Thread: New owners take on old problems at Swift

New owners take on old problems at Swift


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Bill Jackson, (Bio) bjackson@greeleytribune.com
December 11, 2007

A year after the well-orchestrated raid on Swift & Co. meatpacking plants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, operations at the company's plants have returned to normal.

But it's not the same company it was when the raids were conducted Dec. 12, 2006.

In July, it became JBS-Swift following the sale of the company to JBS-S.A. of Brazil, a move that made the new company the largest beef processor in the world in terms of slaughter capacity and actual slaughter. The headquarters of JBS-Swift remains in Greeley.

Jack Shandley is the vice president of human resources administration for JBS-Swift. He said hiring practices for the company's six packing plants that were hit by ICE officials a year ago haven't changed that much in the past year. The summer prior to the raids, Swift brought in a third party to review every potential new employee, a practice that hasn't changed since the raid.

"If a person has a California driver's license and a Texas Social Security number, we need an explanation of why. That applies to everybody," Shandley said, noting every state has a different identification process, which makes the hiring process that much more difficult.

With the purchase by JBS-S.A., the Greeley beef packing plant has added a second shift, bringing in an additional 1,300 workers. Shandley said all those workers have been hired, but the "training curve" for those new employees is ongoing.

Economic experts have previously predicted that a second shift could bring up to $80 million annually to the area economy.

The demographics of the company's meatpacking staff have changed slightly as well. About 80 percent of those employees are Latino, down from 90 percent prior to the raid. The difference, Shandley said, has been filled by non-Latino employees.

"That's pretty much the same at all our plants," he said.

Steve Kay, publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly, a trade publication, said the Swift of a year ago and the Swift of today is "vastly different," noting the new ownership brought "a single focus and intent that has not been seen in the company for a number of years or even, perhaps, ever seen in the United States."

That particularly applies, he said, to the beef side of the company.

"What has impressed me is that the day following their acquisition they laid out a road map or outline of what they intended to do, and they have done exactly that almost to the letter," Kay said.

The raid by ICE agents Dec. 12, 2006, actually started in March 2006, former Swift president and chief executive officer Sam Rovit told the Tribune in an exclusive interview in February of this year. The raid, he said, was the result of a jail interview with an illegal immigrant in Marshalltown, Iowa, where Swift operates a pork plant. That person, who Rovit said may have been a former employee carrying a grudge, told officials of a widespread identification theft ring.

Swift was made aware of the possibility of the ring and offered to work with government officials in finding those involved in any criminal activity, or any undocumented workers who may have been at any of the company's plants, but Rovit charged the government failed to work with company officials.

It became apparent, Rovit said at the time, that the government was "looking for a marquee to show the administration it was tough on immigration." The raid cost Swift $30 million, $20 million in lost revenue and $10 million in employee retention and hiring incentives.

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/2 ... /112110115

"It became apparent, Rovit said at the time, that the government was "looking for a marquee to show the administration it was tough on immigration." The raid cost Swift $30 million, $20 million in lost revenue and $10 million in employee retention and hiring incentives. "

Bet he still got a huge bonus when the sale went through