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UAW OPPOSES WORK VISA PROGRAM FOR INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENTS

One more in a long list of problems related to the United Auto Workers (UAW) attempts at unionizing Washington State University academic student employees is the stance of the union on H1-B visas. Many international graduate students are at WSU on these visas but the UAW has continually worked to prevent the expansion of the H-1B visa program.

What is an H1-B visa? This type of visa is issued to foreign, skilled workers and allows US employers to hire them. It is designed for foreign workers in fields requiring specialized theoretical or practical knowledge such as: architecture, engineering, mathematics, hard sciences, social sciences, medicine, education, legal professions, accounting, business specialties, theology, and the arts. International junior faculty also apply for these visas.

People who hold H1-B visas can only work for the employer who hired them, it can be very difficult to transfer into a different job, and dependents of these visa holders (such as spouses) do not have working visas. The UAW opposed legislation that increased the cap on the number of visas given and made it easier for visa holders to change jobs. This was specifically targeted at universities and research institutions. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5251/is_200004/ai_n20128661.

Of course, the UAW is not as opposed to international graduate assistants as long as they are unionized under the UAW with dues going straight into the coffers of the Detroit headquarters. Otherwise, the UAW website lists a long line of grievances against current governmental immigration practices, and opposes expansion of workers' visa programs. The bulk of the text on the national UAW website indicates that the motivation for opposing these visas is to protect American jobs from competition by immigrants and to give incentives for U.S. worker education, which are unsurprising and legitimate positions for an American union to take.

The UAW website says that the UAW "opposed the expansion of the H1-B program." The UAW has a clear history of working on an 'American jobs for American workers' platform and has historically discriminated against foreign skilled workers obtaining visas in the US. While the UAW claims to oppose H1-B visas because green cards provide superior rights for foreign workers, green cards are much more difficult to obtain sometimes taking several years, and many use the H1-B visa or the J-1 visa as a stepping stone to a green card. http://www.uaw.org/cap/08/issues/issue09.php

For the UAW to present their efforts against the H1-B visa program as assistance to international graduate students is dubious at best. While there may, in fact, be problems with the H1-B visa program, has the UAW advocated more visas be granted to skilled workers without restrictions? If the UAW has its way fewer skilled international workers- and fewer international graduate students- will be allowed to get jobs in the U.S.

Many, perhaps most, international graduate students at WSU plan to apply for positions in the United States after completing their advanced degrees. Ironically, belonging to a union run by the UAW would put them in the position of paying $180.00 every year to an organization that spends hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars every year lobbying to reduce their career and educational prospects.

While international students do not have their current visa status affected by joining a union, they should judge for themselves whether the UAW lobbying campaign against expanding the worker visa program hurts their potential to acquire a visa after graduation, or the potential visa status of spouses, relatives, or friends who may wish to enter the United States as well.

This not only affects international graduate students but carries the possibility of creating discord among the entire student population including American students. Given our continuing focus on building a strong and diverse graduate student body here at WSU the possibility of this type of discord is unsettling.

Finally, WSU At What Cost questions if the policies of the UAW on visas was made known during the card-signing drive last Fall? Were international graduate students told of these policies when they were asked to sign the cards?