Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today before the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee on the subject of Immigration Law in 21st Century. I am Elizabeth. Dickson, a Human Resource Specialist and a member of the Global Mobility Services Team for Ingersoll-Rand Company. I am also Chair of the US Chamber of Commerce Subcommittee on Immigration. My testimony today reflects my direct experience with Ingersoll-Rand's ability to find vitally needed workers. I hope that I will be able to share with you some of the numerous policies and procedural issues that a company like Ingersoll-Rand needs to contend with when hiring foreign nationals and complying with employer sanctions law.

Ingersoll-Rand is a Fortune 200 company with about 50,000 direct employees worldwide, including 30,000 domestic employees. The company is a major diversified industrial equipment and components manufacturer serving the global growth markets of Climate Control, Industrial Productivity, Infrastructure Development and Security and Safety. Its international headquarters are based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and in 2000 the company had annual sales in excess of $8.7 billion. Ingersoll-Rand Company operates manufacturing plants in over 21 countries around the world and markets its products and services, along with its subsidiaries, through a broad network of distributors, dealers and independent sales and service/repair organizations.

As you have heard from the distinguished panelists today, immigration is a complex and politically charged issue. The tight labor market over the past several years has produced unemployment rates at a 30 year low. The economy has been creating an abundant number of jobs at all levels to keep business like ours scrambling for employees. Immigration needs to be addressed as an alternate source of workers in the U.S. If immigration policies and procedures and not revitalized, the consequences may result in a further down turn in the economy and to companies seeking more often to move outside the boundaries of the U.S. borders. Companies like Ingersoll-Rand live this reality on a daily basis and when Human Resource Managers cannot fill key positions, they are forced to look outside the US to hire or outsource the work.

Ingersoll-Rand prides itself on being an American company that strives to keep the majority of its manufacturing operation within the U.S. borders. We have manufacturing plants in 24 states and 120 facilities located throughout the United States. Over 40% of our profits are tied to export sales. Unfortunately, market forces and the unavailability of U.S. workers have created a problem of identifying and retaining U.S. workers across the spectrum of skill levels. Let me give you some examples:

1. Welders in Texas - The company manufactures a broad line of industrial machinery and equipment. The Rotary Drill Division based in Garland, Texas, is engaged in the design manufacture, and sale of rotary drill products with industrial, mining, and water well drilling applications. The division has annual sales in excess of $150 million. This Division has been looking for welders for major projects for some time. Welders are semi-skilled employees that are not considered professionals. It is a skill set that involves specific training however in order to perform the job competently and safely. The company has recruited for welding positions across the U.S. They have recruited at military installations, shipyards and through employment services. Ingersoll-Rand even has its own training schools for welders at the Road Machinery & Rotary Drill Divisions and has been unable to identify sufficient persons to attend this type of training to fill our needs. When the company did identify competent welders in Mexico, the process of obtaining even temporary work visas was too time-consuming and onerous to be considered a viable option.

2. Technicians for the Air Solutions Group's service and repair business are also in short supply. We have identified skilled technicians at our I-R Canada operations who have the product knowledge and technical experience to service I-R compressors in the US, however as the products they would be servicing are manufactured in the US, not Canada, they would require work permits and there is no appropriate visa category to allow such skilled technicians to travel intermittently to the US to perform service on US-manufactured machinery.

3. Experienced tool and die workers, with knowledge in stamping technology and machining are scarce. Our manufacturing plants in the Detroit area continue to experience difficulty-finding electricians for their manufacturing operations, with the automotive industry being primary competitors for such skilled workers. Electricians again require a number of years of training and apprenticeship to be a competent worker but are not considered professionals. The Human Resources Manager had identified some available electricians from Canada but there is no way to obtain appropriate work visas for such as skill without time-consuming and expensive process that smaller division cannot afford.

4. As the company continues to expand it quality initiatives, Metrologists have become a professional occupation in very short supply. There are only about five universities in the US with Masters programs specializing in metrology and almost all the students enrolled in such programs are foreign nationals. Human Resource Managers advise me that they simply cannot find Americans to fill such positions. Our Waterject Cutting Systems business in Baxter Springs, Kansas and Farmington Hills, Michigan spent 20 months searching extensively using advertisements and professional recruiters to find an engineer experienced in industrial robotics and pressurized product development before finally hiring a qualified individual from Canada. Metallurgical Engineers have been an identified shortage occupation for years in the United States and are key contributors to machinery development projects for our mining and drilling products. Thermo King conducted a 13 month search for a qualified Plastics Engineer for their product development team.

5. Information Technology shortages runs the gamut from the highly-experienced professional programmers and software engineers down to the technicians that support "help desk" functions. There appears to be a "skills gap" in the United States as well, with the most advanced programmers and engineers coming from India, China and some of the Soviet-Block countries. When we recruit for particular skills such as Oracle database, UNIX and C++ programming or experienced programmers with web-based applications, few Americans qualify. Foreign nationals can only work as nonimmigrants in the US for a short period of time resulting in continuous turnover of certain key technology positions. Situations like this drive projects overseas, resulting in a loss of U.S. jobs and a decrease in U.S. spin-off revenue. This situation exemplifies not only the need for workers across the spectrum of skill levels.

Through the media and other sources the business community hears the mantra - train U.S. workers; invest in the domestic workforce. We at Ingersoll-Rand and my members at the US Chamber do just this and more. We have training centers at almost all our manufacturing facilities – designed to improve technical manufacturing skills and meet our employees' personal needs; we collaborate with community colleges and vocational technical schools – providing certificate and college degree programs and sponsor distance learning on-site; we have a tuition reimbursement program for employees pursuing bachelor's and advanced degrees; we provide many corporate on-site training programs; and we encourage cultural exchanges from our facilities abroad in order to enhance diversity and awareness. Ingersoll-Rand remains a major contributor to US colleges and universities as well as national organizations such as the International Road Education Foundation, the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the National Urban League, the National Alliance for Business, and the US Chamber of Commerce Spirit of Enterprise Campaign, to name a few.

Employers currently need and will continue to need workers of all skill levels. Through the US Chamber of Commerce and in coalition with businesses and trade associations across the spectrum, we seek a solution to the worker shortages at all levels. Specifically through the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition we are working toward a workable solution to the shortage of workers with less than a bachelors degree. Current law does not provide a viable vehicle to bring needed foreign workers into the US. From manufacturing facilities to nursing homes to restaurants and hotels, we are in dire need for employees, but are precluded from bringing them in through the existing H-2B temporary visa program. I have included some materials from the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition for your reference.

The Chamber is also concerned with the policy issues surrounding spousal work authorization, and is working in coalition for several countries to reform US work authorization for spouses of certain intra-company transfers. Another policy issue of concern to our committee is the lack of sufficient immigrant visa numbers for those lawful immigrants that wish to convert to permanent residence. We will be addressing this issue through the EWIC coalition and other organizations.

With respect to the immigration process and procedures for processing applications, we are very concerned with the increasing processing times at both the Department of Labor and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Nonimmigrant visa petitions routinely take more than 4 months to process. The agencies need to have tightened oversight and need to be made accountable for missed adjudication time lines. The agencies administering immigration policies need to work with each other and need to coordinate strategies to execute new law. For example, on January 19, 2001, the Interim Final regulations were issued to implement to the changes in immigration laws that were enacted in 1998. The regulations, contained in over 500 pages, are onerous and not timely. In fact the new Secretary of Labor has extending the period for comment until the end of this month. The US Chamber requested this extension and we are preparing comments on the proposed regulations. Over three years ago the documents acceptable for I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification were changed by law but employers are still waiting for revised regulations and a new I-9 Form to be issued by the Department of Labor. Two laws that were enacted in October of 2000, have very little guidance from either agency. This causes chaos at the service centers and the borders.

Reform of the agencies is key. We are encouraged that the subcommittee is exploring all of the procedural and policy issues surrounding immigration law, and hope that some constructive solutions can be can be identified. Thank you for allowing me to testify. I look forward to any questions you may have.