Article: Clueless in the White House

[bart95]

Vice President Joe Biden doesn’t know a thing about the H-1B visa.

There is one basic fact about this temporary work visa that everyone in political office, or running for political office, ought to understand and it is this: There’s almost nothing to stop an employer from replacing a U.S. worker with an H-1B visa holder.

U.S. IT workers understand this, especially those who have had to train their visa-holding replacement.

The idea that a visa holder can’t replace a U.S. worker is a widely held fiction with many in elected office, including Biden.

Biden was asked about the H-1B visa by a reporter at KWQC News in Iowa.

The reporter’s question: Are too many H-1B visas given out each year? Are too many highly skilled jobs going to people outside the United States?

Biden’s response: No H-1B visa can be granted to an employee to come to a company unless they can prove there is no American to fill the job. What we have had is a real vacuum in the number of computer engineers and high tech personnel to work in particularly Silicon Valley that's where most of those H-1B visas are going that's why we have made it so attractive and I don't understand why Republicans have opposed us. Three million more kids are able to get to college because of Pell grants we provide for 2500 tax credit off …. (See KWQC transcript for the rest of the answer).






http://blogs.computerworld.com/19965/clueless_in_the_white_house

[bart95]

1. if the policy is good, why lie about it?

that the one thing nobody can ever answer to me about this program

what justifies lying about it?

[scheming daemons]

2. Why does this OP still have an account on DU?

For several days, every post of his is an anti-Democratic screed.

[bart95]

3. if you respect something, you have expectations of it

if that's not beyond you

you're darned right i expect the party to be honest to American workers about policies that directly affect them

whatever you feel about this program, how can you possibly defend false information from Biden about it?

whether you can directly replace American workers is NOT a minor point

if I gave false information to the IRS or the police, would you defend ME?

[bart95]

4. key quote from the article 'This is not a partisan point.' nt

[Union Scribe]

6. I think discussing US labor issues is worthwhile here.

If Biden's wrong, he's wrong. Just as Obama was in pushing FTAs. It's not anti-Democratic to say so.

[joeybee12]

7. I have no problem with this OP...why do you?

There are problems with the visa program quite frankly beacuse Dems are far too beholden to corrporations who want to pay foreign employees less.

[bart95]

9. In Animal Farm, Orwell teaches where lack of accountability gets you

(this passage, written in 1945, is EXACTLY what's going on in this thread. 'Jones' is the human farmer that the animals pushed out in their revolution. 'Jones' is the modern day 'republican', milk and apples are corporate contributions attached to labor sellouts in this thread)

The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up. It was mixed
every day into the pigs' mash. The early apples were now ripening, and the grass
of the orchard was littered with windfalls. The animals had assumed as a matter
of course that these would be shared out equally; one day, however, the order
went forth that all the windfalls were to be collected and brought to the harness-
room for the use of the pigs. At this some of the other animals murmured, but
it was no use. All the pigs were in full agreement on this point, even Snowball
and Napoleon. Squealer was sent to make the necessary explanations to the
others.

`Comrades!' he cried. `You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing
this in a spirit of selshness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk
and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is
to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science,
comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig.
We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm
depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your
sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would
happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would
come back! Surely, comrades,' cried Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from
side to side and whisking his tail, `surely there is no one among you who wants
to see Jones come back?'

Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it
was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this light,
they had no more to say. The importance of keeping the pigs in good health
was all too obvious. So it was agreed without further argument that the milk
and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when they ripened)
should be reserved for the pigs alone.

from

http://www.msxnet.org/orwell/print/animal_farm.pdf

[girl gone mad]

11. Why don't you respond to the content of the post..

rather than relying on heavy-handed ad hominem and calls for censorship?

[bart95]

12. because that's all he's got nt

[NoGOPZone]

13. .

[pinto]

5. three elements addressing non-displacement and recruitment of U.S. workers (DOL) -

H-1B dependent employers and willful violator employers must attest to the following three elements addressing non-displacement and recruitment of U.S. workers:

The employer will not displace any similarly employed U.S. worker within 90 days before or after applying for H-1B status, or an extension of status for any H-1B worker;

The employer will not place any H-1B worker employed pursuant to the LCA at the worksite of another employer unless the employer first makes a bona fide inquiry as to whether the other employer has displaced or intends to displace a similarly employed U.S. worker within 90 days before or after the placement of the H-1B worker; and

The employer, before applying for H-1B status for any alien worker pursuant to an H-1B LCA, took good faith steps to recruit U.S. workers for the job for which the alien worker is sought, at wages at least equal to those offered to the H-1B worker. Also, the employer will offer the job to any U.S. worker who applies and is equally or better qualified than the H-1B worker. This attestation does not apply if the H-1B worker is a "priority worker" (see Section 203(b) (1) (A), (B), or (C) of the INA).

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/h1b.htm

and from the INA -

An employer who is H-1B dependent or a willful violator must also attest that it has met or will meet the following requirements:

Displacement: Non-displacement of the U.S. workers in the employer's workforce;

Secondary Displacement: Non-displacement of the U.S. workers in another employer's workforce; and

Recruitment and Hiring: Recruitment of U.S. workers and hiring of U.S. workers applicant(s) who are equally or better qualified than the H-1B non-immigrant(s).

http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/faqsanswers.cfm#h1b_programs

[bart95]

8. why are 'willful violators' of the program still in the program AT ALL?!?!

i think it makes more sense to let the American workers who were violated against back into their livelyhoods, and keep willful violators OUT.

and an important part of your answer is that non-h-1b dependent, of non violators have no requiremt to search for American citizens at all

[bart95]

10. and for the minority of employers that do have to do a 'labor test', here's how they do it

# And our goal is clearly, not to find a qualified and interested U.S.
# worker. And you know in a sense that sounds funny, but it's what we're
# trying to do here. We are complying with the law fully, but ah, our
# objective is to get this person a green card, and get through the labor
# certification process. So certainly we are not going to try to find a
# place [at which to advertise the job] where the applicants are the most
# numerous. We're going to try to find a place where we can comply with
# the law, and hoping, and likely, not to find qualified and interested
# worker applicants.

Those remarks immediately followed Pack's presentation on advertising
venues, in which she said:

# Fortunately, DOL gives 10 options, from which you can select three.

As can be seen from Lebowitz's followup, Pack's meaning is that you
select the three most obscure places you can find. Pack also
recommends,

# You can also advertise in local and ethnic newspapers, such as the
# Pittsburgh Courier.

The Courier is a black newspaper. While ordinarily placing ads there
would be commendable minority outreach, here Pack obviously means to
that one should choose that venue because of the anticipated small
number of American applications it will generate.

Yet they will receive some American applications, and in video 10 the firm
then explains what to do with them--i.e. how to reject them. First, the
employer can describe the applicant as not interested in the position!
Barton says:

# If they [the American applicant] don't like the salary, don't like the
# work location, [we deem them to be] not interested...Those are ways
# we can disqualify them, get them out of the market...

Note the "don't like the salary" part. In the free market, employers
would have to negotiate with applicants. But having access to foreign
workers changes that. So here is one of many, many ways in which
employers can hire foreign workers more cheaply than Americans--and
remember, it's all FULLY LEGAL.

Barton continues:

# If it gets to the point where somebodys' looking like they're very
# qualified, we ask [the employer] to have the manager of that specific
# position step in and go over the qualifications with them--if necessary
# schedule an interview, go through the whole process to find a legal
# basis to disqualify them for this position--in most cases there doesn't
# seem to be a problem.

from http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/YouTubeVideosH1B.txt

and video below

[bart95]

14. bump

this is serious