Slave Labor in American Universities

Date: Monday, December 22, 2008 8:32 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1946 -- 12/22/2008 >>>>>

Most of what the Indian writer Harish Baliga wrote for IndiaDaily is right on
the mark. He describes the exploitation that occurs in the Optional Practical
Training (OPT) program and compares it to slavery. There is one thing he wrote
that is rather strange:

If you are a US Citizen, grown up, and hold a job, they hate you.
They know their cat will be out of the bag and you can challenge
them. They will do everything to stop you from getting a
matriculated status. Government in United States does little to
stop this abuse.

Baliga greatly exaggerates our ability to prevent foreign workers from
obtaining green cards, as evidenced by the recent extension of the OPT
authorization period and the constant attempts by Congress to raise the caps
on H-1B and green card visas. No doubts about it, there are many US citizens
like myself that would stop foreign graduates from obtaining green cards if we
could. In fact, given the choice we would also abolish OPTs so that foreign
students would no longer be able to take jobs that our own college kids need
to survive.

Baliga's other mistake is to overemphasize the role of hate as the motive to
stop the foreign labor importation programs. We are the most welcoming nation
in the world when it comes to immigration so it's quite obvious that hate
isn't a major factor in the rising opposition to foreign labor importation.
Americans are acting in their own self interest to protect middle class
lifestyles and to guarantee some type of future for their offspring. If there
is hate involved in this great nation of ours it's coming from the
corporatocrats and educrats who consider students and wage earners as mere
units of labor.

The two minor errors in Baliga's article are probably mostly Indian street
mythology. The rest of his article is definitely worth reading.

NOTE: Baliga never mentioned what the foreign students are using to work in
the USA, but by his description I'm assuming it's mostly students on F-1 visas
with OPTs. There may also be some H-1Bs since they are used quite often by
postdocs.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/20341.asp

The biggest slave trading and labor law abuse happen in the American
Universities -- alien teaching and research assistants work twenty hours a day
for almost no pay Harish Baliga Dec. 20, 2008

Slavery never left America. It actually intensified under the rug. Lift the
rug and you can see the American Universities. In the schools of engineering
and science you can see those Chinese, Indian, and East European faces, some
struggling with their English but all working twenty hours a day with little
pay. Professors receive research grants from American Government Agencies
including Department of Defense. These Agencies seldom check the labor law
abuse by the schools, colleges, and universities.

When Research Assistant (RA) or a Teaching Assistant (TA) is hired, he or she
is supposed to work for twenty hours a week and study nine credits of graduate
level courses per semester. Most of these aliens are made to work far more
than twenty hours (sometime as much as sixty hours) and paid far less than
minimum wages. It is a violation of labor laws, violation of moral ethics and
above all a form of slavery allowed by the American Universities in the name
of education and research.

The foreign students are eager to come to US and receive a Masters or Ph.D
Degree from a US University. The immigration laws are skewed in such a way
that after receiving Ph.D in Engineering or Science, it is very easy to obtain
an employment based green card or permanent residency in the United States.
The students know that and the Professors know that. Professors say, go
through the hell of five years to obtain your Nirvana. So getting treated as
slave for five years gets you a green card and a Ph.D.
Grades are manipulated so that the transcripts of these modern days slaves
look good. You try to protest, your grade goes down the hill, and your
American dream comes to an end.

What is really interesting is that some professors even tell their Research or
Teaching Assistants that they are officially supposed to work twenty hours a
day but must work far more to make these professors look good.

These departments specially engineering schools are also hotspots for ethnic
discrimination. Iranian professors favor Iranians. Chinese prefers Chinese.
Indian favor Indians. American professors do not have much scope to favor
anyone. They use all. The Director of Graduate Studies is a very powerful
position within the department. He or she determines the availability of funds
for these TAs or GAs. You are gagged by these individuals keeping the alien
students on their toe.

If you are a US Citizen, grown up, and hold a job, they hate you. They know
their cat will be out of the bag and you can challenge them. They will do
everything to stop you from getting a matriculated status. Government in
United States does little to stop this abuse.

We all focus on illegal immigration, H1B visas, and so on. In reality, the
real labor abuse and slave trading is in the Engineering and Science
departments of American Universities. It is time for real change. Will Obama
do something? Well that is a separate matter!

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