IFPTE Commends Sens. Grassley and Durbin and Rep. Pascrell on Introducing the Bipartisan H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Faraz Khan, fkhan@ifpte.org
As the national unemployment rate is trending toward 20% and Americans are looking to Congress for policies that support workers and communities, IFPTE applauds the introduction of the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2020. This bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Senator Charles Grassley and Senator Richard Durbin in the Senate and by Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. in the House, acknowledges the structural problems with the H-1B and L-1 visa programs and moves us toward meaningful reforms for these high-skills guestworker visa programs.
For over 25 years, the H-1B program has shifted bargaining power to employers at the disadvantage of both U.S. workers and H-1B workers. The H-1B visa program has let employers undercut wages, allowed the displacement of American workers, increased job insecurity in STEM occupations, and disincentivized employers from recruiting workers already in the U.S. Further, the design of the H-1B visa bonds guest workers to their H-1B sponsoring employer, restricting their labor market mobility and leaving them vulnerable coercive employment conditions.
Right now, IFPTE members employed at the Tennessee Valley Authority are fighting to stop their employer from outsourcing their jobs to H-1B dependent firms. These firms utilize the outsourcing-offshoring model that not only displaces workers in America, but eventually transfers jobs and knowledge to other countries. That TVA – a federal power agency with a public service mission to support regional economic development – joins employers like Disney, PG&E, AT&T, and the University of California-San Francisco in outsourcing work to offshore outsourcing firms raises the question about the obligation our national economic policies have in ensuring high labor standards for all workers in the U.S., preventing the displacement of American workers, and keeping American jobs in our economy.
The severe economic crisis our nation finds itself in only adds to the urgency for reforming high-skills guestworker visas and addressing longstanding economic and employment policies that harm working Americans. IFPTE appreciates Senators Grassley and Durban and Representative Pascrell leading the bipartisan effort in Congress to reform the H-1B and L-1 visa programs.