Chao: U.S. Workers Need Hygiene and Anger-Management

Following defeat of S. 1639, the amnesty/guest worker bill, foreign labor advocates said that they might seek legislation to bring in more high tech workers and other categories of labor. Some claim that the issue is not cheap labor, but the inferior quality of American workers.

Echoing this viewpoint is Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, quoted recently in Parade Magazine (7/1/07). "You could lose your job to a foreign worker," said the Parade article, "not because he's cheaper, but because he has better workplace skills and discipline. That's the message . . . Elaine Chao hears from U.S. executives. . . ." Chao stated, "American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene. They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something."

Critics of this view say that a subservient workforce, afraid to assert any rights, is what some employers want. Chao is the wife of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), one of the leading advocates of S. 1639.

Companies Push for H-1B Visa Increase

High-tech companies are pressuring Congress to increase the H-1B visas which allow the companies to import foreigners to take high-tech jobs in the U.S. They claim that they cannot find sufficient numbers of Americans to do these jobs. Many American tech workers disagree, saying that the companies do as little as they possibly can to comply with the law requiring that they try to hire Americans first.

Among evidence they cite is a video posed by the law firm Cohen & Grigsby giving advice to employers on how to hire the foreign workers they really want while keeping the bare letter of the requirement to seek Americans. Said attorney Lawrence Lebowitz, "We're going to try to find a place [to advertise] where we are complying with the law and hoping, and likely, not to find qualified and interested [American] worker applicants."

A study by the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies recently found that "far from being a source of highly-skilled labor, the H-1B program now operates to supply U.S. employers with cheap workers. Analysis of data from the Department of Labor shows that very few H-1B workers are 'highly skilled' and that their wages are well below those of comparable U.S. workers." Source: InformationWeek 6/18/07; www.cis.org Low Salaries for Low Skills: Wages and Skill Levels for H-1B Computer Workers by John Miano.