Nepalese were informed they could resign

Most didn't gohome; they found better jobs

As Huntsville's new labor strategy makes headlines on the opposite side of the globe, the Nepalese workers who continue to pack boxes at Cinram say their missing countrymen didn't leave without an official OK.

On Nov. 29, a few weeks after the first of more than 200 guest workers from Nepal began labeling and packing DVDs at Cinram's Huntsville plant, a letter marked "Personal and Confidential" arrived at the workers' apartments.

The short form letter stated that employment was at-will of the company, adding that: "Employees are free to relinquish their positions at any time, with or without cause."

Ambassador Personnel, the temporary agency that technically employs and pays the workers on behalf of Canadian-based Cinram, sent the formal notice.

The workers from Nepal, many of them business owners in their own country, say they interpreted this as a chance to leave, many looking for higher-paying jobs elsewhere. At Cinram, they earned $8 per hour but received fewer hours than they hoped. More than 150 left.

"Why they are missing is their primary motivation is to work and earn money," said Dr. Tilak Shrestha, a Nepalese scientist here who has befriended several of the workers. "There is not enough work and they went other places to find better work than the Cinram."

"Before getting that letter, no one went other places," said one of the remaining workers, who did not wish to be identified for fear of retaliation.

Doug Wilson, the president of Ambassador, told The Times last week that the missing workers had become homesick and returned to Nepal early. Lynne Fisher, spokesperson for Cinram, said the same, adding that Cinram notified Homeland Security when the foreign workers did not report for work.

Wilson did not return calls Friday, and Fisher said she had no knowledge of the letter and no comment. As of Friday, Homeland Security had turned the matter over to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. "We're looking into the matter," said ICE spokesman Temple Black.

Diplomatic territory

The situation in Huntsville has led to stories in newspapers in Nepal, a poor, mountainous nation separating China from India. The situation has also drawn the interest of a Nepali aid association in New York and led at least one Nepali journalist to visit Huntsville.

Huntsville has entered into diplomatic territory, said Shrestha, whether the people at Cinram realize it or not. "It is about how the United States and the U.S. government wants to deal with Third World people," he said, adding that the workers would take home lessons and opinions to share in a small, developing country. "It's like a backward Peace Corps."

From October through early January, Cinram used a temporary worker program known as the H-2B visa to bring 1,142 laborers to Huntsville. About 800 came from Jamaica, the rest from Nepal, Bolivia, Ukraine and the Dominican Republic.

Today, fewer than 50 of more than 200 Nepali workers remain at Cinram. At a meeting with Shrestha and five workers who remain, all said they are confused by the use of the word "missing" for their compatriots, who are permitted to travel freely within the United States under their visas.

However, contrary to corporate explanations, one of the remaining Nepali workers said only a few returned home. "Many Nepalese went to work in other places, " he said.

Ambassador had arrangements with numerous landlords across town to house the workers. Landlord Mary Snopl housed the Nepalis, and she complained to a local TV station last week that some of them had stolen furniture on their way out of town.

The workers say no one from the TV news station checked with the remaining workers before the report. "They haven't asked us anything. Just make news and go away," said one worker.

The workers say some items may have appeared missing because, when co-workers would leave, those who stayed would borrow the plastic chairs, or replace a broken TV with a working one. "None of these guys are going to run around with a plastic table and dirty pans," said Shrestha.

A walk through the apartments in November - and again on Friday - revealed plastic patio furniture, used sleeper couches, beds, small $150 TV sets and old cookware.

"If that's the case, that's great," said Snopl of the borrowed furniture, although she hadn't confirmed it.

"They're very nice, the group that we have left," she said. "We feel bad they're taking some of the heat for what some of the other people from their country did. They are hard workers, they sure would like more hours at Cinram."

Snopl also said that Ambassador ought to have better vetted the more than 20 landlords before divvying up the guest workers as they arrived.

Little overtime

Back in Nepal last fall, the workers say they never heard of Ambassador. The workers produced contracts signed in Nepal that show only Cinram and the name of a director of human resources for Cinram's Huntsville plant. The contract promises $8 per hour, $12 for overtime. "Substantial overtime is generally available," reads the contract.

However, since the end of the Christmas busy season, workers have had little overtime, working only 33 hours one week, 44 the next. Checks range between $200 to $300 on average before rent.

Of the five workers assembled on Thursday, one ran a cigarette distributorship, one worked for his national airlines, one was an electrician, another a motorcycle dealer. All speak English, as it is compulsory in school in Nepal, a nation of Hindus and Buddhists.

One worker said he paid $750 to come here. Others paid more, but would not go into details. Most plan to return to their jobs after May 31. "If Cinram was providing 40 hours a week then they would not go anywhere else," said Shrestha.

However, Santosh Pokhrel, a former Nepali journalist who runs a gas station in Madison, said some of the workers told him they paid up to $25,000 for the chance to come here.

"The honest answer is they are not going back until they make their money," said Pokhrel during a separate interview. "It's like a Mexican pays a coyote to cross the border."

Pokhrel said about 100 Nepali families live in the Huntsville area. He said he and others had spoken with some of the workers after the news surfaced this week.

According to the CIA's world factbook: "Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with almost one-third of its population living below the poverty line."

"You can barely find a job back home," said Anand Lepcha, who works in a restaurant here. "Finding a job is big dreams."

The workers are dispersing to any city where they may know a friend or relative or have a line on work, said Pokhrel, but they aren't staying here. "They won't find anything because you have to drive a car in Huntsville."