AILA and Chamber of Commerce join forces to destroy SA306

Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 12:54 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1978 -- 2/10/2009 >>>>>

Roy Beck raised an interesting question today on his NumbersUSA blog.

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusablog/beckr/february-10-2009/its-official-us-chamber-would-lobby-foreign-workers-during-depressio
"It's Official -- U.S. Chamber Would Lobby for Foreign Workers During a
Depression"

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's reaction to a limited set of stricter
rules for banks hiring foreign workers answers a bar debate that
long has raged. The question has always been whether if we had
another Great Depression would the Chamber still continue to lobby
for more foreign workers on the basis of worker shortages. This week,
the debate is settled. YES, THEY WOULD!

Beck raised this question because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the
American Immigration Lawyers Association haven't finished with Senate
Amendment 306 in the Stimulus bill. As explained in my previous newsletter,
SA306 was watered down at the urging of AILA lobbyists who got it to the point
that it will save at most 1,000 jobs. You would think the greedsters wouldn't
care to shoot it down again, but they do.

The big question is why?

After the Senate voice vote to amend SA306 (which watered the bill down) it
would stand to reason that the USCoC and AILA would let dead dogs lie, but
they aren't. In order to understand why let's look at what SA306 will and
won't do.

What SA306 will do:

1) Give us a symbolic victory that could be used as a marker in the future to
fight H-1B.

2) Banks that receive TARP money will have a slightly bigger hassle getting H-
1B visas because now they will automatically be declared H-1B dependent.
Companies that are H-1B dependent never fail to get the H-1Bs they want but
there is slightly more paperwork that has to be filed. Before SA306 was
modified the banks wouldn't have been allowed to hire any H-1Bs for a year,
which would have been a much bigger victory for us.

What SA306 won't do:

1) Prevent banks from hiring foreigners by using H-1B, L-1, or TN visas.

2) Prevent banks from using bodyshops like Tata or Infosys that use nothing
but H-1Bs or L-1s.

3) Prevent offshoring of bank functions or services.

4) Save jobs for Americans.

There are some dynamics going on that show that groups with slightly
conflicting interests are willing to work together to gang up on SA306. The
USCoC loses a little if SA306 stands as is because H-1B dependency is a hassle
that businesses don't want. On the other hand, AILA represents immigration
lawyers that stand to gain slightly since companies would have to pay lawyers
more to process the H-1B visas and for the additional legal advice that would
be required to replace American workers. Apparently these organizations are so
obsessed with total victory in all things immigration they are willing to put
aside minor differences in order to deny us a miniscule symbolic victory.

The corporatists and the sharks have obviously decided to spend resources in
order to wipe SA306 off the face of the Earth. From my observations many labor
and immigration groups are confused about what is going on, and therefore
divided. So far the odds of SA306 getting through Congress seem to be quite
bad unless opposition gets their act together quickly.

Be sure to read the USCoC letter to the Senate here:

http://www.aila.net/content/default.aspx?docid=27953

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090210_9809.php

Groups fight stimulus limit on workers with H-1B visas

By Chris Strohm, CongressDaily 02/10/09

Business groups and immigration advocates hope to remove a controversial
provision from the Senate's economic stimulus bill that would restrict
companies receiving federal bailout funds from hiring highly skilled foreign
workers.

The provision was offered by Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley
and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as an amendment to the Senate stimulus bill
and approved by voice vote Friday.

It would place limits on any company receiving funds under the $700 billion
Troubled Asset Relief Program from hiring skilled foreign workers under the H-
1B visa program.

The provision is primarily intended to prevent financial institutions from
replacing laid off workers with foreigners.

"Wall Street caused the crisis, millions of people lost jobs, including
100,000 in financial institutions. Now they want to bring in foreign workers,"
Sanders said. "Talk about adding insult to injury."

But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Immigration Lawyers
Association have united in opposition to the measure.

Writing to senators to oppose the provision, top officials of the two groups
said the amendment "will hurt immigrant workers, the businesses they work for,
and the economy."

"U.S. businesses who are trying desperately to recover financially MUST have
access to specialty skills inside our country, so they can keep their
businesses in the U.S.," according to the letter, which was sent by R.
Bruce Josten, the Chamber's vice president for government affairs, and Jeanne
Butterfield, executive director of the lawyers association.

A lobbying blitz will be made to try to kill the provision when Senate and
House lawmakers negotiate a final stimulus bill in conference, a Chamber
official added.

Companies would still be able to hire workers through the H-1B program. But
under the Grassley-Sanders language, they must actively recruit U.S.
workers, ensure they do not displace American workers and ensure that American
workers are not laid off in favor of foreign workers.

Grassley and other advocates say the intention is to ensure that U.S.
workers are given priority in hiring.

"With the unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, there is no need for companies to
hire foreign guest workers through the H1-B program when there are plenty of
qualified Americans looking for jobs," Grassley said. "Our common-sense
amendment simply ensures that recipients of American taxpayer money make
American workers their first priority as they look to hire new employees."

Josten and Butterfield wrote that foreign workers make up a very small
percentage of the total workforce at financial institutions. They said major
U.S. financial institutions hired only up to 0.74 percent of foreigners under
the H-1B program in 2007.

"At a time when the economy is striving to rebound, barring U.S. companies
access to the most qualified job applicants, particularly those coming out of
U.S. graduate programs, will hinder recovery," they said.

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