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Fmr. Swift Workers Sue Over Hiring of Illegals
Last Edited: Monday, 18 Dec 2006, 12:52 PM MST
Created: Monday, 18 Dec 2006, 12:51 PM MST
Swift & Company, Greeley, Colorado. December 12, 2006




More a dozen former Swift and Company employees are suing the meat packing company for 23 (m) million dollars -- alleging officials conspired to depress wages by hiring illegal immigrants.

The 18 former employees are legal residents who worked at the Swift meatpacking plant in Cactus, Texas -- north of Amarillo.

Swift is based in Greeley, Colorado.

Agents from U-S Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided the Cactus plant and five others last week. Nearly 13-hundred employees were arrested during the multistate immigration sweep that temporarily halted operations.

Dallas attorney Angel Reyes says the plaintiffs are victims in a long-standing scheme by Swift to depress and artificially lower the wages of its workers by knowingly hiring illegal workers.

Attorneys for the former employees filed a lawsuit late Friday against Swift and its owners, Dallas-based investment firm H-M Capital Partners.

They contend Swift and H-M Capital Partners engaged in racketeering to manipulate commerce.