VOTE ALERT: Barring Outsourcers From Abusing Visas to Undercut Wages

Posted by David Sirota at 1:09 PM on June 7, 2007.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), my old boss, has an important bipartisan amendment coming to the floor of the Senate very soon. As reported by Computerworld Magazine, the legislation "would prohibit companies that have announced mass layoffs from receiving any new [H-1B] visas unless they could prove that overall employment would not be reduced by these layoffs." During a recent trip to Redmond, Washington, I wrote a San Francisco Chronicle column about my meetings with tech and IT workers worried about companies abusing the H-1B visa program in order to undercut domestic wages. It looks like populist Senators have heard their concerns and are fighting back on their behalf.

You can watch an excerpt of Sanders' floor speech introducing the legislation above, which I posted on YouTube.

Undoubtedly, the opponents of this amendment will claim that it's supposedly "anti-immigrant" when it's nothing of the kind. The H-1B program is set up to help companies temporarily employ foreign workers if they can't find the workers they need here in the United States. A company that is laying off workers in the United States, thus, should not be allowed to simultaneously use a program designed for labor shortages. This legislation is just straight-up common sense. It makes sure the H-1B program isn't being abused by companies who want to use as a quiet way to drive down wages - which the data shows is exactly what at least some companies are doing. And in the process, it makes sure more H-1Bs go to the companies that truly can't find workers here at home.

Check back here later - I'll update readers on whether the bill is approved or rejected.

Tagged as: immigration, free trade, bernie sanders, h-1b

David Sirota is a veteran political strategist and author of Hostile Takeover, a New York Times bestseller about the corruption of both political parties.