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International Migration News - Volume #8 | |
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Labor: Education, Guest Workers
The United States' GDP reached $10 trillion at the end of 2000, including $1.4 trillion in California. There were 135 million US residents with jobs, including 132 million on nonfarm payrolls. The unemployment rate in 2000 averaged four percent. The US economy expanded by five percent in 2000, but growth is expected to slow to three percent in 2001. U.S. Census data show that nine percent of Hispanics 25 and older had a college degree in March 2000, the same rate as in 1990- about 54 percent of Hispanic adults were born outside the US. About 25 percent of non-Hispanic whites had college degrees in March 2000, up from 20 percent in 1994. For more information: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2000/cb00-211.html. About 26 percent of US adults had a BA or more in 2000, and 84 percent had a high school diploma, up from 22 and 78 percent in 1990. By metro area, San Jose and Washington DC had the highest percentages of adults over 25 with a BA or more in 2000, 42 percent, followed by Boston, 41 percent; San Francisco, 40 percent; and Denver, 38 percent. College graduates earned an average $45,678 in 1999, compared to $24,572 for high school graduates. Many analysts commented on the gap between college and high school graduates, emphasizing that immigrants often arrive in the US as adult college graduates or high school drop outs, thus increasing inequality. There were 15.7 million foreign-born workers in the United States in 1999, up 17 percent from 1996. The National Restaurant Association says that 10 percent of the workers in US restaurants are foreign-born. H-1B. The H-1B program admits up to 195,000 foreign professionals a year to fill jobs after US employers attest that they tried and failed to find US workers while offering prevailing wages. Employers file Labor Condition Applications, often by fax- DOL anticipates 63,000 US employers filing LCAs for 637,000 H-1B workers. Most H-1Bs are hired by the US firms where they work, but a significant minority are employed by middlemen or body brokers who attest to the US Department of Labor that the H-1B workers are needed, but do not have a US job for the H-1Bs to fill after their arrival. DOL issued final regulations implementing the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 in December 2000 that require H-1B dependent employers (15 percent or more H-1B workers) and willful violators of H-1B regulations to identify themselves and agree to additional attestations. DOL estimates that 50 of the 50,000 US employers of H-1Bs will be affected by this part of the regulations. When H-1Bs brought to the US by these middlemen are not working or "benched," sometimes there are disputes between the middleman and the H-1B. Some middlemen allegedly try to reduce the wages they have promised to H-1B workers while they are waiting for work, and some H-1Bs complain of feeling like "prostitutes" as their resumes are shopped by the broker from one US firm to another. Some middlemen do contract IT work for major US firms. They make their money by charging the client firm $70 to $100 an hour for programming services, and paying the H-1B $35 to $50 an hour. Other Guestworkers. A maximum 66,000 H-2B visas can be issued each year. In FY2000, the INS issued 17,285 H-2B visas, up from 14,193 in FY95. In Mexico, some recruiters of H-2B workers charge Mexican workers recruitment fees of up to $1,500. Such fees are technically unlawful in Mexico, but workers report frequently paying them. In Suffolk County on Long Island in New York state, two men were charged with attempted murder when they picked up two Mexican unauthorized workers from a day labor market to dig holes. The Mexican workers were taken to an isolated place and beaten. Farmingville, the village where the attack occurred, is believed to have 10 percent unauthorized workers among its 15,000 residents; the Sachem Quality of Life committee holds regular protests against illegal immigration. California's minimum wage rose from $5.75 to $6.25 on January 1, 2001; it will rise to $6.75 on January 1, 2002 (888-ASK-WAGE). Religious Visas. The US has special immigrant and nonimmigrant visas for religious workers. The Word of Faith Outreach Church was accused by the INS of bringing young Estonians to Baltimore and having them do menial jobs. The church's leaders were convicted in 1999, but a court of appeals ordered a judge to allow the leaders to present a defense that the church did not violate immigration laws because the work benefited the church. The church said on its visa applications that the youth would be missionaries. In fact, they cleaned houses as employees of church-owned businesses. Labor Law. All workers in the US are protected by labor relations and protective labor laws, those that guarantee workers union organizing rights and guarantee workers at least the minimum wage. However, it has often been difficult to fashion effective remedies for unauthorized workers whose labor rights were violated, and to prevent employers from retaliating against workers by, for example, moving their operations overseas. In July 2000, the 120 immigrant workers employed by jewelry-maker Quadrtech Corp. in Los Angeles voted to be represented by the Communications Workers of America, and the next day, Quadrtech said it was moving its operations to Mexico. The NLRB persuaded a federal judge to issue an injunction preventing the move, and in December 2000, Quadrtech agreed to keep its jewelry operations in Los Angeles, and to begin bargaining with the CWA. Labor organizers said that this is the first time that a labor injunction was issued to prevent a retaliatory runaway shop to Mexico. The Chentex factory in Nicaragua and its Taiwan-based parent, Nien Hsing, were sued in December 2000 by the National Labor Committee for Human Rights for operating as a sweatshop to make blue jeans for US consumers.
Gail Gibson, "Church Defends
Work By Students," Baltimore Sun, December 19, 2000. | |
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