Video raises concern about firms' H-1B abuses

Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 4:29 AM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1715 -- 6/26/2007 >>>>>

The youtube videos are raising quite a stir -- now even Congress is asking
questions about what was said in the seminar.

There is a lot of mythology being generated because Cohen&Grigsby removed the
videos before most people had a chance to watch them. Ron Hira got this
totally wrong. The seminar covered a wide range of visas that are used to
displace American workers including H-1B, L-1, B-1, O-1, TN, and even OPT.

H-1B program opponent Ron Hira, a professor of public policy at
Rochester Institute of Technology, said that in one respect, the
flap is a misunderstanding because the seminar was aimed at
companies that are sponsoring foreign workers for green cards
rather than for temporary H-1B visas.

So let's get this straight -- Lebowitz is tutoring employers on how to dump
qualified U.S. applicants.

"Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S.
worker," says Lawrence Lebowitz of the Cohen & Grigsby law firm
during a seminar taped in May. "In a sense it sounds funny, but
that's what we're trying to do here."

If employers are having a problem with too many qualified U.S. workers, as
Lebowitz obviously thinks, then how come Oracle lobbyist Robert Hoffman, who
also speaks for Compete America, is advocating that employers need more H-1B
visas? The answer is actually quite obvious -- they need more H-1Bs so that
they can trash more US workers. These co-conspirators can't even get their
stories straight!

But Hoffman said the mini-scandal does not undercut the main
argument of tech employers -- that they can't hire enough
skilled workers without more H-1B visas.

Lebowitz didn't use a bad choice of words -- he was being honest about the
gaping loopholes in the H-1B and green card rules. As long as lawyers write
the laws there will be loopholes that they can use.

A spokeswoman for the firm said the seminar was "compliant with all
of the relevant laws governing the employment of foreign workers,"
while expressing regret at "the choice of words that was used during
a small segment" of a longer seminar that was boiled down by H-1B
opponents.

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

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/06/22/BUGOOQJHN41.DTL

Video raises concern about firms' H-1B abuses
2 lawmakers urge labor secretary to probe 'blatant disregard for American
workers'
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, June 22, 2007

A video clip that teaches employers how not to hire Americans has prompted two
lawmakers to ask Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to investigate whether U.S.
companies may be abusing the H-1B visa program.

The H-1B program lets U.S. employers import a certain number of foreign
college graduates to work here for up to six years before they're supposed to
go home. As part of the immigration debate, high-tech employers want to hire
more of these skilled guest workers while labor groups say these newcomers
push Americans out of white-collar jobs.

Siding with the displaced Americans, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep.
Lamar Smith, R-Texas, wrote Chao Thursday after seeing a five-minute video in
which the marketing director of a Pittsburgh law firm is shown telling
employers how they can advertise a job so as to appear that the only qualified
applicant is a foreign national.

"Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker,"
says Lawrence Lebowitz of the Cohen & Grigsby law firm during a seminar taped
in May. "In a sense it sounds funny, but that's what we're trying to do here."

A spokeswoman for the firm said the seminar was "compliant with all of the
relevant laws governing the employment of foreign workers," while expressing
regret at "the choice of words that was used during a small segment" of a
longer seminar that was boiled down by H-1B opponents.

In their letter, Grassley and Smith said the seminar reveals "the blatant
disregard for American workers and deliberate attempts to bring in cheaper
foreign workers through the H-1B program" and urged Chao to use her powers as
labor secretary to investigate "the law firm's unethical procedures."

H-1B program opponent Ron Hira, a professor of public policy at Rochester
Institute of Technology, said that in one respect, the flap is a
misunderstanding because the seminar was aimed at companies that are
sponsoring foreign workers for green cards rather than for temporary H-1B
visas.

But, said Hira, by showing how to get around the tough requirements that exist
-- on paper -- to ensure that green card applicants don't displace Americans,
the video suggests how easy it must be for employers to hire foreign workers
under the H-1B program, which has far weaker protections against job
displacement.

Oracle lobbyist Robert Hoffman, who also speaks for an employer coalition
called Compete America, said his group agrees that "this video should be
investigated." But Hoffman said the mini-scandal does not undercut the main
argument of tech employers -- that they can't hire enough skilled workers
without more H-1B visas.

Hoffman sought to turn the video -- created by an H-1B opponent -- to his
advantage. He said it proved the need to pass the Senate immigration reform
legislation that, among many other things, gives Silicon Valley more H-1B
workers while beefing up rules to make sure that U.S. workers are not
displaced.

"The anti-fraud provisions in the Senate bill go right to the heart of what
this video is about,'' Hoffman said.

Kim Berry, the Sacramento man who created and posted the video, said the
episode has been a learning experience.

Berry heads the Programming Guild, a self-described group of over-40,
underemployed software engineers. He said others in his network pointed him to
where Cohen & Grigsby had posted a longer seminar video -- though it is now
down. It took him about two hours Saturday to find the best sound bites and
create the five-minute clip.

"With all the things grasping for people's attention, I guess you've got to
boil it all down,'' he said.

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