The letter below was written to Attorney General Reno in 1996 at the invitation of a private landowner for whom we were providing a turnkey site reforestation contract.
I had explained to him what I was going through trying to open the H2B visa program which I learned about from my DOL/INS field audit in the winter of 92/93.  In that audit the agents told me, “Mr. Ellis we could fine you $50,000.00 “  When I replied you used the word “could” they smiled and said nearly everyone of my I-9’s was filled out wrong and that each one could cost me $1,000.00 each.  Then they went on to say that I was taking care of my men, my trucks and van were in good shape and they recommended that I check into the H2B and H2A visa programs.  We shook hands and they left my motel in Metter GA where we had about 5 rooms rented for our crew.  From 1993 to 1995 I poured all that I could into getting the H2B visa program opened up.  Once I had explained all of this to Mr. Cain he recommended that I write my issues in a letter and give it to him.  When I replied, “why who do you know” he smiled again and said,” my cousin works in Washington D.C. her name is Janet Reno, ever heard of her?”

I went home wrote the letter and about two or three weeks later on a Sunday afternoon I answered the phone and to my shock it was Attorney General Reno on the line.  What I remember most was her telling me that my letter was the best explanation of a dysfunctional situation she had ever read and that is why she called me to tell me that she was going to check into the matter.  It took a few more months but after a site down visit with Dwight Faulkner of INS in Atlanta and his direct calling to the Vermont Service Center who had my ETA-750 in hand to either approve or not our meeting ended after a couple of hours with a hand shake and rather confined statement,” I think you will be getting what you need in a few days.” Sure enough in 3 days I had my first approved ETA-750.  I soon learned that I was not the only one pushing for this program to open many others were doing the same, all I can say is that my push and it was a push opened the door that has provide legal working status for now tens of thousands of undocumented workers as well as new workers to come and work in the United States and leap frog their futures forward.  So please feel free to read the letter that for our company kept us in business.

Letter to Attorney General Janet Reno (3MB PDF)

An analysis of the history of our companies work force over the last 2 decades is clear. When we have a mixed crew we can hire more Americans. The chart to the right shows the number of Americans and the number of H2B Forest Conservation Workers we have hired each year for the last 7 years. Overall this combination is a winning social mixture, and profitable. By 2006 Renewable was ranked in the top ten percent of having the highest credit score of all Small Businesses in America. We have now lost that standing at present as our expansion to start-up UCICGlobal was abruptly interrupted by the economic flip that happen in the fall of 2008. Additionally Jill Ellis had to undergo life saving, emergency surgery last winter which compounded stress on our company and personal finances.

As the Nation retools and we are all in agreement that a clean energy future is the way to a better economy the fact is we are still dependent upon gasoline from oil and coal for our electricity. This has to change, we all know this now, but we have to use these energy resources to help us build the green power supply of the future. The same is true in the labor market. While we, as a Nation are facing a 10% unemployment rate if the DOL told farmers that they would have to switch to American labor starting this fall food prices would go through the roof and imports of vegetables and fruits would sore as would the trade deficit. In short if we cut off the use of H2A and H2B workers more Americans would become jobless. Sounds crazy but it is true. When labor in the field was $5/hour apples were 59 cents a pound. Labor is now $10/hour on a production bases to pick apples and they cost you over a $1 per pound in the store today. If we went cold turkey to American labor say at $10/hour the cost of the apples would more than double by harvest end. Why? Guest workers are more disciplined, and are generally in better physical condition than your average low skilled American worker. Employment in the United States generally pays about 7 times more per day than a temporary work can make in their home county, so they have an incentive to be as productive as they can be. So they "Come to Work". So the "Come to work" and in so doing create jobs all over our economy in support of their labor. From bus and airplane tickets, to chicken processors and hamburgers flippers to commissions on insurance policies their labor creates U.S. jobs.

Is their room for American Labor in the forest? You bet there is, but with Americans now coming of age in the information age, few have any real woods experience. To work in the forest one must be comfortable in their surroundings. I went to a private boarding school in central Florida that was more than a mile down a private dirt road, and was centered in a pine forest sitting on a crystal clear spring feed lake. One of our lessons was to walk in a group in the forest late at night with only a flashlight to see by. Our teacher would have us turn off the flashlights and have us stand in complete silence for a good 5 to 10 minutes and simply listen to the sounds of the night in the forest. Then we would all take turns sharing what we were afraid of. For some it was snakes and bears, for others it was the boogie man. The lesson was to realize that we as a group in the middle of the forest in the dark of night were safe.

Once we realized this then we all took pause and looked at the star filled sky, and realizing that our eyes had adjusted to the darkness and we could now see each other. This lesson and other's taught me to feel safe in the forest. That nature is our friend and that a Forest Conservation worker is a person who is at home in the woods.

Since our industry switched to Hispanic labor some 20 years ago few Americans have hands on experience working in the forest so what we have seen is that veteran Forest Conservation workers supply Americans with insights into the comforts of working in a natural setting. Most Forest Conservation workers who live in Mexico, still grow up, cutting and splitting firewood to cook with. Many come from remote mountainous regions and it is not uncommon to see a mule and a man plowing a field of corn, rather than a guy sitting on a tractor.

This background gives the average Forest Conservation Worker from abroad a natural advantage over Americans. We welcome the day when Americans return to the forest for employment and we know that combining American labor with experienced H2B workers is a winning combination for the Nation. Our long term goal is to have the Americans planting trees and restoring the forest of Mexico and Ghana.

Completing this circle is the goal of this company and to learn more about this subject visit www.ucicglobal.com

By viewing the employment graph for our company over the last 7 years it is easy to see that when we have our core crew of H2B workers we hire more Americans. It is that simple.