There was good news for Cisco investors last week when the company reported earnings of 70 cents per share, which led to shares rising more than 6 percent. The news is not so good, however, if you happen to be an American looking to work at the networking hardware firm.
According to Bloomberg Law, a Department of Labor (DOL) investigation just concluded that Cisco has been passing on native-born workers in favor of foreigners holding work visas. During a routine audit required for all government contractors, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs reportedly found evidence the firm had been securing visas for foreign workers (whom they paid at a lower rate), rather than hiring U.S. citizens for certain jobs.
While Cisco has denied some of the allegations, it is noteworthy that almost exactly one year ago Cisco’s Executive Chairman John Chambers was confessing to reporters at a conference in India that it was a “mistake” to use H-1B visas to replace American workers.
“We have to be careful not to misstep. You cannot go in and take a whole bunch of H1-B visas and displace 500 American workers because you can do it at lower costs. That was just a mistake. I think we have to focus on investment,” said Chambers, who also is the head of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data show Cisco had 1,587 new and renewed H-1B visa holders in 2017, with an average salary of $128,389.
The company ranks 29 among all visa sponsors and is among a growing number of Silicon Valley companies that are gobbling up visa applications from Indian outsourcing companies who have been affected by Trump administration immigration policies.
And they are hiring for higher-paying jobs too. For example, foreigners who work for Apple Computers earn an average annual salary of $139,000, Google ($132,000), Microsoft ($126,000), Cisco ($121,000) and Amazon ($115,000).
So are these companies who proclaim to be socially-conscious getting the best bang for their (less than a) buck?
According to Norm Matloff, a professor at the University of California at Davis, they are not and are harming the nation in the process. According to his and others’ research, Matloff found that on a per capita basis, “the former foreign students in computer science file fewer patents, are less likely to work in research and development and have degrees from less selective U.S. universities.”
Essentially, he continues, “this amounts to replacing stronger people with weaker ones in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — the STEM fields. The harm this brings to our economy, our ability to innovate and our general national interest is immense.”
The heads of Facebook, Twitter and Google head back to Capitol Hill to discuss Russian meddling in the elections. Maybe Congress ought to ask them about their overuse of H-1B visas and how they are undermining the American worker – while they have them under oath.
4 Comments
No visa for any foreign workers other than field workers. They must train & hire American citizens in this country for these jobs
Last week the border patrol caught people sneaking in our southern border from INDIA to got work in the California TECH industry
I first heard of the abuses of the Visa program , several years ago. Disney exchanged 200 American soft wear people with Indian imported labor, finding the new hires deficiently skilled, they held the severance package up on those ejected Americans until they trained the new lower paid Indians. I don’t recall Senator Nelson doing much more than putting out a brief statement. Gerry Fischer
The Washington DC super powerful business lobbies will fight this tooth ‘n’ nail. US companies have been abusing the H1b and L1 visas for many years and getting away with it every time!!
It’s simply getting worse!! In my local midwestern part of the country, it is absolutely pathetic and companies have been abusing their own countrymen by bringing in Indian H1b and L1 people for as long as I can remember. For consultants, the hourly rates are in the toilet because companies want Americans to accept the low rates they pay to Indian consultants.
$60 to $75 per hours, in exchange, for example for massive SAP skills, DevOps, enterprise architects, etc., etc. are slap in the face to fellow Americans!! STOP THE H1b and L1 ABUSE NOW. NO MORE DRAGGING FEET OR FALLING ON DEAF EARS. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!
All these big companies have offices offshore, they actually dont need these many foreign workers. Even if they move them to the offshore locations. They can save a lot of money to hire top tech professionals locally. This is absolute misuse of the law. The biggest issue is the H1b extensions, which has allowed a big pool of H1b candidates to stay back even after the 6 yrs period. This provision has to be cancelled, and overtime things should certainly improve.