Highway 431 Blog

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

More Cinram Madness

I don't watch much television of any sort although I right now I'm watching Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home DVD about Bob Dylan so I seldom get to see any of the newscasts from the local stations. Mooncat has a link to a WAAY story up on Left In Alabama which I found pretty interesting so I'm going to excerpt a bit of it:

After just three months on the job, Angela DeLaveleye decided she'd had enough with Cinram. DeLaveleye and her former co-worker Alison Glaze both quit the Huntsville plant earlier this month, and they now say what's going on inside is not only appalling, but illegal.

"At Cinram you don't go and make a big stink if you want to keep your job," said DeLaveleye. "I've seen 14-year-olds, i've asked them, they've said they're 14 years old. You have 14-year-old Hispanic people working here."

[snip]

Both women said many workers at the plant are too afraid to do anything because of their legal status. And there are other allegations as well.

"The conditions are filthy, it's dirty," DeLaveleye said. "The bathrooms are dirty, they're not cleaned, they smell. You walk into the bathrooms, someone has spit in them, left hair in the sink."

"When a friend of mine left, she was told by a security guard that there is TB at Cinram right now, and you need to go get checked," Glaze said. "(This happened) about four weeks ago."


I've had friends who worked at Cinram, and one that I see infrequently still works there, I think. I'll have to look Gordie up, but all characterize the company as little more than a sweatshop. I'm interested in seeing just how long this story will last until the local powers-that-be kill it!

[UPDATE]

Mooncat has an expanded post which expands on the entire situation regarding Cinram. Here's another excerpt:

The H-2B workers at Cinram are living in multi-person apartments and paying an exorbitant amount for a rent/transportation package. The apartments are no better than expected. A local reporter found some female Cinram workers from Jamaica living in a place with a non-working heater, a tub that won't drain, closet doors on the floor and drafty windows. One of the women said, "I have a pet goat and I would never let her stay here." They were paying a total of $1280 per month for that, a ride to work and twice a week rides to Wal-Mart.

The same reporter quizzed the women on earnings and expenses and calculated that if they only spend $10/day for food and necessities, they can save about $2000 each during their 8 month stay. Good, huh? Not really, because they had to pay $1400 in fees to an agency to get the job, $500 for airfare to get here and $100 for a visa application and background checks. So they spent $2000 to get the job and they will have $2000 left after working 8 months. Even, Steven. So much for "helping poor people get ahead."


This is the part of the story which really concerns me. The only term sticking in my mindright now is "economic peonage"!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I work at Cinram at the moment and all I can say is that it's the worst unorganized place I have ever worked.