the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, President Trump took action earlier today to prevent Americans from being displaced by foreign workers and offshore labor using federal dollars. In a new executive order the President combats the misuse of H-1B visas, which too often have been exploited to replace qualified U.S. workers with lower-cost foreign ones. President Trump is directing all federal agencies to focus on hiring Americans for lucrative federal contracts, and it requires that only U.S. citizens be appointed to the government’s competitive service.
The decision comes following news that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)—created in 1933 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal—planned to outsource 20 percent of its technology jobs to companies based in foreign countries. That action alone would’ve put more than 200 American jobs at risk.
Even worse,outsourcing hundreds of jobs during a global pandemic would be especially detrimental to these workers, their families, and their communities. Then today, something remarkable happened. During the meeting to sign the executive order, President Trump was informed that TVA CEO Jeff Lyash had just called and “indicated a very strong willingness to reverse course” on the outsourcing plan.
American workers will be protected going forward, “We’re not just solving your problem,” Vice President Mike Pence told workers gathered at the White House . “What the President’s committing to today is to end the abuse of our worker visa program, once and for all.”
Finally a big action on the H1-B’s! This is something Obama ran on, and then promptly dropped. Thank you President Trump!
Obama dropped it because it was during his Presidency that the Dems became pro immigration of any kind (illegal or legal). They determined that the majority of all immigrants were likely to vote Democrat once they became citizens and saw it all as a way of transforming what has traditionally been a right-of-center persuasion among the populace.
A well-known American company I work at steadily offshores well-paying white collar jobs abroad. First they moved jobs from NYC to other parts of the country where cost of living is cheaper. Then, they moved those 2nd tier jobs to Mexico. With remote working success, the move will accelerate.
Trump has done very well with limiting visas. A great step indeed. But it’s way way not enough as long as same employers have the option of hiring abroad.
We risk more and more experienced employees losing ability to maintain middle class lifestyle. And as recent protests by college educated youth have demonstrated, vast number of recent college grads are unemployed or serving coffee and beer, part time.
If this continues any longer, I see Trump and Bernie voters unite and go after managerial elites who’ve been outsourcing America’s future to get a raise.