President Trump today announced that he has fired the chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority and one of the board members, citing the federally-owned corporation’s practice of hiring H-1B visa holders and the chairman’s high salary, the Associated Press has reported.
Citing the chair’s $8 million salary, Trump declared that the position should be paid no more than $500,000. CEOs of other power companies earn as much as $16 million per year.
“The new CEO must be paid no more than $500,000 a year,” Trump said. “We want the TVA to take action on this immediately. … Let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board: If you betray American workers, you will hear two words: ‘You’re fired.’”
Created in 1933, the TVA provides flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, which encompasses areas in seven states largely within the poor southern Appalachian region, primarily in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi.
The TVA recently announced that it would outsource about 20% of its technology jobs to companies based in foreign countries as a cost-cutting move, which the White House claims equates to 200 lost jobs in the Tennessee Valley.
The move comes weeks after US Tech Workers, a non-profit association aired an advertisement on Fox “News” and other networks imploring Trump to prevent the TVA from hiring H-1B visa holders.
While Trump claims that the CEO is taking money from American taxpayers, in reality, the TVA operates independent of federal budgets and funding.
As the AP reports: “But Republican Sen. Labor Alexander of Tennessee said the TVA doesn’t get any taxpayer money. Commenting on the issue in April, Alexander said the White House was spreading misinformation. He said that TVA chief executive officers’ pay is lower than other large utilities and that TVA energy rates are among the lowest in the nation.”
The Trump Organization, the company owned by Donald Trump, continues to use visa holders at its properties. In 2018, it sought 144 H-2B visa workers for its hotels and golf courses, with the Trump winery requesting visas for 23 foreign workers in 2019.