crossposted on the NoSlaves.com blog
Earlier I wrote a piece exposing Edwards history for promoting more labor arbitraging guest worker Visas, yet in a recent NPR debate he sounds like he might be realizing Americans are being displaced, or at least is feeling the heat.
This is a good thing, certainly most of Edwards positions are more in line with working America (see Clinton on H-1B and yes Obama is about as bad).
From the December 4, 2007 Iowa, NPR debate:
SIEGEL: A question for Senator Edwards. If you’re elected president, you’ll hear competing claims about H1-B visas for highly skilled workers. People like Bill Gates will tell you we should have much, much more of them to bring in more highly skilled workers. Critics of that will say no, the United States is training other countries’ engineers and in fact those workers are working for less than American-trained specialists and engineers would.
What would you do as president? Expand H1-B visas or scale them back?
MR. EDWARDS: Well — well, the first point is, why is America not educating and training American workers to do these jobs? I mean, that’s the starting point —
SIEGEL: Well, there are Americans who say that they are being trained for those jobs but that they can’t compete with workers from India who will work for 10 percent less.
MR. EDWARDS: And that’s the reason — if American workers are actually competent to do those jobs, American workers should be doing those jobs. The whole purpose of the H1-B visa program is to bring people from other places who are — who have to do jobs that we don’t have American workers to do.
Now, I think there are two pieces to this. One is, if there are American workers who can do the jobs, they should be doing them, as I just said. And they will when I’m president.
Second, if we don’t have adequate American workers — and this is the other side of the equation, what Bill Gates and others would argue, and I’ve heard the same arguments — then that means America’s not doing its job of educating our young people, making —
SIEGEL: But are you saying that for you, it’s a matter of fact-finding to see which way you would go on H1-B visas, or have you already made up your mind that they should be limited or they should be increased?
MR. EDWARDS: I believe that there are American workers who can do some of these jobs that people are being brought from other places to do. And I think those American workers, if they’re there and available, should be doing the jobs.
But I — I’ve — you got to give me 30 more seconds on this, because you can’t ignore the underlying issue. The underlying issue is, are we making it easier for kids to go to college? Are we driving our young people into engineering, science and math, the very areas that we’re talking about? And are we doing it in a way that will strengthen the American economy over the long term? Because if we don’t — if we are not the most creative, the best-educated, the most innovative workforce on the planet, it is very difficult for us to compete.
Please note Senator Edwards, the underlying issue is really cheap labor. We actually have a glut in graduates in Science related fields who cannot get a job.
We really need a candidate who will stand up for the American people and this sure is a change of rhetoric from Edwards on guest worker Visas which are a major labor issue for Professional workers. He also seems to be realizing to a minor degree the wage repression via illegal workers is real. I’m not thrilled with his comprehensive immigration reform stance, which is the code word for corporate written, guest worker Visa laden bills and labor arbitrage agenda, but at least he is talking about real labor issues versus the usual inane rhetoric when asked.
And in New Hampshire we have
EDWARDS: Guest workers may be necessary where there are worker shortages, but I will eliminate abuses of the H-1B and L-1 guest worker programs by strengthening labor law enforcement and requiring employers to demonstrate that they could not recruit American workers and that they pay the prevailing wage.
and Senator Dodd gets a gold star for this statement: 
I continue to express reservations about expanding the guest worker program. It is important that we close loopholes that allow American companies to hire lower-paid, high-tech workers from abroad. In order for America to be a land of opportunity for all, we must, first and foremost, make sure that opportunity exists for Americans
I’m still leery but that said, beyond Kucinch every single Democratic candidate will make sure middle class careers, professionals, especially those in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will be economically decimated by the global labor arbitrage agenda. I should note Senator Dodd in 2003 tried to reform the L-1 guest worker Visa program. Still, unfortunately all sitting Senators running for President voted for massive increases both in 2006 and 2007.
Meanwhile, A lone tech worker braves the cold in Iowa demanding candidates stick up for working America while hordes of corporate cheap labor lobbyists court the candidates.
Oh, Biden is just plain wrong about the law, it’s perfectly legal to hire a H-1B worker, displacing an American and for less money.
On that note, this quote is most encouraging from Edwards:
American trade policy is catering to the interests of big corporate America. It has been for a decade and a half. And we desperately need a president of the United States who, instead of asking, is this going to help corporate profits — is this actually going to stand up for American workers and American jobs
