probably not, but I refuse to knowingly give my hard earned money to a corporation who doesn't reinvest in our country. If there were more people like myself we wouldn't be in this predicament.

The fight for the tech workers is the same fight for the rest of us here in America, Joe's Union Review stands with you in your plight. Please feel free to give me any news to spread to the masses.

Resources for Tech workers:

• TechsUnite
• Alliance At IBM- CWA Local 1701
• *The Programmers Guild, who is asking that people send a Fax to Congress to remove the H1B visa increases, which for some strange reason are attached into the text of H.R. 4065: Border Enforcement, Employment Verification, and Illegal Immigration Control Act, you can grab the letter to fax here (PDF file)
• WashTech - Washington Alliance For Technology Workers - CWA Local 37083
• Earleir story I wrote at UnionReview: Corp Objective: Disqualify qualified American workers, get H-1b Visa's for non-citizens

Blatant discrimination! Another disposable worker death in New York's underground sweatshop construction industry

First day on the job, untrained worker sent to his death and no one gives a fuck!

Has taken me a few days to try to convey my point of view into this article, unfortunately it's not a book, I'm not getting a dime from it and I need a slight break myself so you now have my second not-finished piece in front of you. Anyone want me to write for money and give me a large advance, I'm all for it. Enjoy...

FROM: NY1

Family members are mourning the loss of a man who died Wednesday during his first day on the job at a construction site in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. Police say 43-year-old construction worker Jose Palacios plummeted 13 floors to his death when a scaffolding collapsed on Clinton Avenue. Officials with the Department of Buildings say fast winds caused the scaffolding to give way.

(Fellow worker Ricardo) Uribe said it was Palacios' first day on the job.

Palacios leaves behind a wife and 17-year-old daughter in Mexico City. He left them behind once before when he came to the States seeking more opportunities. "He comes here for work, to give his family a better life. Just for that," nephew Octavio Solis. Now his family in the States, the niece and nephew he lived with in Astoria, Queens, have the grueling task of telling his family in Mexico."All his family is in Mexico. How are we [going to] talk to them?" said Solis. Palacios' mother's health is fragile, Solis says. "She's 74 years. She's old. She's sick with diabetes. She could die, too," said Solis.

The DOB had sent out an advisory Wednesday morning about the high winds, urging all builders, contractors, developers and property owners to secure their construction sites and buildings.

Another illegal alien Hispanic construction worker has died right here in Brooklyn, this time it was his very first day on the job. While my heart goes out to the families affected by this tragedy. I cannot help but wonder if this is possibly another sweatshop construction accident?

The workers allegedly were building or working off a 3 tier or suspended scaffold on the rooftop of a 13 story building to do stucco work, by OSHA regulations if the scaffold was being erected they should have been wearing an independent safety harness, the DOB warning about winds should have stopped that detail from taking place and the relative interviewed, who also worked on the site, did not speak a word of English. The New York Times has pointed out that the deceased was here illegally. Could this be yet another death caused by the underground construction industry in New York? Those companies that employ and abuse undocumented workers every day of the week. How bad is it to be a undocumented worker here in New York? It's real bad, it's a modern slavery and it's in every industry. From blatant racism to horrendously unsafe working conditions and without the proper equipment.

Let us focus once again on my term sweatshop construction, or what one could call the underground work force and the modern day slave like conditions in which undocumented immigrant workers must endure to maintain a job for unscrupulous contractors and the effect it has on it's competition, the state and the public.

Where to begin, well we can start with where I first learned about the inequality. It was a few years back when the New York Times reported about construction deaths in NYC, explaining that in the year ending Sept, 2006:

Of the 28 incidents in which the 29 workers were killed, 19 involved companies with 10 or fewer workers and 21 involved workers who were immigrants or had limited English proficiency and 24 involved nonunionized workers.

If you do the math, according to the NYT, a nonunion construction worker is 500% more likely to die at work in NY, thats a disgusting fact. We are over a year past that report and it doesn't seem like it's getting much better. 2 deaths that I'm aware of in the first month of 2008.

Aside from death and injuries, lets get into labor violations. Lets start with misclassification, this term is used for contractors who term their employees "independent sub-contractors", according to a very good explanation by Mark Reihl, executive director of the Wisconsin State Council of Carpenters:

“This is a growing cancer on the industry, one that will lead us in a race to the bottom in wages and benefits – if it isn’t stopped,” and adds “Rather than withhold payroll taxes and pay Workers Comp and unemployment insurance, an employer can just hand workers a 1099 form and say ‘Here, you’re an independent contractor’,”

A very large portion of these misclassified workers are illegal aliens, this is parg of a story in which the Brooklyn based grassroots organization, Make The Road By Walking, has tried to help these workers and level the playing field:

During 2005, we collected over $600,000 in unpaid wages and overtime, in cases like that of “Luis M.”

Luis worked as a non-union laborer doing heavy digging and cement work for a major utility company’s subcontractor. He had to report at 6am every morning to load the crew’s truck; but his first hour of work each day was unpaid. Luis also worked at least 60 hours a week but never received time-and-a-half overtime pay as required by law. Make the Road by Walking filed a lawsuit on Luis’s behalf in federal court. After several months’ litigation, Luis received $35,000 and reinstatement with the company, but this time with union protection and union pay – a raise of more than $7 per hour, to $24 an hour.

And speaking about the pay scale and working conditions for above mentioned workers, heres an excerpt of a story I wrote called: Why All The Anti-Union Sentiment?

Currently we have a large percentage of contractors (aprox. 1/4 of all current construction in NY has employees that work off the books or are misclassified as independent contractors) here who pay their undocumented employees below the minimum wage and misclassifying them as independent contractors. Entitling them to let the "employee' bear the burden of making sure his taxes are being payed, workers comp insurance is in place, supply their own safety equipment and working conditions.

Currently our Building and Construction Unions, local politicians from a bipartisan background and a host of other agencies, like the Brennan center for Justice and the Fiscal Policy Institute have been bringing to light the reckless behavior of these unscrupulous contractors, their safety violations, their shotty and dangerous work, their unskilled workers, the slave wages (according to the Brennan report some are forced to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for $6-$12 an hour), the public safety concern, the nonpayment by employer of taxes for said employees(in fact 2 construction companies are facing jail time(NY Newsday reported one for $220,000 and another $394,788 in evading employee taxes), The Governor himself has declared an Executive order to end this misclassification of workers, this doesn't even mention the tax burden these contractors push off onto the general public and those contractors who(according to Fiscal Policy Institute) cost workers lost wages and benefits and local, state and federal governments nearly $500 million in 2005.
When one of these 50,000+ workers gets sick and winds up in the hospital who do you think winds up paying for that? We do.Who winds up paying for their kids schooling, the upkeep of our infrastructure, our public employees wages? the list goes on. What is the cost to us for the lowest bid?

Heres some more evidence of the modern Racism in sweatshop construction from PLP.org in a story from Nov.06 entitled: Racism Killing Immigrant Construction Workers

"His dream was to save money and go back home," said construction worker Julio Jara. But that dream was shattered forever when his brother, 25-year-old Clever Jara, fell 17 stories to his death near Union Square in Manhattan. The Ecuadorian immigrant was putting up netting to prevent bricks from falling during repair work on the building's facade. Witnesses said wind gusts may have caused him to slip from the building's ledge.

A good many of the construction workers repairing building facades here are Latino and other immigrants, forced to work under hazardous conditions in order to support their families, both here and in their home countries. Amid a building boom, scofflaw developers are allowed to "self-certify" themselves, so they simply ignore safety and pursue profits. When 27-year-old Arturo Gonzalez was struck and killed last year by an 800-pound steel girder, the Buildings Department "fined" the realtor and owner the grand sum of $1,400!

$1,400, that was the fine, could you imagine? For a human life, how far down the tubes has this country gone? They continue:

The racism of building contractors like Town Restoration -- the company fixing the above facade -- was evident in their ignoring safety precautions for these predominantly Latino immigrant workers. The company didn't have the proper permit for the project, maintained no on-site supervision and apparently had not provided Clever with the proper training for the job, given the absence of such certification. Workers trained for the rigs were not on the site.

According to the latest OSHA "report card" on construction-site deaths, 86% occur on non-union jobs. And the vast majority of these jobs involve immigrant laborers and therefore many cases are unreported. "When a union guy is injured, reports are filed," according to immigrant lawyer David Perecman, but when it involves undocumented workers, "the boss tells them if it still hurts in the morning go to the hospital and tell them you tripped and fell."

Alongside this is the racism of the construction unions which historically have refused to admit or organize black and Latino workers, so now the chickens come home to roost -- thousands of construction workers are unorganized and prey to the bosses lowering wages and conditions for all workers.

While anti-immigrant hysteria is whipped up against workers like Clever Jara, they end up sacrificing their lives for profiteering bosses who figure they can get away with it because such workers are "expendable" -- more evidence that a system that produces such needless deaths must be destroyed.

And from an FROM: NY Carpenters' Union Embraces Immigrant Organizing

Thirty Irish and South American workers filed unpaid wage claims with the state because they weren't receiving overtime pay, even when they sometimes worked 70 hours a week.

According to Puerta, the New York attorney general took the case on civil-rights grounds because Irish immigrants were being paid $10 more an hour than South American immigrants doing the same work.

"It was the Irish immigrants who said, 'look, it's not fair, we perform the same work and we get paid more than these guys do,'" Puerta said.

I don't get it one bit, if you were to call someone a chink, cracker, towel-head, wetback, ginny, mick, spook, square, polock, fag, were to hang a noose or draw a swastika, you would likely go to jail for a hate crime. Of course I'm not endorsing that type of behavior, but...

Think about how backwards that logic is when compared to these unscrupulous employers that are continuously hiring and discriminating against mostly Hispanic undocumented immigrants, and for the most part are the direct cause of their death when an accident occurs ,they get fined $1,400 from the Buildings Department and it seems the only other agencies that actually go after them legally are Taxation and Finance, who usually makes a deal, for less than what was owed, and might seek jail time.

Did you follow that?

Word Knot or Picture= Jail Time

Racism Murder or Grand Larceny= A slap on the wrist

What happened to "sticks and stones"
It should be:

"Words, Knots and Pictures will get Jail Time but Murder, Racism and Larceny Will Never Hurt The Employer"

Where was Al Sharpton screaming like a madman? Where was Hillary getting bills passed against this at the Senate level? Where is Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz making a statement, or giving a flying fuck for that matter? From a close source, he dosen't give one shit who works on the jobs as long as the developing in Brooklyn continues. Where is OSHA reform to deter the next death? According to the AFL-CIO there are only 129 inspectors in the entire state, and it would take 96 years to visit every workplace just once. Why aren't these construction sites considered crime scenes? Why do we still allow illegal aliens to flood this country, instead of creating some sort of legal paths to citizenship when a person comes here to work, learns the nations language and has equal rights at work? Where is the jail time for the employers of these undocumented workers?

I would think that it is those that use alien workers, squeezing their lives out of them like the juice from a lemon, are the ones with all the money and lobbying power. They tend to like us having all sorts of different opinions about Illegal Aliens. And the neglect of enforcing English as the standard language suits them even better. If we cannot communicate, we cannot unite. For communication of knowledge is the ultimate power, and those that prey on this new slave class want a country divided. All the things that our fore-fathers fought for are getting raped in succession. The 40 hour week, most people cannot make it by working 40 hours, just take a view at HBO's The Wire when Baltimore cut back Police force funding and all the overtime stopped one of the cops states "I have my mortgage". With that goes the weekend too, as a matter of fact there are tons of union contracts here in the us where the companies want "Mandatory Overtime" embedded into their contracts. Safety laws are neglected and unenforced. Child Labor Laws, undocumented and underground kinda makes that unenforceable, even such Bib-Box enterprises such as CVS don't bother to abide by such trivial things as Child Labor Laws. Sweatshop conditions, just read above, or do one better grab a copy of Unregulated Work in The Global City, and see how widespread the abuses go. Overtime, pensions, social security, health care are all being attacked. And while we are being separatists, and yes we do it to ourselves, the products we buy are getting smaller, there is an invisible inflation movement going on in this country. From the 11 ounce pound of coffee, to the 1.75 quart of ice cream. We are all doing more for less and have become a complacent 'silent majority" of people who must go through the doldrums of life eking it bye and not having the time to focus on what we need to do to change the world for ourselves and our neighbors. When we don't like it, all we have to do is look in the mirror and realize that we can change the world, it just takes a tiny bit of effort.

As I once stated:
"Such a small percentage try to make the world a better place , leaving the work to a scarce few . If those that did next to nothing did just a tiny bit the world could be a better place for all ."

We all suffer because of this and it will only get worse if it continues.

Images which I created in this post and 3 more are available for download in 9 panel cut and glue poster format at UnionReview: Labor Movement Posters for Download

Washington State University, NAACP and Teamsters agree about injustice at New Era

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond discuss the results of a report by the civil rights organization that shows a pattern of racial discrimination and worker harassment at New Era Cap facilities in the Deep South.

From UnionReview:

New Era is the exclusive manufacturer of Major League Baseball caps. The company also has contracts with a number of college programs throughout the United States, its products are known to be staple Hip-Hop fashion statements for both musicians and fans.

While both the Teamsters Union and the NAACP state that Major League Baseball should join them in demanding justice from New Era Cap, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said today that the Civil Rights group will hold off for two weeks before reaching out to MLB because of "some overtures from the company." We look forward to seeing what, if anything will come out of the next couple weeks.

Mr. Hoffa reminded reporters that the workers went out to organize with Teamsters Local 991 stating that the black workers were held to worse conditions than white workers.
Read Full Story

In other news on this situation from Ai.com:

"The University of Wisconsin-Madison has decided that New Era is not the type of company we want to do business with," said Dawn Crim, head of community relations.

Not allowed in facility

Crim said Wisconsin primarily ended its contract with New Era because it wouldn't let the Workers Rights Consortium into the Mobile facility to investigate.
The consortium is one of two groups -- the other is called the Fair Labor Association -- that monitors labor conditions in factories that make college-logo items.

Both are involved in the New Era dispute, and the sides disagree about whether either can be impartial.

Scott Nova, executive director of the consortium, said the Washington, D.C.-based group has been seeking to visit the Mobile facility since November, but said New Era has denied entry. He said that violates the code imposed by the consortium's 177 collegiate members.

Marciniak said New Era doesn't want to let the consortium in because it's dominated by anti-sweatshop activists who've already taken a position against the company. "I think the WRC has a bias, for sure," the spokeswoman said.

Instead, she said New Era wants a mutually acceptable third party investigator.

Nova said the consortium has not yet reached any conclusions about conditions in Mobile, and that it would be up to member colleges to take actions when the group's inquiry is complete.
Read Full Story

Audio File of the Week - Building Bridges Radio interview with author of Unregulated Work in the Global City

This was originally posted in part at UnionReview.com

This is Building Bridges Radio interview with Annette Bernhardt, Deputy Dir. of the Brennan Center for Justice Program at NYU and one of the author's of Unregulated Work in the Global City, a comprehensive study of the underground labor force in New York City.

This report covers the labor violations, the profiteers, the victims and the enablers that let it happen. Unfortunately most people will just bitch about undocumented workers, this report explains in great detail who we as tax paying Americans should focus our anger towards, the unscrupulous employers and those that allow it to happen.

Some quick facts learned via the report:

The policy makers allow what equates to slavery and sweatshop conditions right here in New York. With workers that do not benefit from the labor laws of the state, who are often misclassified and paid off the books, often below minimum wage and are without any means for a safe work environment.

These workers are often forced to work over 10 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week, without breaks and usually without overtime pay. They face blatant discrimination and are in constant fear of the bosses reprisal if they step out of line. Sometimes they don't wind up getting paid at all.

Undermanned and under financed investigatory units such as OSHA, with it's 128 inspectors in the entire state, cannot police the jobs (an estimate is that it would take OSHA 96 years to investigate every NYS workplace just once).

Many agencies and politicians which should be regulating these infractions turn a blind eye.

From: The open source Archive-Where you can download this in many formats

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report National Edition

Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg

A recent study by the Brennan Center's Economic Justice Project, details the systemic violation of federal, state & local labor law which is increasingly the way of doing business in N.Y.C. Over a wide range of industries, employers pay less than the minimum wage, and sometimes nothing at all; deny overtime for 60-hour weeks, routinely ignore vital health and safety regulations even after injuries occur; and workers are subject to blatant discrimination, and retaliated against for speaking up or trying to organize.

For more information contact Ken Nash - knash@igc.org

Building Bridges is nationally broadcast throughout the country,in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area it is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at www.wbai.org

In the words of Ed Ott, the Executive Director of NYC Central Labor Council "Every union official should have a copy" when speaking about Unregulated Work in the Global City

Download Links for Report (PDF Format):

Unregulated Work In The Global City - Full PDF

also recommended

Building Up New York, Tearing Down Job Quality: Taxpayer Impact of Worsening Employment Practices in the New York City Construction Industry - Full PDF