Packager Sued For Workplace Practices

-- Graphic Arts Online, 4/24/2008 4:57:00 PM

A former employee of DVD maker Cinram’s packaging and labeling unit filed a class action suit against the company claiming it artificially depressed hourly wages by employing unauthorized workers from foreign countries. The company is also being investigated for “sweat shop” practices.

Former employee Saul Cruz seeks damages on behalf of all hourly Cinram workers in Huntsville, AL, seeking a stop to the company's alleged hiring practices, reports a local newspaper. He named three staffing agencies in the suit: Blair Staffing Inc., Elwood Tri Inc. and Lyons HR Inc.

The company denied any wrong doing in court and asked for specific examples of misconduct so it could defend itself.

Huntsville Times reported that over 1,000 workers from Jamaica, Bolivia, Ukraine, Nepal and the Dominican Republic earn up to $8 an hour, working 12-hour shifts packing DVDs in boxes at the Alabama location. Last year, Cinram received the single largest allotment of H-2B worker visas from the U.S. Dept. of Labor; it says it recruited the temporary workers because of low unemployment in the area.

The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development opened an investigation into the housing of foreign workers at the Cinram location. HUD opened the formal investigation after receiving complaints gathered by the NAACP and the Fair Housing Center that noted landlords charged $300 per bed in roach-infested apartments. Cinram does not directly provide housing; workers are employed by staffing agencies who distribute workers upon arrival. About 100 people who came from Nepal to work at the Alabama factory seemingly vanished, and can't be located, Homeland Security officials told local reporters.