Judge rejects H-1B visa injunction

[thewayne]

"Judge Faith Hochberg has denied a preliminary injunction sought by the Programmers Guild to put a hold on a controversial 'emergency' rule change by the Department of Homeland Security to permit foreign students to work continuously in the US for two-and-a-half years after graduation without an H-1B visa. Hochberg indicated she failed to see how an increased labor supply could result in wage depression for engineers and computer workers. That seems disingenuous, since in Andaya v. Citizens Mortgage Corporation, Judge Hochberg recently saw first-hand how a US employer got away with paying an H-1B computer engineer as little as $15,000 to do a job with a 'prevailing wage rate' of $41,000. In that case, Hochberg ruled against Filipino H-1B visa holder Almira Andaya, arguing that 'nonpayment of wages as listed on the H-1B visa petition ... does not raise a substantial question of federal law.'"

Microsoft continually lobbies for expanding the H-1B program, meanwhile builds a programming center in Canada just across the border to bring in people that they couldn't get visas for. Meanwhile the number of computer science graduates in the US continues to dwindle while employers cut jobs.

"Be American, Buy American." Shya, right.

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/16/1222219

Comments

[silveradept]

So, is this a case of the rats fleeing the sinking ship, or is there a theoretical way that we can manage to retain jobs and pay actual livable wages, all within the law, and without exploiting a class of people that are here basically at the government's (or their employer's) leisure?

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of angles, few of them I like. Employers want to pay the least amount possible to their employees as that maximizes profits. Employees want the most they can possibly get. By bringing in H1Bs, employers can apply hard leverage to wage negotiation: why should I pay you $41k when we can get Almira and pay him $15k? But at the same time, they're doing nothing to foster employee loyalty by continuing to cut their workers off at their knees.

Employers no longer have any respect for their employees, who, as a result, don't respect their employers. It's almost impossible for a company to make a reasonable profit and pay its employees a reasonable wages, because employees have no say at the high level running of the company: one person gets to define what "reasonable" means, and that's the owner, CEO, whatever.

[silveradept]

Well, there's also the part where those at the top will cheerfully vote themselves nice paychecks and bonuses while trying to avoid paying their employees any more than they have to.