POLICY
Addressing Workforce Development Issues
H-1B Visas (adopted in 2003)
Access to skilled IT workers must not be unreasonably or unfairly curtailed. The IT industry makes extensive efforts to locate and train qualified U.S. workers to meet this demand before incurring the substantial additional expense and complexities of hiring foreign workers.
Use of foreign IT workers can help our industry keep high paying IT jobs here in the U.S. and help the U.S. avoid the movement of jobs overseas.
The Council supports an increase in the availability of H-1B visas to supplement the existing workforce when the labor market warrants.
Promoting Technology Education (adopted in 2003)
The Council has been promoting technology education for over a decade. At the K-12 level, the Council’s education and lobbying efforts have been focused on integrating technology into the classroom and on ensuring consistent funding strategies for technology education from federal and state sources.
At the public higher education level, the Council has been an active supporter of the Commonwealth Information Technology Initiative (CITI). Launched in December 2000 by the Board of Higher Education and led by the University of Massachusetts, CITI is designed to improve and expand information technology education across the Commonwealth’s public higher education system.
The Council supports the full implementation of CITI and encourages partnerships between the private sector and public job training agencies to allow CITI to proceed with its programs.
Offshore Outsourcing (adopted in 2004)
The ITAA has published a set of “Global Outsourcing Principles” (http://www.itaa.org/news/gendoc.cfm?DocID=245) which we have built upon and modified to create the Council’s position:
- The US IT industry is and must remain pre-eminent in world markets; necessitating a strong emphasis on innovation and R&D for our future prosperity.
- The future success of the IT industry will depend on the knowledge and skills of our workforce; therefore, a continued emphasis on education and training is critical.
- IT is a global industry; therefore, our companies must retain the flexibility to align operations and make workforce sourcing decisions as necessary to meet customer needs.
- IT customers are demanding higher value added products and services at improved cost; therefore, companies must have the flexibility to build the best products and services at the most competitive prices.
- Continued support of free trade is vital to the growth of IT markets; therefore, we should work to ensure open markets and the enforcement of international treaties.
- It is important to foster policies that are both conducive to increasing jobs here and encouraging foreign direct investment, and attracting international company jobs that leverage our unique resources and environment.
- The US IT industry wants to preserve the legitimate security interests of our country and realizes that certain safeguards (such as security clearances) may be necessary for the performance of classified government work.
Wage Act (adopted in 2008)
The Council opposes the application of treble damages for an employer mistake relating to commissions covered by the Wage Act. This would be a serious disincentive for member employers who will have to consider seriously the consequences of rewarding employees with incentive commissions on top of their regular salaries.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (adopted 2008)
We support a broad science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) agenda with a particular focus on recruiting and training more highly qualified STEM teachers. Business leaders across the country have warned that if the United States takes our scientific and technological supremacy for granted, we risk losing it. We also risk a declining standard of living if we postpone taking aggressive, strategic action. Our STEM priorities include supporting the following initiatives in the Readiness Project report:
- Improve teaching in STEM disciplines by strengthening content knowledge and understanding of real world applications in these fields by accelerating the entry of highly qualified teachers into all public schools
- Improve and update curricula to reflect changes in technology and the realities of today’s modern, global economy
- Increase public and private capital investment in STEM infrastructure to ensure adequate equipment, space and technology is available to teachers and students.
- Motivate U.S. students and adults, using a variety of incentives including exposure to professionals in these fields, to study and enter STEM careers, with a special effort geared to those in currently underrepresented groups
