Ron DeSantis Slams H-1B Program
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced Congress’s H-1B visa program for undercutting white-collar wages and displacing American graduates.
In a fast-paced August 14 interview with CNBC, DeSantis was asked:
You get a lot of questions about immigration, particularly at the border. I know you’ve covered that extensively in an interview recently with my colleague … at MSNBC. So I’ll ask about H-1B visas. Would you support allowing more H-1B visa immigration to the United States? I’m sure a lot of counties, say like rural Florida. would love to have a qualified doctor, no matter where that doctor is from.
DeSantis answered:
Yeah, but the problem is the way that has been implemented. They will bring in people — in technology — from other countries who work for lower rates than what Americans worked for. And so I don’t support undercutting American wages, and the H-1B program has been used to do that.
I used to kind of when people would say, ‘Hey, why not just have people that are credentialed?’ And I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, why not? ” But the way it’s been operated, I think, has lowered wages for Americans and that’s what you don’t want.
If it’s an addition for the economy that benefits the American people, that’s one thing. But if it’s displacing an American worker, that’s not good.
DeSantis’s new statement may be intended to shore up his sagging poll numbers among GOP voters with college degrees.
In 2020, deputies for then-President Donald Trump processed several rules to protect Americans from H-1B replacements, but those protections were wiped away by President Joe Biden.
In 2021, federal researchers at the Department of Labor concluded the H-1B program allows employers to hire underpaid visa workers instead of Americans. The underpayment adds up to roughly $150 billion over 10 years, compared to the market wages for American graduates, said the report. Other reports show the program displaces American graduates.
The artificially low wage means the government is “subsidizing the employers at the expense of the [American] workers,” said Ron Hira, a H-1B expert at Howard University.
The federal government also allows employers to keep roughly 600,000 H-1Bs workers in the United States, alongside roughly 1.5 million additional visa workers imported via the L-1, J-1, OPT, and other programs.
DeSantis’s statement will likely prompt much criticism from groups and individuals that support the program. In 2021, hired researchers claimed that Trump’s temporary curbs on the H-1B inflow in 2020 chopped $100 billion from the Wall Street value of U.S. companies.
NLRB Complaint: Google and Accenture Violated Labor Laws by Laying Off Contractors Who Voted to Unionize
Google parent company Alphabet and Accenture are facing allegations of violating labor laws, after about 80 Google Help subcontractors who recently voted to unionize were laid off. The workers have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that claims the layoffs were in retaliation for the union vote.
Engadget reports that around 80 Google Help subcontractors who recently voted to unionize were fired, prompting accusations that Alphabet and Accenture violated labor laws. The Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA) has filed a complaint with the NLRB, claiming the layoffs are retaliatory and in violation of labor laws.
Google walkout protest (Bryan R. Smith/Getty)
“When my coworkers and I announced our union with overwhelming support, Google and Accenture management refused to acknowledge us,” said general writer at Accenture and Google, Anjail Muhammad. “A few short weeks later they announced their response — that they would be laying off dozens of employees. These jobs aren’t going away though, we’re just being asked to train our replacements abroad.”
The team, primarily involved in content creation, will be reduced from 130 people to around 40. They were reportedly instructed to train replacements working from India and the Philippines.
Alphabet’s response to the situation has been to distance itself from the issue, stating that “Google does not control [the contractor’s] employment terms or working conditions” and that the situation was “a matter between them and their employer, Accenture.” The company further added that the layoffs were for savings and efficiency and no other reason, and that it “chooses its partners and staffing agencies carefully and reviews their compliance with its Supplier Code of Conduct.”
The situation has raised significant questions about the rights and protections of contract workers, especially in the tech industry, where the majority of Google’s employees have been contractors since 2018.
“We had exercised our right to organize as members of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA in order to bring both Google and Accenture, a Google subcontractor, to the bargaining table to negotiate on several key demands, including layoff protections,” said senior writer and union member Julia Nagatsu Granstrom.
“If it’s Accenture and Google’s goal to demoralize us, they have failed,” said Casey Padron, a general writer on the team scheduled to lose her job in August. “We are more united than ever and will continue to fight for this job that so many of us love and rely on.”
Read more at Engadget here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
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