Houston, Feb 8 : The only socialist in the US Senate who joined hands on Thursday with a Republican conservative to completely ban the entry of H-1B guest workers had to climb down yesterday and agree to token restrictions that meet populist demands here to protect jobs for Americans.
An amendment by socialist Bernie Sanders and Republican Chuck Grassley passed by the Senate yesterday requires American companies which receive bailout money from the government to comply with “good faith” efforts to hire US workers before they look to India or elsewhere abroad for recruitment.
On the face of it, the amendment represents a setback to the H-1B programme that allows Indian information technology professionals, nurses, teachers and others to work in the US on temporary visas.
But in actual fact, Sanders and Grassley, who have been campaigning for years against the recruitment of foreigners by companies here, had to admit defeat in the face of stiff lobbying on Capitol Hill by those favouring the H-1B programme and outsourcing.
Yet, their amendment will enable the two senators to claim to their constituencies that they put restrictions on the hiring of foreigners. What the Senate passed yesterday is a watered down version of the original amendment tabled by Sanders and Grassley that would have effectively killed the H-1B programme.
The problem confronting Indians and nationals of other countries who are looking to move to America on temporary work contracts is not any curtailment of the H-1B programme.
Their real challenge is that with or without the H-1B facility, jobs in America are shrinking every day. Latest US labour department figures show that in January alone, 598,000 Americans lost their jobs, the highest unemployment in 34 years.
Under the latest Senate measure, any company receiving money under the US government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program will be automatically considered “H-1B dependent” and asked to look for US workers in “good faith”.
The Senate is expected to vote on President Barack Obama’s massive stimulus programme on Monday. Afterwards, the Senate and the House of Representatives versions of the economic recovery package will have to be reconciled at a “conference” of the two chambers.
It remains to be seen whether even the token restrictions on outsourcing and H-1B will survive the joint “conference”.
Grassley admitted in a statement after the Senate vote that US firms “will still be able to hire H-1B visa holders, but must comply with the H-1B dependent employer rules which include attesting to actively recruiting American workers, not displacing American workers with H-1B visa holders and not replacing laid off American workers with foreign workers”.
The Republican claimed in the statement that he supports the H-1B programme.
K.P. NAYARHouston, Feb 8 : The only socialist in the US Senate who joined hands on Thursday with a Republican conservative to completely ban the entry of H-1B guest workers had to climb down yesterday and agree to token restrictions that meet populist demands here to protect jobs for Americans.
An amendment by socialist Bernie Sanders and Republican Chuck Grassley passed by the Senate yesterday requires American companies which receive bailout money from the government to comply with “good faith” efforts to hire US workers before they look to India or elsewhere abroad for recruitment.
On the face of it, the amendment represents a setback to the H-1B programme that allows Indian information technology professionals, nurses, teachers and others to work in the US on temporary visas.
But in actual fact, Sanders and Grassley, who have been campaigning for years against the recruitment of foreigners by companies here, had to admit defeat in the face of stiff lobbying on Capitol Hill by those favouring the H-1B programme and outsourcing.
Yet, their amendment will enable the two senators to claim to their constituencies that they put restrictions on the hiring of foreigners. What the Senate passed yesterday is a watered down version of the original amendment tabled by Sanders and Grassley that would have effectively killed the H-1B programme.
The problem confronting Indians and nationals of other countries who are looking to move to America on temporary work contracts is not any curtailment of the H-1B programme.
Their real challenge is that with or without the H-1B facility, jobs in America are shrinking every day. Latest US labour department figures show that in January alone, 598,000 Americans lost their jobs, the highest unemployment in 34 years.
Under the latest Senate measure, any company receiving money under the US government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program will be automatically considered “H-1B dependent” and asked to look for US workers in “good faith”.
The Senate is expected to vote on President Barack Obama’s massive stimulus programme on Monday. Afterwards, the Senate and the House of Representatives versions of the economic recovery package will have to be reconciled at a “conference” of the two chambers.
It remains to be seen whether even the token restrictions on outsourcing and H-1B will survive the joint “conference”.
Grassley admitted in a statement after the Senate vote that US firms “will still be able to hire H-1B visa holders, but must comply with the H-1B dependent employer rules which include attesting to actively recruiting American workers, not displacing American workers with H-1B visa holders and not replacing laid off American workers with foreign workers”.
The Republican claimed in the statement that he supports the H-1B programme.
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