February 2, 2009, - 11:49 am
The Work Americans Won’t Do?!: Bailed Out Banks Hired Thousands of Foreign Workers for Executive Jobs
By Debbie Schlussel
Why are we bailing out banks who are hiring and bringing to America thousands of foreign workers to be corporate senior vice presidents, lawyers, junior investment analysts, and human resources specialists?
This is “the work Americans won’t do”? I don’t think so.
But Associated Press found in an exhaustive investigation that the dozen banks receiving the biggest bailout packages requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the last six years for these jobs, from which Americans were let go.
We constantly hear from corporations (and the Wall Street Journal editorial page) pushing Congress for more foreign worker visas, that these are for “skilled” jobs that Americans aren’t qualified for, that they can’t find any Americans who meet the specifications. So, tell me: Does America have a shortage of lawyers? HA! Junior investment analysts? I’ll tell that to my brother, who does just that and has plenty of friends in his profession looking for jobs. Human resources personnel?
PUH-LEEZE.
Protectionism or not, the fact is that the loss of American jobs is a big factor in our sinking economy. People who lose their jobs don’t have money to buy products, and then companies who can’t sell the products cut jobs to cut costs because no one is buying. Then, those new out-of-work employees can’t buy products, which leads to more layoffs and job terminations. It’s a nasty cycle. And hiring foreigners–and bringing them here on visas–to do work Americans can and will do is a big problem. Again, these visas are supposed to be for jobs Americans won’t fill and/or don’t have the required skills for.
Not the case:
Major U.S. banks sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country for high-paying jobs even as the system was melting down last year and Americans were getting laid off, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.
The dozen banks now receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households.
As the economic collapse worsened last year – with huge numbers of bank employees laid off – the numbers of visas sought by the dozen banks in AP’s analysis increased by nearly one-third, from 3,258 in the 2007 budget year to 4,163 in fiscal 2008.
The AP reviewed visa applications the banks filed with the Labor Department under the H-1B visa program, which allows temporary employment of foreign workers in specialized-skill and advanced-degree positions. Such visas are most often associated with high-tech workers. . . .
During the last three months of 2008, the largest banks that received taxpayer loans announced more than 100,000 layoffs. . . .
David Huber of Chicago is a computer networking engineer who has testified to Congress about losing out on a 2002 job with the former Bank One Corp. He learned later the bank applied to hire dozens of foreign visa holders for work he said he was qualified to do. . . .
“You’re using taxpayer dollars and there’s an expectation that there are benefits to the U.S.,” said Ron Hira, a national expert on foreign employment and assistant public policy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. “What you’re really doing is leaking away those jobs and benefits that should accrue to the taxpayers.”
And look who’s all for this taxpayer subsidy for stealing American jobs:
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes more access to “worldwide talent pools” will better position U.S. financial companies against global competitors, spokesman Andrew Brent said.
Oh, really? Better positioned? For what? A deep depression. That’s what.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declined to disclose details on foreign workers hired at the banks that have received federal bailouts. The AP has requested the information under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
I’m sure the picture won’t be pretty once this info is released.
Nearly all the banks the AP contacted also declined to comment on their foreign hiring practices. . . .
Jennifer Scott of Yreka, Calif., a retired technical systems manager at Bank of America in Concord, Calif., said in 2004 she oversaw foreign employees from a contractor firm that also sent overnight work to employees in India.
“It had nothing to do with a shortage, but they didn’t want to pay the U.S. rate,” she said, adding that the quality of the work was weak. “It’s all about numbers crunching.”
As I’ve noted in the past, there are law firms–like Cohen & Grigsby–that specialize in teaching corporations how to cheat Americans out of jobs and avoid hiring them so they can hire cheap foreigners and bring them here on those visas. Sadly, the feds–while initially investigating one law firm caught on video–declined to prosecute.
And so it continues. We subsidize the elimination of American jobs and the creation of a new class of foreign workers coming here to take our white collar jobs.
More reasons why bail outs don’t work.
The problem is bigger than a jobs for Americans issue (and I totally I agree that this is big jobs for Americans issue). Why would banks need to import “corporate lawyers”? Since when do foreign law schools teach American law? As for “senior vice presidents”, you only get to those types of positions after you know how to work the system.
I think we are going to start seeing these banks stop acting in the interests of this country both politically and economically. Since the major banks are the lifeblood of the American economy (look at what has happened since these banks stopped lending) the shape and direction of American commerce will be at the whim of foreign interests.
i_am_me on February 2, 2009 at 12:37 pm