Huntsville, Ala. houses the nation's largest single group of foreign workers under H-2B visas, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
And because of low unemployment here, Cinram, a Canadian DVD manufacturer, could make hundreds of unskilled, seasonal laborers a recurring element of the local work force.
The company has already received federal approval to extend the visas of 275 foreign workers through the summer, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
And, according to the employment agency that signs the paychecks, Cinram has applied for federal approval to bring 600 foreign workers back to Huntsville next fall.
"I think we've already got all the paperwork," said Doug Wilson, president of the Ambassador temporary employment agency.
Lyne Fisher, spokeswoman at Cinram's headquarters in Toronto, said today the Huntsville plant has not yet committed to using a specific number of foreign workers this fall.
"We don't want to confirm any numbers at this point," she said. "Our focus is going to be on recruiting locally."
Ambassador hired 1,142 foreign workers on behalf of Cinram over the last five months. That's twice the number of H-2B workers employed by Walt Disney World last year. In fact, 8.3 percent of all seasonal foreign workers in the United States last year ended up in Alabama.
Using the H-2B visa for unskilled and seasonal help, 5,501 workers were employed in the state last year.
Among them were 498 foreign tree planters in Cullman, 683 forest workers in Selma, 147 shellfish shuckers in Bayou La Batre and 29 landscape laborers in Huntsville.
But the Labor Department's approval of Cinram's application to use 1,350 workers under H-2B visas was the single largest allocation in the country in 2007. Other large blocks went to Southern states such as Maryland, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia and Florida.
Some politicians here have objected since the local practice became public in November.
"Common sense suggested it was always intended to be a permanent program," Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks said today, "and it's unfortunate that Cinram has chosen to undermine local blue-collar wages by bringing in low-wage foreign workers."
But Pete Hassler, Cinram's human resources director at the Huntsville plant, said the temporary foreign workers protect 2,600 permanent jobs at Cinram. He said the company chose Huntsville carefully based on technological resources, interstate highways and labor.
But the labor market has changed, he said. The average unemployment rate in Madison County in 2007 was 2.7 percent, according to the state's Department of Industrial Relations.
"To keep this plant and keep all these Americans working, we need these people," Hassler said.
