opinion

Visas, TPP deal threaten U.S. workers

Having unfettered access to lawmakers, corporate lobbyists come bearing gifts and influence, drowning out the voices of constituents. The symbiotic marriage between corporations and politicians, Republican and Democrat alike, wreaks havoc on the American worker.

Witness two recent issues: the H-1B visa program and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Arrogantly ignoring the destruction left in the wake of a kaleidoscope of temptations, corporate contributions to political elites solidify politicians' barricades against would-be challengers, while corporate giants exploit cheap labor provided by immigration and refugee resettlement policies.

And, if you thought the highly skilled technologically educated American workers were safe ... guess again.

Corporations, through the H-1B visa program, are displacing technically skilled Americans with cheaper foreign workers as well. These positions generally include occupations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The H-1B program was intended to allow companies to fill positions that could not be filled by qualified Americans. Additionally, U.S. workers' wages and working conditions were not to be adversely affected by the program.

To qualify for an H-1B visa, foreign nationals seeking temporary U.S. employment must have a bachelor's degree or equivalent and qualify for the prevailing wage for such a position.

It's not a huge leap to foresee abuses by corporate lawyers who would, without a doubt, find loopholes.

In 2002-03, under Gov. Jeb Bush, information technology workers at Siemens in Florida not only lost their jobs but were required to train their replacements from India-based Tata Consultancy Service.

Train your replacement and don't publicly complain about it or lose your severance package. Sounds like blackmail to me, but what do I know?

In 2003, when she was a senator, Hillary Clinton attended the grand opening of Tata's satellite office in Buffalo, New York. More recently, Southern California Edison, the largest utility company in California, used Infosys — based in Bangalore, India — and Tata to replace 400 IT employees. In October, Walt Disney laid off about 250 IT employees who were also required to train their foreign replacements provided by India-based HCL America.

How do American companies circumvent laws forbidding displacement of American workers?

Technically, H-1B visa workers are supplied to American companies as subcontractors through shell companies who employ them (e.g. Tata). Protections intended for American workers, applicable to employees, are not applicable to subcontractors. It's how workers are classified.

FWD.us, a super PAC created by corporate royalty including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, lobbies to increase high-tech cheap foreign labor through a feel-good movement "Immigration Heritage Month," which critics cynically dubbed "Cheap Foreign Labor Movement."

And it's working! Republicans Bush, Marco Rubio and Orrin Hatch — arm-in-arm with democrats Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and even Hillary Clinton — press for increasing numbers of H-1B visas.

Odd political bedfellows also battle over the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership. I never thought I would agree with Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but so does Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions. Both have read TPP and believe it would undermine U.S. sovereignty. Sessions asserts immigration and globalization are lowering American wages and employment.

Did Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer at least scan the highly-secretive TPP document he aggressively supports?

According to Citizen.org, TPP isn't only about trade. Of the 29 draft chapters, only five deal with trade. "One chapter would provide incentives to offshore jobs to low-wage countries." And, letting no good deed go unpunished, "Our federal, state and local policies would be required to comply with (international) TPP rules."

President Obama, the majority of congressional Republicans and corporate giants have been successful in passing the Trade Promotion Authority, also known as "fast-track," which doesn't guarantee approval of TPP, but prevents Congress from amending any deal negotiated by the president.

Only time will tell how trade agreements made by Obama will affect income inequality and the American worker.

Like a replay of a bad movie — "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." Only, the characters have changed to protect the guilty.

This is the opinion of AJ Kern , a politically engaged resident of Sauk Rapids. Her column is published the first Thursday of the month.