I never thought it would come to this, but maybe it's time IT workers started thinking about unionizing.

>SNIP
>>Moreover, H-1B workers continue to flood a terrible job market. During 2001 and 2002, 799,100 H-1B visas were issued and renewed despite a 6 percent national unemployment and 8 percent in Silicon Valley. The H-1B visa limits were set during more prosperous economic times but now can't be justified when so many highly trained Americans remain unemployed".
>>
>
>Hi Tom, how did they manage this when in 2000 the annual H-1B quota was raised to 195,000? Who opened the floodgates and how did INS get away with it? I agree that the H-1B program was raised due to supposedly better economic times. I remember just a couple of years ago when there was supposedly such a shortage of IT personnel that employees everywhere were receiving bonuses and higher pay and benefits to come onboard or even just remain with their current employers. It has since come to everyone's knowledge that the supposed shortage of IT personnel never actually existed but was manufactured by corporations looking for justification to raise the H-1B levels to achieve cheaper labor and be more competitive or even just stay alive. And yet the H-1B quota has not been lowered....why is no one complaining?
>
>Supposedely in October 2003, the cap on H-1B visas will drop to 65,000. Of course that still is 65,000 NEW H-1B visas a year for a country with high
>unemployment. Time to get on the phone to Washington and SCREAM.
>
>UPDATE:
>
>This is scarier:
>
>The dreadful 6-year deadline relaxed
>Earlier, if you had applied for your Green Card and meanwhile your 6 years on H1 were over, there was this fear you would have to leave the country.
>
>But NOW, you can apply for extensions of one year at a time, until your Green Card application is processed. Of course, the restriction is that you should have applied for Green Card within 5 years of being on H1.
>
>
>
>from:
>http://www.h1bresources.com/html/newh1bill.shtml
>
>sheesh, anyone can be a U.S. citizen these days and work for cheaper wages. Just wait til they get that green card!