Correcting the Unemployment Problem of our Nation
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) noted in his 'The Economic Bill of Rights' that for all, to have "The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment".
Today to be unemployed is to be disenfranchised in our capitalistic system. We cannot blame corporations for wanting to save costs but by off shoring or wage gouging( nickel and dimming for cheap foreign worker local labor rates ) on employment offerings with preferences for visitors with Green Cards and migrant farm or factory workers has caused an earthquake in our economy. Its domino affect is the quality and quantity of employment opportunities for US citizens.
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There has been the exodus of our industries, their infrastructure, and labor needs in exploiting world trade policies.
Over the past few years our economy and jobs have actually been impacted by foreign labor forces who are willing to work at even less than previous market rates. In some industries like IT, market rates have been reduced to where they were in 1993. This is where worldwide spending on Information Technology is expected to reach 1.48 Trillion by 2010. Currently in this industry alone, $800 Billion is shipped off shore per year where world wide includes businesses that are technically head quartered in the US, but who operate off shore.
Technically, 'an immigrant cannot work here legally if they are taking a job away from an American citizen' - that is the State Department rule. The percieved reason why there are so many immigrants working in certain sectors is because there is a 'shortage of required US citizen workers'. The question then is 'who told the State Dept. that there is a shortage of American workers, was it commercial enterprise, or how would they actually know ' ?
In retrospect, an IT specialist previous to 9/11 could earn upwards of $90-100 dollars per hour. The same job description is now at $40-$50 per hour which is happily filled by foreign visa based labor. For the most part their wages are shipped back to their country of origin, with minimal local visitor living expenses. In many cases such visitors room up with many others as this suites their temporary and cost effective stay in the US.
In a way, this could be viewed as 'Wage Gouging' by commercial interests, where if it was tried in the Automotive Industry, they confront UAW representation.
But like the Automotive and tool makers industry, where possible, for many businesses today, off shoring is the way to go, it gets around Labor Unions, and enables it to theoretically compete with other off shore manufactures. For example, the U.S. machine-tool industry won't soon recapture the 50% of a $9-billion domestic market lost to import makers in the past 15 years, but in off shoring themselves puts this industry near a level play field. This can simply be corrected in Balanced Trade Policies for our domestic labor force, where industry is simply interested saving money.
Off shoring on its present course ultimately backfires on US industry. When collectively off shoring, they are disenfranchising their potential consumers who are the growing blue and white collar jobless in our nation.
In white collar employment, most Financial and Insurance Institutions in New York offshore most of their labor where ever possible; and hire locally foreign visitors at below fare market rates where possible. So Wall Street is not exactly the way is use to be either.
As noted to me by a friend, there are not enough visas to cope with the demand coming from the U.S. commercial sector in wanting to offer lower wages that are considered viable for foreign labor forces that meet or exceed their standard of living from their country of origin.
This year there were 55k H-1b work visas offered by the government and 150k petitions for individuals arrived at the State Department on the first day in the February - March 2007 time frame.
Further, when you call a US based Internet service help desk, more than likely you will be speaking with someone in India. When using a franchised tax preparation service your very personal tax forms are prepared more than likely by some stranger in India too. Can we say that our identity can be stolen in more than one way when being off shored ?
Most important in this is that the American US Dollar is being shipped out of this country, and is not trickling down into our local commerce; which then further compounds the unemployment problem in our communities. This is further addressed in Balanced Trade and is considered a more significant issue in impacting our economy as opposed to benefiting it, and therefore employment opportunities in our communities.
To deal with this earthquake, we must achieve balance in our industries, and government for the employment of qualified US citizens.
Argued many times over in Congress is that 'unemployment benefits cost the tax payer'. But the better argument is that employed people are tax payers.
The National Progressive Employment Plan
What is necessary after the past 6 years of job plight is a Progressive National Employment Plan !
To further quote FDR, he believed in:
a- "The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation"
b- "The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation"
The right for Livelihood is a given right when exercised in a legal and ethical manner. This right must be supported without limiting it to the following proactive components.
- Through 'Balanced Trade' initiatives will help prevent lost jobs.
- Through 'Balanced Trade' and Corporate Reform' discounted wages, and unnecessary layoffs.
- Affirmative Action Policies and Practices will be pursued for compliance by all employers that operate within the United States. All United States based Employers will further be required to be in compliance with the polices and practices in the hiring and employment of U.S Citizens that work, or are employed off shore on behalf the employer.
- Further, Affirmative Action has to be examined for its effectiveness and relevance in protecting jobs for US Citizens over and above foreign visitors that have Visa Sponsored Labor offerings at below market salary value.
- AFL-CIO initiative's will be supported with respect to the need to afford Union Dues by non-union workers within Union places of work where union labor is performed in an equivalent manner, focus and scope in employee performance and responsibilities. These Union Dues on Non Union workers are to ensure for the Non-Union Worker, the same representation, rights and benefits that are afforded to Union workers of the same classification within the same work place of employment.
- In non-Union workplaces, Union petition is to be permitted in all industries, and US based companies. Union formation is to be only accepted by a 2/3 vote by employees within the workplace in question. Voting is to be held in privacy such as in the manner of government elections, and vote counting to be performed by impartial and objective means by a notary public that is not directly, nor indirectly related to the industry, nor Union in question.
- Living Wage: Minimum Wages are to be examined based on the 'Living Wage' and what is defined as the 'Poverty Level'. More over, wages are to reflect the actual cost of living for the community where the employment, and residence occurs, and subject to the 'Inflation Index' as opposed to the 'Take it or Leave It' wage gouging tactics of today's typical employment offer.
- Wage Gouging is to be circumvented by using the Federal Government Wage Pricing System Information Service
- Fixed Price and Overtime: for every worker, no matter if directly employed, or via 3rd party contract, workers must be paid for work done. For Direct Employment, Overtime is to be paid as 'Time and One half'. For Contractors, Time is to be paid by the hour; hence, the professional day as set to 8 hours does not obviate the responsibility of the employer to provide monetary compensation for overtime.
- Poverty Level: must be set based realistically on the 'Cost of Living, and the Inflation Index'. Hence, Minimum wage must be accounted for in this as being above the Poverty Level.
- Unemployment benefits, must be extended - instead of corporate welfare, and tax cuts for the wealthiest, the government can make an investment in its people with the proviso that when offered a job it is compulsory to accept that job, being in that it is a sound employment, and meets the same , at a minimum of the unemployment payments made to the unemployed. It is the responsibility of the unemployed to improve themselves from this starting point, or to for go unemployment assistance from that point on. When given a starting point, it is self esteem that is to carry us forward.
- This does not intend for employers to provide employment opportunities at below market rate, but does intend that employers will make an offer at market rate for a employment position that could even be currently filled by a foreigner with an active visa or Green Card that is currently filling the same position on US soil.
- Proactive marketing of the unemployed enacted - Through the Federal Information System, employment/vacancy opportunities are to be reported for Federal, State, City and private sectors.
- Vocational Training Assistance and programs must be made available such that people can have a starting point for a career or new career, as opposed to just a job if desired, or needed.
- Rights to work for a fair wage must take precedence of green card and visa based workers: Employment Opportunities are defined as both vacancies, as well as employment positions, whether temporary, by contract or permanent that are currently occupied by foreigners on U.S soil.
- Work Programs
A- CO-Sponsored Work Programs: Work programs are to be stewarded by the Government; and can be co-founded by financial institutions, and other businesses for the purposes of tax relief, et al.
In the case of private enterprise stewarding such 'Work programs', it is up to the Government to determine the terms and conditions of related benefits to these Non-Government companies and enterprises.
What is most important is that such Private enterprises have the capacities to identify needs for professional skills in their specific industry, thereby enabling Skilled workers who are Citizens to fill such needs.
B- Government Solely Sponsored Work programs: here are to fulfill two intents.
1- To train non-working, or unemployed individuals in job and career related skill sets; where this can be both blue collar, and white collar in nature; thereby allowing them to eventually achieve the status of formal employment within a profession or vocation.
2- To apply the un-employed for the benefits of the communities infrastructure restoration, and in developing in the preparedness of the new century. There is much work to be done in the restoration of cities, and certainly in the improvement of highways, and byways, and improvement of living conditions in more rural areas of the country.
- About Foreign Labor Policy: U.S citizens must come first if we are to expect U.S. Citizens to stand on their own two feet, and make a contribution in our economy.
- It is not our interest to disenfranchise a foreigner in the United States, but it is the intention to empower the U.S citizen in the United States.
- Foreigners with legitimate Visas and Green Cards are welcomed to work on U.S soil where it can be proved that there is not an equally qualified U.S Citizen available for it within the geographic region of the job and there is no evidence of wage gouging that prevents the citizen from working at a fair wage.
- Foreign Corporations, institutions and enterprises that operate on U.S. Soil are not to be exempt from this rule.
- Foreigners who wish to immigrate need to get a fair deal in being able to immigrate, if in fact they plan on becoming U.S citizens
There are a multitude of work visa based visitors in the US, where in fact most institutional banks use them for their IT needs. They are cheap, and send their money home.
a- This compromises free market trade in terms of pricing for the technical labor pool in this country. Any country that so wishes to import their labor force, should be required to not under price going rates for the standard of living in the United States, and prove that an American cannot fill the job, and provide the US with an equal export monetary value.
b- For those institutions which offshore their labor, such labor should be taxed in order to encourage such institutions to hire American labor.
This is my commitment to correcting unemployment,
Orion Karl Daley
Presidential Candidate for 2008
for the Strategic Future of our country
Balanced Party http://unity2008.org
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