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Any attempt to better understand the circumstances of this most regrettable situation would be incomplete if it failed to recognize that, in addition to Lamell Lumber, their migrant employees, and APS, other actors were involved in this affair and its outcome: one being a local immigrant right’s NGO known as “Migrant Justice” (MJ), the others being the local news media outlets that covered the protest...

Allegation 1) Lamell Lumber “reportedly fired workers who demanded higher wages and protested their treatment by the company.” While that is a factually correct statement (most of the migrant employees were in fact fired, they did in fact demand higher wages, and they did in fact protest having been fired), it is not accurate to imply that the affected employees were fired for demanding raises or complaining about their treatment by the company...

Allegation 2) Lamell Lumber (failed to provide) “promised raises.” When the migrant employees were hired by Lamell Lumber their starting pay was $13/hr (which was then greater than the legal minimum wage) and they were assured that they would be eligible for a raise after completing their first year of employment by an amount to be determined by Mr Lamell. The hourly rate for each of the employees was raised to $16/hr upon completion of their first year of employment in fulfillment of that commitment...

Allegation 3) The “company refused to meet” (with the migrant employees)... Since we began working together it has always been Mr Lamell’s preference that the operations manager and I deal with management issues pertaining to the migrant employees. We have consistently held monthly meetings with the migrant employees and the operations manager in which we discuss company policies, work and housing related issues, and I often make an additional trip to the sawmill each month for training purposes, housing inspections, or to deal with other issues...

Allegation 4) Lamell Lumber was “(r)estricting employees from receiving guests.” It is not company policy to categorically prohibit migrant employees from receiving guests at company provided housing, however, there are in fact some restrictions on having guests due to the inherent nature of the situation... Generally speaking, as long as an employee's housemates do not complain and guests respect basic housing rules, there is very little attention to guest policy...

Allegation 5) Lamell Lumber “did not respect workers’ privacy.” While it is true that some migrant employees have complained about Mr Lamell making unannounced housing visits, these are almost exclusively associated with a particular house and consistent failure to respect house rules by certain migrant employees living there, and in many cases were prompted by complaints from other residents of the house...