Cinram denied H-2B visas

Date: Saturday, November 22, 2008 4:06 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1940 -- 11/22/2008 >>>>>

Cinram is in trouble again. In May I reported that about 100 Nepalese workers
at Cinram vanished. That raised some question by the Dept. of Homeland
Security, but not much happened.

See this newsletter for the May story: "Nepalese H-2Bs go poof, while Baca and
Pelosi push for more visas", No. 1830 -- 3/05/2008

Now Cinram has another problem. Cinram wanted to hire about 800 H-2Bs to wrap
DVDs at their Huntsville plant. The USDOL denied their request for visas on
the basis that the housing provided for the workers was substandard.

The H-2B program requires that employers provide housing. Usually it's nothing
more than a dumpy trailer or a run down motel with 5 workers per room. H-2B
forest workers called Pineros often have no more for housing than a truck bed
or a tent.

To read about Pineros go here:
http://www.sacbee.com/static/content/news/projects/pineros/

Considering the low threshold considered acceptable in the H-2B program, it
would be interesting to see what Cinram was providing for housing. If any
activists in Huntsville have a camera I would be happy to host whatever
pictures or videos you could find.

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http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=9380445&nav=0RdE

DVD maker denied visas for workers at Alabama plant

Posted: Nov 19, 2008 01:53 PM MST

Updated: Nov 19, 2008 01:53 PM MST

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Canadian DVD manufacturer Cinram has been denied a
request for visas for 800 foreign workers to help its Huntsville plant with
holiday orders.

The U.S. Department of Labor decision came a year after an investigation began
into claims of overpriced, substandard housing for its foreign workers.

But agency officials told The Huntsville Times on Tuesday the request was
denied because Cinram didn't adequately justify the need for the workers and
had been using a temporary employment agency to hire and pay them.

The company hired the workers to package and sort DVDs for $8 an hour.

Cinram's plant in northeast Huntsville boasted the nation's single largest
allotment of H2-B visas for unskilled seasonal labor last fall.

The plant imported 1,142 workers from five countries, including Jamaica and
Nepal.

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http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20081120/NEWS02/811200313

November 20, 2008

Cinram denied visas for foreign holiday workers

The Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE -- Canadian DVD manufacturer Cinram has been denied a request for
visas for 800 foreign workers to help its Huntsville plant with holiday
orders.

The U.S. Department of Labor decision came a year after an investigation began
into claims of overpriced, substandard housing for its foreign workers.

But agency officials told The Huntsville Times on Tuesday the request was
denied because Cinram didn't adequately justify the need for the workers and
had been using a temporary employment agency, Ambassador Staffing, to hire and
pay them.

The company hired the workers through the employment agency to package and
sort DVDs for $8 an hour.

Cinram spokeswoman Lyne B. Fisher told The Associated Press on Wednesday the
Huntsville plant will have some foreign workers during the winter months,
although the number will be greatly reduced from last year. The company has no
additional comment, she said.

Cinram's plant in northeast Huntsville boasted the nation's single largest
allotment of H2-B visas for unskilled seasonal labor last fall. The plant
imported 1,142 workers from five countries, including Jamaica and Nepal.

Despite the Labor Department denial, Cinram may continue to import some
foreign workers, The Times said. This summer the newspaper found that Cinram
had employed a different temporary certification, a J-1 cultural exchange visa
overseen by the U.S. Department of State, to bring dozens of Jamaican college
students to work on the factory floor in Huntsville.

The treatment of foreign workers at Cinram's Huntsville plant became the focus
of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
after reports by The Times of some landlords charging triple normal rates with
five workers sharing one unit.

Cinram has said it was not involved in the issues with the landlords.

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http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2008/02/cinram_here_has_more_foreign_w.html

Cinram here has more foreign workers than Disney World Posted by junderwood
February 27, 2008 20:47PM Huntsville houses the nation's largest single group
of foreign workers under H-2B visas, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

And because of low unemployment here, Cinram, a Canadian DVD manufacturer,
could make hundreds of unskilled, seasonal laborers a recurring element of the
local work force.

The company has already received federal approval to extend the visas of
275 foreign workers through the summer, according to the U.S. Department of
Labor.

And, according to the employment agency that signs the paychecks, Cinram has
applied for federal approval to bring 600 foreign workers back to Huntsville
next fall.

"I think we've already got all the paperwork," said Doug Wilson, president of
the Ambassador temporary employment agency.

Lyne Fisher, spokeswoman at Cinram's headquarters in Toronto, said today the
Huntsville plant has not yet committed to using a specific number of foreign
workers this fall.

"We don't want to confirm any numbers at this point," she said. "Our focus is
going to be on recruiting locally."

Ambassador hired 1,142 foreign workers on behalf of Cinram over the last five
months. That's twice the number of H-2B workers employed by Walt Disney World
last year. In fact, 8.3 percent of all seasonal foreign workers in the United
States last year ended up in Alabama.

Using the H-2B visa for unskilled and seasonal help, 5,501 workers were
employed in the state last year.

Among them were 498 foreign tree planters in Cullman, 683 forest workers in
Selma, 147 shellfish shuckers in Bayou La Batre and 29 landscape laborers in
Huntsville.

But the Labor Department's approval of Cinram's application to use 1,350
workers under H-2B visas was the single largest allocation in the country in
2007. Other large blocks went to Southern states such as Maryland, Louisiana,
Arkansas, Texas, Georgia and Florida.

Some politicians here have objected since the local practice became public in
November.

"Common sense suggested it was always intended to be a permanent program,"
Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks said today, "and it's unfortunate that
Cinram has chosen to undermine local blue-collar wages by bringing in low-wage
foreign workers."

But Pete Hassler, Cinram's human resources director at the Huntsville plant,
said the temporary foreign workers protect 2,600 permanent jobs at Cinram. He
said the company chose Huntsville carefully based on technological resources,
interstate highways and labor.

But the labor market has changed, he said. The average unemployment rate in
Madison County in 2007 was 2.7 percent, according to the state's Department of
Industrial Relations.

"To keep this plant and keep all these Americans working, we need these
people," Hassler said.

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