Cinram And Imported Labor

This story gets more and more bizarre and Mooncat is covering it nicely over at Left In Alabama. Just af few minutes ago I was in a local convenience store picking up something when the news piece of today's meeting between community leaders and the Cinram management was reported so I stopped in the aisle and watched it since I had seen the teaser earlier at home but knew I would miss the story.

Upon seeing the local newscast my first thought was that Cinram has spent a lot of money on PR spin given how big this story has grown in the past few weeks.

When I got to the cash register the cashier asked me what I thought of the story and I told her that I thought the entire episode has been despicable and that we should be expecting more of not only local companies, but also we should expect more from our local government. She proceeded to tell me that she had worked at Cinram until just before this story broke, she had been there several years and she was just about to be slated for upgraded benefits when she was laid off. The bitterness sort of dripped from her voice and we both agreed that there were more than enough local workers, given the wages to be paid, to fill the jobs which Cinram had open.

What also concerns me is the treatment of the foreign workers which I think will be documented even more in the coming days. From Mooncat:

The Jamaican women interviewed are not making as much money as they were promised, and the living conditions are, shall we say, piss poor.

"They told us they're nice people, and the housing will be comfortable," Erin said. "I have a pet goat and I would never let her stay here."

However, a call to the apartment manager reveals that the unit normally rents for $395 a month. Together these women pay $1280 a month to a man who drives them to work.

If I understand that correctly, that means someone is renting the apartment for $395, driving the women to work and back daily and charging them $1280 for room and transportation. That's $785 for transportation. There has to be a big profit in that deal.

In fact, it sounds like everybody is profiting, except the foreign workers. Stephens looked at pay stubs and figures that, if they can limit expenses for food and necessities to $10 per day, they can save $2000 over the 8 month stint in Huntsville. Sounds good, you say? Wrong! They had to pay $2000 in fees and transportation to get the job here.

So, they quit jobs in their home countries, come to Huntsville, work long hours at a dead end job, pay three prices to live in bad conditions and go home no richer. I'm sure they will leave with a wonderful impression of what a friendly, caring, Christian nation America is.

I have long believed that Huntsville is a large hearted city and I don't see why we can't arrange some sort of community transportation to get these people to work and back home. What would interest me would be who would be crying the loudest about the loss of the transportation fee! Doesn't the city offer public transportation? I have yet to see this being overused and I see no reason why bus schedules could not be rearranged to get these people to work and back in a cost effective manner.

I see more phone calls to the Huntsville City and Madison County representatives in my future!

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