Reforming Temporary Worker Programs is the Goal of New Bill in Senate

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/10990

Lede: Reforming temporary worker programs is the goal of legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

The H1-B and L-1 Visa Reform Act would change the temporary worker programs by stepping up U.S. worker recruitment and investment, improving wage standards and strengthening the Department of Labor’s ability to prevent and penalize obvious fraud in the programs among other changes. The AFL-CIO says under current law unscrupulous employers are given license to abuse the programs by exploiting workers. The result is that labor standards are driven down and U.S. workers are often displaced when jobs are outsourced. The reform bill was introduced by Senators Dick Durbin and Charles Grassley. The labor federation says it’s time for America to put an end to employer abuse of these programs. The AFL-CIO supports this reform and says employers should not be able to use these visa worker programs to displace domestic U.S. workers or to intimidate and exploit the so-called guest workers from other countries who participate in the programs.