About us
A HISTORY OF THE DECLINE OF THE U.S. TECH WORKER
Perception is everything. If asked for a first impression, an average respondent might think U.S. tech workers today are highly paid, successful and well-employed.
They would be basing that view upon a memory of how things used to be. Memory in the collective consciousness of a Baby Boomer generation is of highly creative efforts that were the impetus for new and unprecedented industries in tech and many other tech-related sectors that provided opportunity for many to benefit in the form of jobs, education and a high standard of living.
To be a tech worker in the 70s, 80s and early 90s indeed was a gold ticket synonymous with a flexible, comfortable lifestyle. Along with that, vulnerable workers were perceived as the low skilled.
Fast forward to the present. What a different situation presents itself for U.S. tech workers as a result of the combination of unfair labor and trade practices, as well as the impact of the H-1B visa program.
Through H-1Bs, companies imported large numbers of foreign workers. They still do, at the price of transforming the job landscape so drastically that today the impossible becomes a shocking fact. Only 29% of tech jobs in California’s Silicon Valley go to Americans. That’s even with the high demand for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) workers.
Wage suppression and anecdotes of tech workers training the less qualified foreign replacements have now become the norm. Now it’s the highly skilled tech worker who has become vulnerable.
This is what inspires our movement to unite tech workers and pressure the federal government for visa reform. Please join us in the fight to ensure that companies hire U.S. tech workers first.
Kevin Lynn
FOUNDER
Mr. Lynn is currently the Executive Director of Progressives for Immigration Reform, an organization he helped found in 2008 and the Founder of US Tech Workers. He has been on a long quest to bring attention to the unintended consequences of unbridled immigration policies and guest worker programs that undermine the productive class.Over his multi-faceted career, Kevin worked for Predixis and LeisureLink, two start up technology companies. Additionally, he served as an Army officer for 11 years holding positions of increasing responsibility in the continental United States, Europe and Asia. For 16 years he was a business development manager working with accounting and tax firms such as Ernst & Young and Ryan, LLC.
Kevin has been involved in politics over the years having been a staffer with Ross Perot’s United We Stand America in the early 1990’s; an organizer for Howard Dean’s, Democracy for America; a delegate and Executive Board member to the California Democratic Party; and outside of immigration issues, he currently involves himself with farmland and historic building preservation.
Ash Shrivastav
PFIR Advisory Board & Bay Area Director
Ash advises PFIR/US Tech Workers on digital and policy strategies. He believes in conservative fiscal policies and merit based immigration system. Ash resides in San Francisco, California.
Foreign citizens make up nearly three-quarters of the Silicon Valley tech workforce.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
American tech workers have the talent. We want to hear from you! Want to share your story? Contribute to our blog? Help organize workers in your area? Help us rally our troops by taking 60 seconds to complete this survey about how you want to be involved with US Tech Workers. Join the movement now!
SUPPORT THE CAUSE
U.S. Tech Workers, a Progressives for Immigration Reform
project, relies on the generosity of its supporters to create
publications, events and programs to advocate for sensible
visa reform that protects American STEM workers.