Redmond (WA) - InformationWeek is reporting that Microsoft's recent miss on quarterly earnings and subsequent announcement they would layoff 5,000 has caught the eye of Senator Chuck Grassley (Republican, Iowa). Grassley is "a long time critic of the U.S. H-1B visa program," of which Microsoft is "a top ten employer of H-1B visa holders." Grassley sent Microsoft a letter outlining his concerns that American jobs will be lost while foreign H-1B visa jobs will be retained.





Grassley writes:

"I am concerned that Microsoft will be retaining foreign guest workers rather than similarly qualified American employees when it implements its layoff plan. As you know, I want to make sure employers recruit qualified American workers first before hiring foreign guest workers."

The letter was addressed to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and continues with questions relating to actions by Microsoft which may harm Americans while favoring foreign workers. Grassley specifically asks Ballmer direct question about the layoffs, such as what jobs are being eliminated, are they H-1B or other visa programs, how many American jobs are being lost, etc.



It's important to note that even though its officers sometimes believe otherwise, corporations are created entities and do not possess rights which override people's rights. Corporations are granted privileges by the State when they are created through a legal process. Those privileges often give them a wide berth allowing them to operate in a particular way, but without cart blanche. It is a valid and desirable role of government to oversee corporations (to govern them) which may be violating corporate law, or even those which are operating in a way that's harmful to its citizenry. Government is supposed to be "Of the people, by the people and for the people," and when investigations like this occur into potential corporate misdoings it is actually quite nice to see that process in action because in our nation it's not about corporations or corporate profits ... it's about people.



See InformationWeek.