There are plenty of Engineers on the way 14

[BobPE]

I pulled this excerpt fron the NSPE web site...I thought it would make for interesting discussion here...


Some Members of Congress are seeking to attach a provision at the last minute to the must-pass bill designed to fund the federal government for the rest of this fiscal year. This provision would exempt up to 20,000 aliens holding a master's or higher degree from the current 65,000 cap on H-1B Visas for non-immigrants in any fiscal year. H-1B visas allow temporary employment by aliens in specialty occupations such as engineering. These programs have been used to displace higher-paid U.S. workers and replace them with lower-paid, often less-qualified, foreign temporary workers. NSPE supports keeping the current cap of 65,000 H-1B visas.

Please call your state's Senators and your Representative immediately and ask them to oppose raising the current cap on H-1B Visas.
Your message is simple:

Keep the cap on H-1B workers at the current level of 65,000 per-year.
This proposal to raise the cap has not been voted on by either the House or Senate this session. This issue is too complex to be added to the budget bill at the last minute without being vetted in congressional hearings.
The H-1B program has been abused in the past and this proposal would cost the jobs of U.S. engineers and scientists.
NSPE supports the use of Professional Engineers who are licensed and trained in our ethical practices. In NSPE's view, these visa programs decrease the use of PEs and allow engineers who are not trained in U.S. ethical practices to perform engineering services, which is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare.




Again, I copied the above from NSPE's web site...I am writing my congressmen...what does everyone else think?

BobPE

 

[LIstress]

I just joined the list after having stumbled upon it accidentally. I'm interested in the outsourcing debate.

There's a very outspoken critic named Norm Matloff, of the UC Davis Computer Science Department (might be the chairman, I forget). I love this guy. You can subscribe to his newsletter if you like and get regular commentary on the issue. I would have posted his email address, but I don't know if it is allowed by the list.

According to him, the real motivation behind h1b/l1 visas and outsourcing is the what many of us already knew: cheap labor!

As for calling one's congressman, that's probably a waste of time. Politicians are beholden to corporate interests and corporations want cheap labor. Who are the politicians going to listen to, the American worker who just lost his job, or the American businessman who funded his campaign? I don't care how many pundits or politicians get up and tell me how good outsourcing is for America - when well paying, knowledge-based technical jobs are lost in large numbers, it's BAD for the country. Spare me the arguments - I've heard them all (lower prices, making way for the magical jobs of the future, blah, blah, blah).

I understand the need for international trade of goods and services, so please don't think I'm advocating complete protectionism. What I am saying is that the country needs to look after its own some more, before we reach the day when we've farmed everything out the the lowest bidder worldwide and can no longer grow our own industrial/technological base.

 

[makeup]

I know this is right. Cheap labour is the driver here to in the UK. I visit SME'S regularly and of those that employ migrants all without exception do one of two things:

1) Cry wolf, we couldn't find the skills locally. Really meaning we couldnt find anyone locally prepared to work for the package on offer.

2) Give free board and loggings and pay no overtime and just above the minimum wage.

In all of these cases the boss and business are doing very well. The number of times I hear the boss say, its about paying my staff as little as possible and paying myself as much as possible. It really is depressing, in just under a year I have not met 1 company that truely breaks this mould. There is no entrepreneurial leadership here what so ever.