Nepalese H-2Bs go poof, while Baca and Pelosi push for more visas
Nepalese H-2Bs go poof, while Baca and Pelosi push for more visas
Date: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 5:50 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1830 -- 3/05/2008 >>>>>
Sometimes when I see two seemingly unrelated articles something clicks.
Take for instance the story of Cinram, a company that hired hundreds of H-2Bs
to work in Alabama stuffing DVDs in boxes. The foreign workers were recruited
from countries such as Nepal, Jamaica, Bolivia, Ukraine and the Dominican
Republic.
If that wasn't weird enough, at least 100 of Nepalese H-2Bs that were slaving
away at Cinram vanished. They just went poof into thin air and the Keystone
cops at the Department of Homeland Security has no clue what happened to them.
A spokesperson for Alabama's division of the Department of Homeland Security
assured the public that the renegade H-2Bs won't go far because they were
given Social Security numbers when they started their jobs at Cinram. This
ought to make you feel secure:
And, unlike illegal immigrants, he said, they would be easy to
track here. The workers' passports were on record and each who
worked longer than two weeks received a Social Security number.
"For our perspective, as soon as we realize the workers aren't
coming to work, we advise the staffing agency as well as the
Department of Homeland Security," said Fisher.
So just how would handing out social security numbers help catch a bunch of
Nepalese renegades? Perhaps they were Verichipped!
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-immigration.html
I have been keeping the story of the Nepalese H-2Bs in the back of my mind for
a newsletter -- then today I almost fell off my chair when I read a new
article in Politico. House Democrats in Washington DC like Baca and Pelosi are
pushing for expanding the out-of-control H-2B visa program so that we can let
even more foreign workers into the U.S.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, as you will find out after reading
these four articles.
Articles Included
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8840.html
Immigration: New bills, old borders
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071117/BUSINESS/711170341/1003
Huntsville firm irks residents by hiring foreign workers
http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=18910
100 Nepalese workers vanish from US factory
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1201688225113390.xml&coll=1
Why are so many Cinram employees leaving jobs?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8840.html
Immigration: New bills, old borders
By: David Rogers and Patrick O'Connor
March 5, 2008 08:38 AM EST
Immigration reform is raising its head again in Congress, stirring old hopes
and fears among Democrats and forcing Republicans to re-evaluate their tactics
given the re-emergence of John McCain.
Nothing is anticipated on the scale of the comprehensive immigration bill that
collapsed in the Senate last year. But seasonal employers, such as the
restaurant and tourism industries, are pressing hard for more H-2B visas for
lower-skilled workers this summer, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised
Hispanic lawmakers an opportunity to add provisions addressing concerns in
their community.
A third potential piece is a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler
(D-N.C.) -- with the support of fellow "Blue Dog" Democratic moderates -- that
takes a more conservative approach: beefing up border security and requiring
employers to use a government database to verify that their workers are in the
U.S. legally.
Mindful of the splits among Democrats, House Republican leaders met Tuesday
night to discuss a potential discharge petition aimed at forcing Pelosi to
allow a floor vote on the Shuler measure, first introduced last November. A
final leadership go-ahead could come as early as Wednesday, with the goal of
beginning to collect signatures next week and thereby elevating the issue
prior to the spring recess beginning March 14.
The strategy is designed to force Pelosi s hand on immigration, assuming
whatever option the speaker chooses will pose problems in the fall.
"That s going to be a problem for us, because it is such a volatile issue,"
said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). "I don t think the Republicans
are interested in good policy. They re interested in good politics right now,
and they think the discharge is good politics."
To a point, that is. Privately, some in the Republican leadership are
skeptical of ever succeeding in getting the 218 signatures needed for the
petition to be effective. And much as conservatives have pressed for the
strategy, it could reopen old wounds with Hispanic voters at a time when the
party s likely presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, an immigration
reformer, has sought to smooth over the bitter debate of last year.
The run-up to Tuesday s Texas presidential primary only punctuates these
concerns. The two Democratic contenders, Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary
Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), actively competed for the votes of the state s large
Hispanic population, even as McCain was hoping that a victory there would seal
his claim to the Republican nomination.
Exit polls in Texas suggested Hispanic voters represented about 32 percent of
the Democratic vote, up from 24 percent in 2004. The same surveys showed more
sympathy for immigration reform, with only one in five Democratic voters
saying illegal workers should be deported.
Caught most in the middle of the House maneuvering is the 21-member
Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which is torn between taking a tough stand for
immigration overhaul and calibrating its demands to at least allow some
progress.
Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), who chairs the CHC, said drafters of the more
comprehensive bill are meeting Wednesday to discuss their final package, but
he would not divulge details of that legislation.
"We re working on it," Baca said. "Something will happen, and it will have
bipartisan support."
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who has taken the lead for employers seeking H-2B
visas, said: "If it came to the floor today, it would squeak by. But we need
more Republican support." Portions of Shuler s bill could be added to gain
moderate support, but the essential trade-off for the Hispanic Caucus will be
some protection for undocumented workers deemed "essential" employees.
Critics argue that the CHC has been too ideological thus far to allow a deal,
and without more movement it risks being run over as pressure mounts for some
relief on the H-2B visa issue.
"It is big enough to carry something decent or it is big enough to run over
us," said Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), who has been a strong ally of the
caucus on immigration issues. "If we don t scale back our demands to be
commensurate with what H-2B can carry, we ll get H-2B without anything."
Clyburn, who has strong ties to the caucus as well, said he has urged members
to accept an incremental approach, just as Southern blacks like himself
pursued a step-by-step process toward civil rights legislation in the 1950s
and 60s.
"We can continue to just do nothing, but at some point in time a price is
going to be paid for that," Clyburn said in an interview. "Right now, we re
sort of operating at the mercy of the bureaucracy. I m a great believer that
we ought to do something. What can we do that is in fact an improvement over
what we currently have?"
Citing a five-year period in the 60s when the civil rights movement advanced
with a succession of laws running from manpower training to voting rights and
fair housing, Clyburn said: "Over that five-year period, you got the whole
hog; you just didn t get it all at one time. When I talk to my brothers and
sisters in the Hispanic Caucus, I say, If this is what we want, what can we
carve out of this right now and come back? "
Watching from the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said any
progress will depend on the House going first. "I think anything dealing with
immigration is going to be extremely difficult," Reid said in an interview
this week. "The House is the one where it has to come, and when it comes over
here, we ll deal with it."
Clyburn agrees the immediate chances are "slim," but if the seeds are planted
now, more could come depending on the presidential campaign. "When we settle
down and get two candidates, and if you have the right kind of rhetoric from
them, the chances improve," Clyburn said.
For seasonal employers, whether crabbers in Maryland or grand hotels in
Michigan s Upper Peninsula, the real calendar -- not politics -- makes the
pressure very real and immediate.
The current caps on H-2B visas have been a recurring problem for several
years. In March 2004, employers hit the ceiling of 66,000 H-2B visas for the
first time under the current program. The number ran out even faster the next
year, at the beginning of January, only three months into the fiscal year.
Congress responded by tweaking the rules to create an exemption for employees
who had worked under the program in the three previous years. As part of that
same fix, lawmakers also divided the allotment in half, giving summer
employers the same chance to compete for these visas as businesses that
operate in the winter.
But competition remained tight, and last year the annual extension became
ensnared in the immigration debate and Congress failed to include the
provision in a final year-end spending deal with the White House.
Outside groups, such as the National Restaurant Association, are pressing for
relief and say they need a solution by April so summer employers have enough
time to complete the necessary paperwork and recruit foreign workers to fill
these positions. Absent some deal soon, pressure will mount to add an
amendment to a must-pass spending bill in April to include funding for the
Iraq war.
"It s critical that Congress reauthorizes this temporary worker provision,"
said Mike Shutley, who chairs the National Restaurant Association s H-2B
coalition. "Waiting till the next fiscal year is not acceptable."
Every year, Bill Zammer, a restaurant owner on Cape Cod, recruits about a
quarter of his more than 400 employees from Jamaica on temporary-worker visas.
This year, fearing Congress will fail to extend the current program, he has
traveled to Florida and Pennsylvania looking for cooks and waitstaff to work
his large dining rooms. He even made a recent trip to the U.S.
Virgin Islands with Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) in a fruitless effort to find
workers with the necessary paperwork for his six-month summer season.
But he may need to cut that season short this summer if he can t find the
workers he needs to fill these positions. He recently traveled to Washington
to make that point to a number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill as part of a broad
coalition effort to extend the temporary visa program.
"These are not people coming to steal our jobs," Zammer said. "These are jobs
that are not being filled."
TM & ) THE POLITICO & POLITICO.COM, a division of Allbritton
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071117/BUSINESS/711170341/1003
Huntsville firm irks residents by hiring foreign workers
The Associated Press
November 17, 2007
HUNTSVILLE -- Cinram has drawn fire from some local officials for hiring 1,350
foreign workers to package DVDs at its Huntsville plant -- a move defended by
the company.
"We have been an employer in the area hiring hand over fist," said Cinram's
Human Relations director, Pete Hassler.
Cinram recently began recruiting foreign workers, bringing to Huntsville 800
young workers from Jamaica and another 550 from Bolivia, Nepal, Ukraine and
the Dominican Republic.
"If this is the way Cinram plans on operating, I'd just as soon they left our
community," Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks told The Huntsville Times
for a story Friday.
Brooks said he's concerned about local taxpayers subsidizing health care and
education for the workers.
"They are not being a good neighbor or responsible citizen. If they want
Jamaican workers, open a plant in Jamaica. The Jamaicans would be most
appreciative," Brooks said.
The workers, who can earn $8 an hour working 12-hour shifts packing DVDs in
boxes, are screened by U.S. embassies. They receive what are known as H-2B
work visas.
"We have enough people in our community that would do the work for decent
pay," said Huntsville City Council member Glenn Watson. "Eight dollars an hour
won't cover lunch."
The U.S. Department of Labor issues 66,000 such visas each year for unskilled,
non-farm laborers. But the government received 247,000 requests last year from
companies seeking foreign labor.
The H-2B visas cover up to one year of full-time temporary work, and must be
used for one-time projects, seasonal work, new contracts or peak times.
A company spokeswoman said Cinram's peak demand for DVDs falls around the
holidays.
Watson said instead of looking overseas for cheap labor, Cinram ought to pay
$10 or $12 per hour for the same work.
"I think what Cinram is doing is detrimental to the city of Huntsville and the
nation," he said.
Watson said Cinram's practice ought to be illegal.
David Berkowitz, director of the Center for the Management of Science and
Technology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, said the company is
following the law, a practice that isn't necessarily common.
"We've had for years in this country, a visitor worker program, in the name of
illegal aliens," Berkowitz said. "Cinram is taking a legalized approach to
that, which means sharing the burdens of those costs to get those employees
here.
"And they always have the option of closing manufacturing here and moving
overseas."
According to Madison County Tax Assessor's Office, Cinram, which employs about
2,500 people, leases its 161-acre campus on Moores Mill Road from the city's
Industrial Development Board.
Although it does not own the land, Cinram pays property taxes on personal
property and equipment. For that, Cinram is partially exempt. The company will
pay more than $500,000 in taxes in 2007, mostly toward schools. But the
company is exempted from about $330,000 worth of other taxes this year.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=18910
100 Nepalese workers vanish from US factory
New York, Jan 31 : About 100 temporary workers from Nepal hired by a factory
in Alabama state have vanished into the blue and efforts in the past two days
to track them have failed.
Immigration agents were trying to find out what happened to the Nepalese
workers, among hundreds brought to the US to work at a DVD factory operated by
Cinram Inc. in Huntsville, a spokesperson for the Alabama Department of
Homeland Security said.
The local TV station, WAAY-TV, that first reported the matter Tuesday quoted
the landlord of apartments in two buildings rented by the over 200 Nepalese
workers that scores of them had gone without notice, taking with them hundreds
of thousands of dollars worth of furniture, TV sets and kitchenware from the
furnished apartments.
Local media reported that Cinram last year hired over 1,000 foreign workers,
including from Nepal, to pack DVD boxes because the job market in the area
could not supply its needs.
They were recruited through officially recognised recruiting agencies and
vetted by US embassies. They came on H-2B visas for temporary unskilled
labour. Most of their visas expire at the end of May. They were paid $8 per
hour for 12-hour shifts.
A spokesperson for the company that recruited the workers for Cinram has said
a contact in Nepal believes many of the missing workers have returned home.
The reason could be shrinking work hours for many workers at Cinram, follow-up
reports in the media have said.
A spokesperson for the Nepali mission in Washington, DC, told a Neapli
newspaper: "The embassy is trying to find out what happened to them (Nepali
workers), whether they have actually run away or were forced out due to some
reasons."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1201688225113390.xml&coll=1
Why are so many Cinram employees leaving jobs?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
By CHALLEN STEPHENS
Times Staff Writer challen.stephens@htimes.com Firm cites homesickness;
workers say hours were cut
Scores of foreign workers brought here to pack boxes at Cinram's DVD plant in
north Huntsville for $8 an hour have been leaving town, a situation corporate
representatives attribute to homesickness.
However, some workers here complain they are no longer receiving enough hours
per week to be able to save money while paying for rent and food.
"I have four kids. I have nothing to take back to them," said one female
Jamaican employee last week, who asked her name not be used for fear of being
fired.
In the wake of the busy Christmas shipping season, some Jamaican guest workers
said they have been reduced to working just three days a week, taking home
about $200.
Mary Snopl, who rented apartments to hundreds of the more than 1,000 guest
workers now here, said the Nepalese in particular have vanished.
"We're missing about 150 of them," she said.
Cinram initially said it would employ about 800 workers from Jamaica and
another 550 from Nepal, Bolivia, Ukraine and the Dominican Republic.
The workers were hired by recruiting agencies in their home countries, vetted
by U.S. embassies and officially employed by a temporary agency called
Ambassador, formerly known as Blair Staffing and Logistics.
In the end, Cinram's Huntsville plant employed 1,142 guest workers, said
company spokeswoman Lyne Fisher in Toronto. The workers were here on H-2B
visas for temporary unskilled labor. Most visas expire at the end of May.
One person who helps in the housing of workers but asked not to be identified,
said a few of the workers never even picked up a paycheck.
For instance, one Jamaican man announced the first day he was heading to
Florida and disappeared. A few returned home just as quickly. One Jamaican
girl called friends in Huntsville a couple months ago after she found better-
paying work in Atlanta. Such jobs violate the workers' short-term visas.
Snopl said some of the Nepalese went to stay with family in New York.
"Maybe it wasn't their cup of tea, maybe it wasn't explained how it would be
here," she said.
The missing renters have left her and her husband, Tim Snopl, tens of
thousands of dollars or more in debt, she said. Numerous landlords were used
to provide housing, and two of them confirmed they are also losing money as
the workers have moved to cheaper housing here, left town or returned home.
However, most workers paid thousands of dollars, many borrowing the money, to
recruiting agencies to buy an opportunity to work 12-hour shifts at Cinram.
And most have stayed in Huntsville.
"To me, it's experience, the first time leaving my country," said one young
Jamaican man who continues to work at Cinram. "That's the only good thing
about it."
Doug Wilson, president of the Ambassador temp agency, said he called the
recruiting agency in Nepal and most of the missing workers went home early,
some staying temporarily at their eventual point of departure in New York.
"We're working to confirm that," said Lauren Bethune, spokesperson for
Alabama's division of the Department of Homeland Security.
Wilson said unlike the Jamaicans or Bolivians, the Nepalese workers tended to
be "middle-class." Wilson said they told their recruiter in Nepal: " 'We went,
we had our fun, we did what we wanted to do, we're just all kind of homesick.'
What he's telling us is they have just gone home."
And, unlike illegal immigrants, he said, they would be easy to track here.
The workers' passports were on record and each who worked longer than two
weeks received a Social Security number.
"For our perspective, as soon as we realize the workers aren't coming to work,
we advise the staffing agency as well as the Department of Homeland Security,"
said Fisher.
Fisher said its difficult for the company to predict when the volume in DVD
sales, and therefore the need for extra workers, will fall off. "It's not
unusual for the volume to start dropping off at this time of year."
Yet Cinram continued to bring in scores of Jamaicans this month, well after
the busy Christmas rush.
Some Nepalese and Jamaicans complained to The Times in November that they
would prefer to work more hours. At the time, they were working 12-hour shifts
four and five days a week, earning $88 per shift before taxes. Many were
struggling to save enough to cover the thousands of dollars they paid to come
here.
Now, workers have seen a drop in hours. According to several Jamaican workers
in different parts of town, they now work three days one week, four the next.
Payroll deductions
And, according to an agreement viewed by The Times, the new arrivals were made
to sign payroll deductions, where as much as $135 was taken each week to
guarantee certain landlords payment for rent and transportation. That's $540 a
month to share a bedroom in a poorly furnished apartment of a questionable
living standard.
The deduction left one recent arrival, a young Jamaican woman here only a few
weeks, taking home $108.80 for a week's work.
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