AUSTIN -&160;The Farmland fire in Albert Lea has had a significant effect in Austin, particularly on recent immigrants.

Friday, July 27, 2001

AUSTIN -&160;The Farmland fire in Albert Lea has had a significant effect in Austin, particularly on recent immigrants.

Ahmo Dzananovic and his wife Razija have worked at Farmland for six months. They turned to the Austin Welcome Center for help in receiving unemployment benefits.

&uot;I don’t know what I would do,&uot; said Ahmo Dzananovic, who has also used the Welcome Center’s services to make business cards for his part-time painting business.

Maria Acosta, the administrative assistant at the Welcome Center, estimated that nearly 100 people who live in Austin work for Farmland. Since the fire, she has helped many of them by looking for jobs in area newspapers.

&uot;I’ve been swamped,&uot; she said.

The same has been true of Julie Diaz at Specialty Personnel Services, who has had quite a few Farmland employees look for jobs through her company.

&uot;We have an office in Albert Lea, and there have been a lot coming over there, too,&uot; she said.

Acosta has met with mixed success in placing Austin’s recent immigrants and Farmland employees, who may not be able to find work in the Austin area. While Quality Pork Processors Inc. had been hiring in January, Acosta claims that some individuals might take up to two or three months to find jobs, while the waiting list at QPP currently is three or four months long.

Two of her clients, for whom she completed job applications, interviewed on Tuesday in Rochester, and others have looked at working in Faribault.

On the other hand, she says many are going to Marshalltown, Iowa, which has another packing house. Others yet are unable to find work in either Albert Lea or Austin.

&uot;A lot of the people, there is really no jobs available,&uot; Acosta said.

For those, she encourages much wider job searches that could involve moving entire families.

&uot;I think a lot of people will be going to other states where they have relatives of friends where they know work is available.&uot;

Dzananovic could be one of them.

&uot;If the money doesn’t come for unemployment by Aug. 8, I will look for work elsewhere,&uot; he said. &uot;Maybe if they fix the plant in two or three years, I’ll be back.&uot;