Promoting Electrotechnology Careers and Public Policy

October 8, 1998

The Honorable Newt Gingrich
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Re: High Tech Visa Legislation (H.R. 3736)

Dear Representative Gingrich:

On behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States Activities (IEEE-USA), I urge you to consider some disturbing new information before you vote on H.R. 3736 when it comes back for a final vote in the House later this week.

Just two days ago, the San Jose Mercury News reported that layoffs and hiring freezes in the high tech sector are accelerating. Citing Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a Chicago-based out-placement firm that compiles this information on a monthly basis, the Mercury News said that "high technology companies have cut four times as many jobs nationally in 1998 as they did in 1997, imposing more layoffs than almost every other sector of the economy."

This trend is an alarming indicator that the global economic slowdown is having ripple effects in the United States. But even more significant is the fact that the electronics, computer and telecommunications industries - whose lobbyists have been pressing hardest for easier access to high tech guest-workers - constitute three of the top five industries in recent job cut and hiring freeze announcements.

As you prepare to face the voters next month, I would also remind you that a recent poll conducted by Louis Harris & Associates found that fully 82% of the 1000 adults surveyed oppose any expansion of the H-1B visa program. The American people understand that without appropriate safeguards for all U.S. workers - not just the handful who work for so-called H-1B dependent employers - any increase in H-1B admissions represents a serious threat to job opportunities, wages and working conditions in the fastest growing sector of our economy.

I urge you to vote no on final passage of H.R. 3736. This is not the time to expand an unneeded program that gives too many employers a green light to hire temporary H-1B workers without having to recruit or retain qualified U.S. workers.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a transnational technical and professional society. IEEE-USA promotes the professional careers and technology policy interests of IEEE's 219,000 U.S. members.

Sincerely,

John R. Reinert, D.M.
President
IEEE-USA

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of America
1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 1202, Washington, DC 20036-5104
Office: (202) 785-0017 * Fax: (202) 785-0835 * E-mail: ieeeusa@ieee.org

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Last Update: Oct. 8, 1998

Staff Info Contact: Vin O'Neill, v.oneill@ieee.org