Visa caps should be lifted, employers say
Business Gazette, MD - Jun 24, 2008
Opponents of the program, which include the technical trade groups Programmers Guild and American Engineering Association, recently filed a lawsuit in ...

Labor probing work of major immigration law firm
The Associated Press - Jun 24, 2008
... qualified American workers," said Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, an advocacy group that believes immigrant hiring rules are too lax. ...

Bush Administration: Tech workers won't be hurt by visa extension
Computerworld, MA - Jun 24, 2008
The administration was responding to a lawsuit filed in May by the Immigration Reform Institute, The Programmers Guild and other groups challenging the ...

H-1B visas do not create new jobs
InfoWorld, CA - Jun 24, 2008
Back on Oct. 25, 2005, I published excerpts from a study by John Miano, a member of the board of directors for the Programmers Guild, which refuted claims, ...

Steep Penalty for H-1B Scammer
eWeek,  NY - Jun 18, 2008
Groups such as the Programmers' Guild, a non-profit which works to advance the issues of IT pros, that have long argued that the visa system is rife with ...

June 2008 immigration update - Part I
IndiaPost.com, CA - Jun 15, 2008
The law suit has been filed by Immigration Reform Law Institute and joined by the Programmers Guild and other groups, charging that the Administration's ...

AFL-CIO says student visa extension hurts tech wages
Computerworld, MA - Jun 13, 2008
Opposition groups, including the Programmers Guild, are seeking a temporary injunction in US District Court in Newark, NJ, against the rule change. ...

iGate isn't only 'villain' hiring foreign high-tech workers
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA - Jun 8, 2008
One party in the suit, the Programmers Guild, is the whistleblower that brought iGate's ads to the Justice Department. John Miano, a former programmer, ...

H-1B opponents challenge Bush administration in court
Computerworld, MA - May 31, 2008
The suit, filed in US District Court in Newark, NJ, by the Immigration Reform Law Institute and joined by The Programmers Guild and other groups, ...

IRLI Sues Department of Homeland Security
Earthtimes (press release), UK - May 29, 2008
Three professional organizations, the Programmers Guild, American Engineering Association, and Brightfuturejobs.com, as well as individual members injured ...

MarketPlace News
Processor.com, NE - May 15, 2008
The Civil Rights Division’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-related Unfair Employment Practices investigated the Programmers Guild complaint and ..

The Immigration Squeeze
Workforce Management, Ca - May 11, 2008
"It’s completely unnecessary," says John Miano, a Summit, New Jersey, lawyer and computer consultant who founded the Programmers Guild. ...

DOJ settles H-1B job ad case for $45000
Computerworld, MA - May 5, 2008
A complaint against iGate Mastech was filed by the Programmers Guild in 2006. It was one of dozens of complaints lodged by the Summit, NJ-based organization ...

Consulting firm settles H-1B discrimination case
EETimes.com - May 3, 2008
The Programmers Guild opposed the plan in a separate letter to Congress. "Once obtaining a BS degree becomes a path to US citizenship, US universities and ...
Company Fined for Favoring H-1B Holders in Hiring IT Business Edge
Company Posting "H-1B Only" Job Ads Fined $45K eWeek
DoJ beats up tech firm for H1-B only job ads Register

Firm fined $45000 over alleged H-1B favoritism
CNET News.com, CA - May 2, 2008
A Pittsburgh computer consulting company accused of showing a preference for H-1B temporary visa holders in its job vacancy ads has agreed to pay a $45000 ...

Homeland Agency May Expand High-Skill Foreign Student Stay
Workforce Management, Ca - Apr 4, 2008
“It’s completely unnecessary,” says John Miano, a Summit, New Jersey, lawyer and computer consultant who founded the Programmers Guild. ...

MarketPlace News
Processor.com, NE - Apr 3, 2008
At the same time, H-1B critic The Programmers Guild offered a set of rules that includes a provision that visas be given to workers based on the salaries ...

H-1B Visa Petition Race For Fiscal 2009 Is Underway
InformationWeek, NY - Apr 1, 2008
Kim Berry, president of US IT worker advocacy group Programmers Guild, says he's looking for several H-1B visa reforms, including "replacing the random ...

Skilled-Worker Visa Demand Expected To Far Exceed Supply
Washington Post, United States - Mar 31, 2008
... allows companies to fill jobs with foreigners even when qualified Americans are available for them," said Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild. ...

Another Wave of H-1Bs on the Way
MSNBC - Mar 31, 2008
"Raising the cap would be a boon for Indian bodyshops," says Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild. "These firms produce nothing of value while they ..

Visa lottery for skilled workers has doubters
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX - Mar 31, 2008
John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, said the country's liberal immigration policy threatens the jobs of American computer programmers, ...

Firms try working around visa shortage
Los Angeles Times, CA - Mar 31, 2008
"This is an outsourcing visa," said Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, a Summit, NJ-based advocacy group that opposes more H-1B visas. ...

US firms brace for new squeeze on high-tech visas
AFP - Mar 29, 2008
Kim Berry of the Programmers Guild, an association of IT professionals who claims US workers are hurt by the visa program, says it can be fixed with an ...

Feds Take Hard Line on Immigrant Hiring, Visa Shortage for High ...
Workforce Management, Ca - Mar 28, 2008
Another critic, Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, proposed that the H-1B allocations be based not on a lottery but on how much an employer is ...

Tech firms make new push for H-1B visas
San Jose Mercury News,  USA - Mar 28, 2008
The Programmers Guild, an advocacy group for US computer programmers, has argued that the skilled-worker visa system has not protected the rights of US ...

Firms find skilled-worker visas too hard to get
Boston Globe, United States - Mar 23, 2008
Some US companies also abuse the L-1 system, according to Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, a group that seeks to protect the jobs of US ...

New limits put on lottery to get visa for top jobs
Chicago Tribune, United States - Mar 19, 2008
"We're talking about protecting the American worker," said Kim Berry, whose New Jersey-based group, the Programmers Guild, is made up of recently laid-off ...

US sets rules to keep H-1B visa lottery fair
Computerworld, MA - Mar 19, 2008
And while the USCIS set its criteria, the Programmers Guild, a Summit NJ-based group that has been an outspoken critic of the H-1B program, offered up its ...

Employers Prohibited From Filing Multiple H-1B Visa Petitions For ...
InformationWeek, NY - Mar 19, 2008
Meanwhile, American IT professional advocacy group Programmers Guild today is faxing a letter to USCIS urging the agency to dump its lottery method of ...

H1B Visas - Labor Shortage ? Not Really.
Gather.com, MA - Mar 17, 2008
The Programmers Guild, a trade union of IT workers, is fighting this attempt to shaft hundreds of thousands of American engineers and computer programmers. ...

Five reasons why the H-1B visa cap will increase
Computerworld, MA - Mar 15, 2008
The Programmers Guild has been effective in raising issues, but the real heavy weight organization, with true lobbying ability, is the IEEE-USA, ...

Bill Gates says immigration, education reform needed for US to compete
EETimes.com - Mar 12, 2008
Programmers Guild, an IT worker advocacy group that is against raising the H-1B visa cap, spoke out against Gates' proposals. ...

Gates to Advocate for Increase in Quota for Highly Skilled Foreign ...
CQPolitics.com, DC - Mar 11, 2008
“Anyone can set up a corporation to sponsor H1B visas,” said John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, an organization of computer programmers that ...

Study: H-1Bs prompt more, not fewer, American hires
CNET News.com, CA - Mar 10, 2008
In response to concerns from American computer programmer groups like Programmers Guild, some senators have proposed imposing additional obligations on US ...

Should the US Be Training Its Competitors?
New York Sun - Feb 5, 2008
The Programmers Guild and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers are two such groups claiming that foreigners drive down wages for their ...  

[Nov 23, 2007] A recent study, "The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers -- FY 2004," by Programmers Guild board member John Miano, found that H-1B workers in computer jobs were paid an average of $13000 less than US workers in the same jobs. From US Senate approves H-1B visa increase - InfoWorld

Nov 3, 2007] AP. SAN JOSE - The placards made clear this was not your typical immigrant-rights march: "We played by the rules, now it's your turn," read one. "Legal immigrants keep America competitive," read another. High-tech workers here on federal permits are speaking out - many for the first time - about ... From Green-card delays stall tech firms - AZ Central.com

Foreign tech workers protest over snarled visa issue
International Herald Tribune, France - October 30, 2007
The green card application system is akin to "indentured servitude," said Kim Berry, president of the Programmers' Guild, a group that opposes current work ...

The Visa Shortage: Big Problem, Easy Fix
BusinessWeek - Oct 17, 2007
John Miano, of the anti-outsourcing advocacy group Programmers Guild (programmersguild.org). says these visas are frequently used to import low-level ...

Tension Growing Between Tech Groups Regarding Green Card Proposals
InformationWeek, NY - Oct 16, 2007
The Programmers Guild opposes expansion of the green card program for foreign tech workers, while the Semiconductor Industry Assoc. and IEEE-USA asked ...

US Tech Workers Fight Back
BusinessWeek - Oct 16, 2007
The Programmers Guild is issuing a rebuttal following calls for unlimited green cards for some foreign workers. Can Congress reach a compromise? by Moira ...

More green cards benefit US tech firms, workers, Congress told
CNet News.com Blog - Oct 12, 2007
The Programmers Guild, a group that represents American computer programmers and has been especially hostile H-1B increases, argues the changes sought by ...

The Great Tech Worker Divide
BusinessWeek - Oct 9, 2007
Meanwhile, John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, which represents tech workers, calls the idea of a labor shortage in technology the "big lie" that ...

Hiring video's aftermath: Law firm says words ill-chosen, but ...
Computerworld, MA - Oct 5, 2007
But when Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild in Summit, NJ, saw the video, he annotated excerpts of it and posted his version on youtube. ...

The Myths And Facts Driving The H-1B Debate
InformationWeek, NY - Jul 20, 2007
That's a standard rife with loopholes, says John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, which acts as an advocate for the software programming community. ...

Private Office or Cubicle for developers: The Debate Goes On
Computerworld Australia, Australia - Jul 13, 2007
John Miano, founder of The Programmers Guild in Summit, also believes that software development operations would improve if employers provided a workspace ...

Microsoft Looks To Dodge Visa Limits With Canadian Software Center
InformationWeek, NY - Jul 5, 2007
Conversely, worker groups such as the Programmers Guild claim that no such shortage exists and say tech vendors simply want to import cheap labor. ...

H-1B Bump: Not Dead Yet
CIO Insight, IL - Jul 2, 2007
Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, a Summit, NJ-based advocacy organization for computer programmers and technology workers, says high-tech ...

The vanishing American computer programmer
Christian Science Monitor, MA - Jul 1, 2007
The video was lifted from the law firm's website and put on YouTube by the Programmers Guild, a nonprofit group with 1500 members, most of them older than ...

Immigration vote sinks H-1B visa deal
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - Jun 30, 2007
Now, H-1B critics such as Rochester Institute of Technology Professor Ron Hira and Sacramento programmer Kim Berry -- who forced the job shop issue into the ...

YouTube video puts sharp focus on tech job ads
ComputerworldUK, UK - Jun 29, 2007
The video was posted by the Programmers Guild, a Summit, professional association. It features excerpts from a series of videos that were posted previously ...

Visa spat: Indian firms in line of fire
Times of India, India - Jun 29, 2007
The clip, which was posted by a US programmers guild, has outraged American workers. One of the responses to the you tube video advocated violence to drive ...

H-1B Increase Dealt Death Blow
eWeek,  NY - Jun 28, 2007
IT worker advocates such as the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a tech union, and the Programmers Guild, a tech worker advocacy, ...

Controversial YouTube video puts sharp focus on tech job ads
Computerworld, MA - Jun 28, 2007
The video was posted on June 16 by the Programmers Guild, a Summit, NJ-based professional association. It features excerpts from a series of videos that ...

Law Firm Helps Give H-1B a Bad Name
IT Business Edge, KY - Jun 27, 2007
It was promptly picked up by the president of the Programmers Guild, which opposes expansion of programs that make it easier for US firms to export foreign ...

Law Firm's Video a 'Blatant Disregard for American Workers'
eWeek,  NY - Jun 26, 2007
The Programmers Guild, a tech industry interest group out of Summit, NJ, posted a video on YouTube June 16 featuring excerpts from a series of videos ...

Legal immigrants wary of reform
The Argus, CA - Jun 7, 2007
"The law is just ridiculously set up to be abused with impunity," said Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild. "This is the engine that drives off-shoring ...

New Immigration Bill Amendment Could Help Keep Foreign Tech ...
InformationWeek, NY - May 31, 2007
In a statement, US tech-professional advocacy group the Programmers Guild, called the amendment "a declaration of war on American tech workers."

Everyone agrees it's flawed, but how to fix it? Federal ...
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - May 26, 2007
Washington resident Rennie Sawade, a 44-year-old software engineer affiliated with the Programmers Guild, an organization of tech workers opposed to the ...

Bill Could Force H-1B Employers To Fund US Scholarships
InformationWeek, NY - May 24, 2007
... pursuing tech-related degrees was proposed to lawmakers last fall by Kim Berry, president of the IT professional advocacy group Programmers Guild. ...

Labor Pains
HPCwire, CA - May 17, 2007
The Programmers Guild, an advocacy group for professional IT workers, estimates that 80 percent of H-1B holders are paid substantially less than their US ...

US Senators Lambaste Outsourcing Firms
PC World - May 15, 2007
The senators' letter also seeks to address pay: "Some groups, such as the Programmers Guild, have analyzed the wages paid to H-1B visa holders. ...

Senators propose infinite H-1Bs for advanced degree holders
ZDNet - May 15, 2007
John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, a group that is concerned about foreigners displacing American computer programmers, said the proposal's ...

Senators say offshore firms are H-1B visas' biggest users
Computerworld, MA - May 15, 2007
The question about the average wage paid to H-1B visa holders was apparently sparked by a Programmers Guild study (download PDF) from December 2005 that ...

US lawmakers ask Indian firms to explain use of H-1B visas
Hindustan Times, India - May 14, 2007
Some groups, such as the Programmers Guild, have analysed the wages paid to H-1B visa holders. They have found that the average annual salary of foreign ...

Bill To Increase H-1B Visa Makes A Comeback In Congress
InformationWeek, NY - Apr 19, 2007
... to drive down wages," said Kim Berry, president of IT professional advocacy group, the Programmers Guild in an e-mail interview with InformationWeek. ...

Visa curbs may spawn offshoring
Mangalorean.com, India - Apr 6, 2007
... that there are not enough skilled workers at ten to twenty thousand dollars below the market rate," said John Miano, founder of The Programmers Guild. ... Guild president Kim Berry added by e-mail: "The fact that the cap was reached in one day indicates how important a cap is. The software job market is flat

Senate Bill Gives US Workers First Dibs on H-1B Jobs
eWeek, MA - Apr 6, 2007
[In June 2006, the Programmers Guild, an IT worker interest group, announced that they'd filed 300 discrimination complaints already that year against ...

US firms turn abroad as H-1B visa caps bite
Financial Express, India - Apr 6, 2007
That's the reason why these companies love these visas," said John Miano, founder of The Programmers Guild. Guild president Kim Berry added by e-mail: "The ...

Does H-1B surge mean cap should be raised?
CNET News.com, CA - Apr 4, 2007
Programmers Guild founder John Miano had a different take. The run on the visas is nothing short of "an organized campaign to exhaust the quota as quickly ...

New bill could make H-1B visas harder to get
iT News, Australia - Apr 4, 2007
Kim Berry, president of IT professional group Programmer's Guild, said in an interview he hopes the Durbin-Grassley bill gains traction but would like to ...

Tech firms scramble for visas
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - April 1, 2007
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sacramento software engineer Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild -- which he describes as "disproportionately over age 40 and disproportionately ...

Tech worker scramble for employment visas to start
Alameda Times-Star, CA - Mar 31, 2007
By Michele R. Marcucci, STAFF WRITER
Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, which represents hundreds of tech workers across the country, said some companies are abusing the visas for ...

Region's firms scramble for worker visas
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA - Mar 27, 2007
But, Kim Berry of Sacramento, president of the Programmers' Guild, a "virtual" organization representing US programmers, believes there are a sufficient ...

Is There a Shortage of US Tech Workers?
Intranet Journal, CT - Mar 27, 2007
Their attitude is exemplified by the Programmers Guild, which claims that bringing in more foreign workers will enable US companies to pay $25000 less to ...

Bill Gates demands more H-1B visas
NDTV.com, India - Mar 20, 2007
The Congress is aware of this, but because of industry lobbyist has refused to close it," said John Maino, President, Programmers' Guild. ...

What Bill Gates Didn't Say: H-1B Limits Will Lead To More Outsourcing
InformationWeek, NY - Mar 13, 2007
If you believe groups like the Programmers Guild, it's because they want to replace expensive American workers with lower paid foreigners. ...

Gates: US Needs More Engineers
Wireless Week - Mar 8, 2007
Programmers Guild President Kim Berry argued that foreign workers "are pushing Americans out of the market." Gates also recommended that the government ...

Gates calls for 'infinite' visas
Monterey County Herald, CA - Mar 8, 2007
Kim Berry, a computer programmer in Sacramento, Calif., and president of the Programmers Guild, said his group opposes creation of more visas because they ...

Programmers Guild Proposal
CNet News.com Blog - Mar 7, 2007
But it likely does not include the Programmers Guild proposal to raise the H-1b fee on employers to $5000 per year. With about 500000 H-1b workers in the US ...

Programmers Guild fears lame duck Congress will pass the Skil Bill
InfoWorld, CA - Nov 10, 2006
Programmers Guild president Kim Berry sent out an alert to his minions today asking them to contact their elected representatives not to vote for the Skil [Securing Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership], Senate Bill 2691 and its counterpart in the House H.R. 5744, sponsored by Republican John Cornyn in the Senate and Rep. John Shadegg [R-AZ] in the House.

Should H-1B Employers Pay For US Students' Degrees?
Information Week Weblog, NY - Nov 1, 2006
Would more Americans pursue technology careers if those students got their college educations for free? The Programmers Guild is about to announce a new proposal advocating that the U.S. government provide "100% subsidies" of tuition and expenses for American students enrolled in degree programs in computer science, engineering . . . funded by hiking government fees that U.S. companies pay to employ foreign H-1B visa holders to $5,000 per worker, per year.

Programmers Guild Calls on Congress to include U.S. Worker Protections in the Pending SKIL Bill
American Chronicle, CA - Oct 14, 2006
... “It is legal to sponsor H-1b workers even when qualified US workers are available,” according to Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild. ...

Help Wanted: H-1B Visa Required
Information Week Weblog, NY - Oct 6, 2006
... The e-mail came from Roy Lawson, a member of the Programmers Guild, a professional society that has been highly critical of the H-1B visa program. ...

Hired hands: Wait for green card tries visa holders
Sacramento Bee,  USA - Aug 3, 2006
... There wouldn't be so many people waiting for green cards if there weren't so many people on H-1B visas," said Kim Berry, a Sacramento high-tech worker who is president of a group called Programmers Guild, an anti ...

Brief: Open Up H-1B Apps So US Workers Can Apply, Advocate Says
InformationWeek, NY - Jul 24, 2006
US IT worker advocacy group the Programmers Guild has asked the Labor Department to provide public access to employers' H-1B application data for fiscal 2007sooner rather than later. In a letter sent to a Labor official last week, guild president Kim Berry says he wants U.S. tech workers to have the chance to more fairly compete for jobs that might otherwise go to foreigners.

Programmers Guild Pushes for H-1B Transparency
eWeek, MA - Jul 21, 2006
... In the open letter to William Carlson, chief of the Division of Foreign Labor Certification, Programmers Guild President Kim Berry requested on behalf of the "displaced, unemployed, and underemployed U.S. tech workers" that the FY 2007 LCA (Labor Conditions Applications) database be made publicly viewable, so that U.S. tech workers can apply for these positions while they are still open. ...

Programmer's Guild Wants Feds to Open H1B Request Data
Technocrat.net, MA - Jul 20, 2006
A domestic advocacy group, the Programmers Guild, is requesting the US Department of Labor to release the data they allege is being held on which companies ...

Group Wants US Govt. To Reveal Who's Asking For H-1B Workers Now
Information Week Weblog, NY - Jul 19, 2006
... Kim Berry, president of advocate group, Programmers Guild, says he wants US tech workers to have the chance to more fairly compete for jobs that might ...

Touching a policy stove
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX - Jul 14, 2006
... The Programmers Guild, an advocate group for US-based computer professionals, says the average H1-B computer programmer earns $57,000, compared to the median ...

Americans need not apply?
Orlando Sentinel, FL - Jul 13, 2006
The Programmers Guild, an organization advocating for US-based computer professionals, is arguing that the prevailing wage protections in pending immigration ...

Doing H-1B Math, In Dollars And Sense
Information Week Weblog, NY - Jul 13, 2006
... who enter the US with H-1B visas are paid about $25,000 a year less than American workers with the same skills, according to the Programmers Guild, an advocate ...

5 Dampers on IT Worker Confidence
Channel Insider, NY - Jul 7, 2006
... The report came on the heels of an announcement by the Programmers Guild, an IT worker interest group, that it had filed 300 discrimination complaints so far ...

The H-1B Prevailing Wage is Substantially Below the Median Wage of ...
Emediawire (press release), WA - Jul 6, 2006
Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) July 6, 2006 -- The Programmers Guild, an organization advocating for US-based computer professionals, finds that the prevailing wage ...

The Use—And Abuse—Of L-1 Visas
SHRM Magazine, VA - Jun 30, 2006
... Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, an organization formed during the dot-com boom to help tech workers develop their careers, says that because ...

White House to push forward on H-1Bs, R&D credit
ITworld.com, MA - Jun 30, 2006
... This month, the Programmers Guild said it was in the process of filing about 380 complaints over H-1B hiring abuses to the US Department of Justice. ...

A browser here, and a browser there
Indian Express, India - Jun 28, 2006
... An IT industry association, the Programmers Guild, has asked the US Department of Justice to stop this ‘‘abuse’’ of the H-1B programme. ...

Complaints Filed Over Firms Seeking H1-B Holders
Slashdot - Jun 23, 2006
Vicissidude writes "Since May, the Programmers Guild has filed 100 complaints with the US Department of Justice, accusing several companies of advertising that ...

Some H-1B workers underpaid, federal auditors say
ZDNet - Jun 23, 2006
... Earlier this week, the Programmers Guild, which represents information technology workers, said it filed more than 300 complaints of its own this year with the ...

Programmers Group Files Lawsuits Over H-1B Abuse
Northwest innovation, WA - Jun 22, 2006
The Programmers Guild, which lobbies against H-1B and offshore outsourcing, said that it has filed compliants with the US Department of Justice this year over ...

Group Files Complaints Over H-1B Job Ads
CIO, MA - Jun 22, 2006
The Programmers Guild, a group representing IT workers, has begun filing what will amount to about 380 legal complaints against US companies advertising that ...

Best? Brightest? A Green Card Giveaway For Foreign Grads Would Be ...
ILW.com, NY - May 30, 2006
... However, the Programmers Guild and the AFL-CIO Department of Professional Employees (DPE), both of which share IEEE-USA’s negative view of the H-1B program ...

The Failed Bush Economy!
OpEdNews - May 27, 2006
... coming into the technology fields, using H1B visas, which are holding back wages and causing employment problems for US workers." (John Miano, Programmers Guild ...

Private Office or Cubicle for developers: The Debate Goes On
Computerworld Australia, Australia - Jan 15, 2006
... John Miano, founder of The Programmers Guild in Summit, also believes that software development operations would improve if employers provided a workspace that ...

Foreign visa story sparks debate
El Paso Times, TX - Jan 15, 2006
... under the H-1B visa. Kim Berry, president of the national Programmers Guild, also criticized the program. But a publicist for David ...

High-tech workers feel betrayed by visa hires
Dailyrecord.com, NJ - Jan 9, 2006
... or science?". Rinaldi, a member of the Programmers Guild, met with Frelinghuysen in December to discuss the H-1B visa bill. He said ...

US Senate approves H-1B visa increase
NetworkWorld.com, MA - Nov 4, 2005
... A recent study, "The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers -- FY 2004," by Programmers Guild board member John Miano, found that H-1B ...

Tech Wins Big in Senate Budget Bill
InternetNews.com - Nov 4, 2005
... According to the Programmers Guild of the United States, employment in US software and related fields dropped from 2.1 million in March 2001 to 1.7 million in ...

US Engineering Jobs Sold for $500 Each
Always On - Nov 2, 2005
... TUCKER: The president of the Programmers Guild, an association of technology workers has an equally straightforward take on the legislation. ...

H-1B visa: Nasscom mum on US guild report
Sify, India - Oct 30, 2005
Pune: The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has declined to comment on the study by the Programmers Guild in the US which has ...

Laboring the Point
FrontPage magazine.com, CA - Oct 27, 2005
... "The idea to organize is met with either apathy or downright hostility," says John Miano, the founder of the Programmers Guild, a professional organization ...

Career Updates 10/27/05
CS Alum, Kim Berry, has a cause. He wants to protect American tech jobs. ...
Among the evidence will be a study by the Programmers Guild that H-1B workers ...

Research finds US H1B visa holders paid less
Workpermit.com, UK - Oct 26, 2005
According to "The Bottom of the Pay Scale: Wages for H-1B Computer Programmers — FY 2004," a report by Programmers Guild board member John Miano, non-US ...

US Senators push for 50 pc hike in H-1B visas
Hindu Business Line, India - Oct 22, 2005
... It may be recalled in this context that the Programmers Guild, an advocacy group for US technology workers, had recently published a report saying that it had ...

Senate Committee Proposes Paying Down U.S. Budget Deficit by Selling 30000 U.S. Jobs For $500 Each
PR Web (press release), WA - Oct 22, 2005
... "This is a bake sale on the deck of the Titanic, and American workers are the cupcakes," states Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild. ...

H-1B visa holders being paid lower wages, says US tech workers' ...
Hindu Business Line, India - Oct 14, 2005
... of its proposal to the World Trade Organisation that the US raise its annual cap for H-1B visas from 65,000 to 1,95,000, the Programmers Guild, an advocacy ...

Salary concerns renew H-1B visa opposition
CNET News.com, United States - Oct 6, 2005
... The Programmers Guild, an advocacy group for US technology workers, claims to have found new evidence indicating that H-1Bs in computer occupations are being ...
 

7/6/2005 - WebProNews, KY - BLS Data On Jobs Projections May Be BS

In the BLS list of the fastest growing occupations from 2002 through 2012, computer application engineers and systems software engineers made the top ten list, as did network systems and data communications analysts.  Correspondence from John Miano and Kim Berry of the Programmers Guild questioned a publicly discussed contention originating from the NEA's annual meeting that high school students should consider computer classes. They cited the continued growing practice of outsourcing well-paying programming jobs and computer industry calls for removal of the H-1B visa cap.

In short, why enter a field where US employers have minimal desire or need for domestic computer engineering graduates?

. . . $15 per hour for a computer programmer makes the position fall below the 10th percentile for the programming occupation both nationally and in California, where the job is said to be located. It's less than what some security guards make. And it has Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild advocacy group, steamed about the way domestic techies have to compete with a greater number of foreign workers. A $15-per-hour coding gig doesn't jibe with the recent expansion of the H-1B guest worker visa program, Berry argued in an email Thursday.

While bemoaning high unemployment, especially among females, and underrepresentation of native-born workers of all races within the IT job market in their recent study, ITAA continues to advocate for the H-1B program, which is a root cause of these problems.

"U.S. employers are simply not creating enough jobs for skilled IT workers, causing upwards of 15% of IT professional to be displaced from the profession in the past four years," states Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild. "Therefore our organization urges Congress to create a visa category to attract the "best and brightest" foreign employers to the U.S. – on the condition that they exclusively hire unemployed U.S. workers for their IT slots."

... The Programmers Guild plans to release a report this week that re-examines data from a workforce diversity study published last week by the ITAA ...

Kim Berry, a local engineer and tech labor activist, believes the ["green card"] advertising requirements are a sham, part of a virtual rubber-stamping of applications by the government. He suspects that the job ads are written by attorneys hired to craft a description matching the exact qualifications of the foreign national already on the job, likely on a temporary work visa. That would let the company dismiss local applicants as unqualified and seek a green card for the foreign worker.

Berry says there is no shortage of qualified U.S. tech workers. "These are American jobs that they are giving away," he said.

Berry closely tracks technology job ads in The Sacramento Bee, and said he's seen "dozens" in recent years that have all the characteristics of ones designed to exclude American workers. As for Intel, he said, "There have been no Intel help-wanted ads in the Sunday Bee for at least two years."

Kim Berry, a Citrus Heights resident who is president of the Programmers Guild, believes the additional visas are unnecessary, and will take jobs from American workers. The guild is an organization of computer programmers.

"There's no provision that qualified Americans should be considered first when these visas are granted," he said. "If you bring in 20,000 more visas, that's 20,000 more American workers added to the unemployment rate."

Berry said employers prefer foreign workers because they're cheaper and are tied to an employer for a period of years. But Intel's Koon said her company must pay visa and legal fees to hire foreign workers.

. . . But Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, a Summit, N.J.-based group opposing the new visa extension, isn't so sure. He worries that companies hire foreign workers to prepare them to handle the jobs when they later are shipped overseas. "The reason people form a government is to have it protect them," he said. "And one thing we need as citizens are good jobs."

Hewlett-Packard and Intel secured dozens of H-1B applications in fiscal 2004 for this region, even as both laid off scores of skilled Americans and didn't run help-wanted ads or recruit at local colleges. Here's the Programmers' Guild URL to the 1,000 H-1B applications that the Department of Labor approved in fiscal 2004 for the Sacramento region (readers can judge if no Americans could fill these positions): www.programmersguild.org/RIR/.

Some high tech professional organizations have spoken out against the proposed increase in the cap of H-1B visas. Such groups contend that companies are pushing for an extension on the cap for high-tech workers in order to create a surplus of workers.

"They want workers to be like the buffet line," Kim Berry, president of the Programmer's Guild, said. "From the company's perspectives they always like the surplus of workers and H-1B visa workers are like indentured servants."

The US Chamber of Commerce, for instance, wants Congress to revisit the cap "to ensure American business has access to the talent it needs to help keep our economy strong."

That rationale makes no sense to the Programmers Guild and other groups that have sprung up to resist the tech visas. Since more than 100,000 American programmers are unemployed - and many more are underemployed - the existing 65,000 quota is inexcusably high, they argue. H-1B and L-1 visas are "American worker replacement programs," says the National Hire American Citizens Society.

Concerns about the impact of the H-1B program, which raised hackles when it let in legions of foreign tech workers at the peak of the Internet boom, are back again. Hurting from high unemployment after the tech bubble burst and spooked by all the election-year buzz about offshoring, displaced U.S. workers are claiming double jeopardy.

``These jobs never make it to the help-wanted ads or get posted online,'' said Kim Berry, president of the Programmers Guild, a Web-based advocacy group that criticizes offshoring and the H-1B program.

Shortly after Flanagan's death, Soong went to his first meeting of an unemployed tech workers group called No More H-1B—a bold step for someone who never thought of himself as particularly political. He now attends meetings at least every other week with Programmers Guild and Communications Workers of America...

Every day Soong makes the rounds of employment agencies. When he is lucky he gets a temporary job answering phones or testing video games, nothing that ever pays more than $10 an hour.

The Programmers Guild is lobbying for a federal law requiring companies to notify customers if an overseas contractor has access to financial or personal data. This would apply to the growing number of companies using customer service agents and back-office processing based overseas.

When one American company tells other American companies that it can meet their software needs with Russian programmers, the language of American programmers may well move beyond ones and zeros. Indeed, John Miano's language goes gloomy, predicting the impending decline of the U.S. software industry if companies continue to send programming jobs overseas.

As founder of the 1,300-member Programmers Guild, Miano reacts angrily when companies like PWI Inc. (Red Bank, N.J.) offer to ship U.S. programming tasks to their Russian labor pool. "The way things are going," Miano warns, "it's likely that in 20 years, the U.S. will no longer be the leader in software development it is today."

John Miano, head of the Programmers Guild, a Summit, N.J., trade group that has long opposed the H-1B program, doesn't expect the flow of foreign workers to be affected at all by economic or security concerns. "It's quite grim right now and Americans are losing their jobs because of this program," Miano said. "But this is an issue driven by money, and the H-1Bs are a giant source of cheap labor."

A cadre of about 1,000 coders have banded together in what they call the Programmers Guild. They are calling on software engineers to unite to protect jobs, wages and even the quality of their digital craft.

(IDG) -- In the 1930s, muscle-bound steel workers served as poster boys for organizations that eventually would merge and be folded into the AFL-CIO -- the American Federation of Labor, in the 1950s a rising power as the country's umbrella union organization. . . . Today, it's the often less-than-strapping IT worker who has slipped behind the wheel. Can brainy software engineers replace brawny men of yore as spokesmodels for labor unions and exploited workers in the new economy? The answer is yes. And no.

New York - Members of groups representing American high-technology professionals staged a demonstration outside the Nasdaq Stock Exchange here to protest the increase in H1-B visas and hiring of foreign workers. The protesters from the American Engineering Association (AEA), the American Programmers' Guild and Fair Employment in Silicon Valley held placards and posters that read 'Don't Trade our Jobs Away' and 'No More H1-Bs'.