‘Immigration Reform’ = More Cheap Labor
17th January 2014
The CEOs of hotel chain Marriott International and telecom giant AT&T are calling on Congress to grant them immigration reform so they can hire more cheap labor from outside the United States – at a time when an unprecedentedly high number of Americans are out of work.
In a lengthy post on his LinkedIn page, Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson said he wants amnesty and a massive increase in legal immigration in order to staff up Marriott’s various resorts around the country.
“As unemployment inches downward, we also need a functioning immigration system that helps us staff positions that might otherwise go unfilled, especially in our seasonal resorts,” Sorenson wrote.
Meanwhile, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, according to The Hill, wants more guest workers brought into the United States from foreign countries. Stephenson wants both more high-tech workers brought into the country and a streamlined and increased temporary worker program. “I get a sense that there’s momentum for doing something like this in Congress, and I hope [Obama] just does encourage it and it’s a high priority for his administration,” Stephenson said.
Stephenson is speaking in his capacity as both AT&T CEO and chairman of the business lobbyist organization Business Roundtable. In a Jan. 15 letter to President Barack Obama, Stephenson and the Business Roundtable’s 208 CEOs asked that Obama pressure Congress “to create a larger pool of visas for higher-skilled workers” and “enact a new visa system for lower-skilled workers,” while also granting amnesty to illegal aliens already inside the United States.