Chicago Immigration Raid Leaves Swiss Baker Scrambling to Restaff 800 workers

By Thomas Mulier
November 27, 2017, 3:02 AM PST Updated on November 27, 2017, 4:02 AM PST

*Plant is trying to recover with ‘brand new workforce’: CEO
*800 workers needed to be replaced after immigration inspection

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/...v0/1000x-1.jpg
Photographer: Jeff Lewis/AP Images


A Swiss maker of hamburger buns for McDonald’s Corp. said it’s struggling to run a Chicago bakery after it lost a third of its workers in a clampdown on 800 immigrants without sufficient documentation.

About 35 percent of the workers at Cloverhill Bakery had to be replaced, according to Zurich-based Aryzta AG. The company, which makes baked goods for fast-food chains and supermarkets, said the employees were supplied by a job-placement agency that faced federal audits earlier this year.

“It’s proceeding very, very slowly because it’s like having a brand new factory and a brand new workforce,” Chief Executive Officer Kevin Toland said on a call with analysts. “That’s presenting a lot of challenges, as you can imagine.”

The raid on workers at Cloverhill is one of the biggest U.S. employment headaches reported by a European company so far as President Donald Trump has made curbing undocumented immigration a centerpiece of his presidency. Aryzta said it faces challenges in retaining staff in the U.S. and pressure to raise wages.

The Cloverhill issues led to a 7 percent decline in Aryzta’s sales from North America in the three months through October. The increase in employment costs -- which is affecting retailers and restaurants nationwide -- will eventually lead to higher consumer prices, Toland said.

Aryzta wasn’t able to verify that the workers had the necessary documents to work because they were brought in by a staffing agency, interim Chief Financial Officer David Wilkinson said in September. He also said the board wasn’t aware of the extent of the risk that existed to the business. The company first reported the loss of 800 workers at that time.

The Swiss company didn’t name the staffing company.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...unkmeyer-maker

RELATED

Feds Plan Nationwide Operation Targeting Food Service Chain Over Undocumented Workers

Jean: Can you add (800 Workers) to the title?
Like this.

Chicago Immigration Raid Leaves Swiss Baker Scrambling to Restaff 800 Workers

Plenty of people in Section 8 housing on welfare and food stamps in Chicago...for generations!

Cut off the freebies and MAKE them work these jobs!

NumbersUSA
​
Chicago Bakery Forced to Hire New Workforce After Increased Immigration Enforcement

https://www.numbersusa.com/sites/def...?itok=AYGeldON

PUBLISHED:
Mon, NOV 27th 2017 @ 1:42 pm EST

The Chicago-based Cloverhill Bakery is having to replace one-third of its workforce after many of its workers were picked up during an immigration enforcement action there earlier this year. The Swiss-owned bakery made hamburger buns for McDonalds and other fast food restaurants and supermarkets and is now being forced to hire new workers at higher wages to fill its empty positions.

Cloverhills' parent company, Aryzta, says that its struggling to hire new workers and is being pressured to raise wages to attract American workers.

“It’s proceeding very, very slowly because it’s like having a brand new factory and a brand new workforce,” Chief Executive Officer Kevin Toland said on a call with analysts. “That’s presenting a lot of challenges, as you can imagine.”

The company relied on a staffing agency to provide the workers before the enforcement action, but the agency faced federal audits earlier this year that impacted 800 workers that they had suppled to Cloverhill.

Just last week, the Trump Administration announced that it was going after a major fast food chain for hiring illegal-alien workers, but it did not identify the chain.

For more on this story, see Bloomberg.com.
worksite enforcementStrengthen Interior Enforcement

Updated: Mon, Nov 27th 2017 @ 3:55pm EST

https://www.numbersusa.com/news/chic...on-enforcement

Cloverhill Bakery

From Wikipedia

Cloverhill Bakery is a producer of baked goods primarily sold through vending machines throughout North America.

Cloverhill was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1961 as a small family owned vending company that hand-packed pastries. In 1977 the bakery expanded their facilities and implemented an automated Danish baking system. In 2011 Cloverhill opened an additional facility in Cicero, Illinois. [1] Cloverhill was acquired by Aryzta in 2014.^[1]

Their products include Danish pastries, cinnamon rolls, crumb cakes, cake doughnuts and honey buns each wrapped for individual sale. Cloverhill Bakery baked goods are also sold through supermarkets, warehouse clubs and convenience stores.

Cloverhill Bakery is perhaps best known for their production of the Big Texas Cinnamon Roll. The Big Texas is the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Automatic Merchandiser Readers' Choice Pastry of the Year.[2]

In 2011, Cloverhill Bakery was back on top - this time with their Boston Crème Danish, in the New Products category of "Pastry". [3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverhill_Bakery

Aryzta
Food company

aryzta.com

Aryzta is a food business based in Zurich with operations in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It is incorporated in Switzerland and has listings on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the Irish Stock Exchange. Wikipedia

Stock price: ARYN (VTX)CHF32.47 +1.47 (+4.74%)

Nov 27, 5:32 PM GMT+1 - Disclaimer

Headquarters: Switzerland

CEO: Owen Killian (2008–)

Revenue: 3.82 billion EUR (2015)

Founded: August 2008

Net income: 532.3 million EUR (2015)

Subsidiaries: Otis Spunkmeyer, La Brea Bakery, Cloverhill Bakery, MORE

Come on down and raid ANY one of the Casinos here in Vegas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Open Jobs for Americans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on!!!!!! MAKE MY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jean

*Plant is trying to recover with ‘brand new workforce’: CEO
*800 workers needed to be replaced after immigration inspection

---

Good, 800 more jobs for Americans. I wonder if this company was heavily fined. They better have been. The owner of this company should also be in jail, in addition to a crippling fine, but I can only dream, right?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beezer

Plenty of people in Section 8 housing on welfare and food stamps in Chicago...for generations!

Cut off the freebies and MAKE them work these jobs!

---

That's exactly right Beezer!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

. . . I wonder if this company was heavily fined. They better have been. The owner of this company should also be in jail, in addition to a crippling fine, but I can only dream, right?

---

They haven't been to court yet. The last big company got it good.

Tree Company to Pay $95 MILLION for Hiring Illegal Aliens

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by grandmasmad

Come on down and raid ANY one of the Casinos here in Vegas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Open Jobs for Americans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on!!!!!! MAKE MY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

YES...CLEAN UP VEGAS!!!

They built new homes, new roads, new beautiful parks, new hospitals...the scum from L.A. and the illegals moved in and TRASHED LAS VEGAS! Was so nice and beautiful until the scourge took over.

I would move back there...but too much traffic...too much crime...too many illegals stuffing 20 people into ONE SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE and destroying the neighborhoods, overcrowding the schools and turning America into the cesspool they left "for a better life"...my @$$.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

They haven't been to court yet. The last big company got it good.

Tree Company to Pay $95 MILLION for Hiring Illegal Aliens

---

HELL YEAH!!!!!

Someone correct me if I missed it, but:

I don't see anything about ANY of the illegal workers being deported.

I don't see anything about ANY of the illegal workers even being arrested.

So it would seem that the Trump administration let all 800 workers just walk away.

I hope I'm wrong about this.
​
If anyone finds this info in another article please add it here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Jean: Can you add (800 Workers) to the title?
Like this.

Chicago Immigration Raid Leaves Swiss Baker Scrambling to Restaff 800 Workers

---

Sure. Usually I won't change the title to help reduce dups however this change is just adding some words so fine with me.

Cloverhill Bakery is hiring like crazy... - Anointing Hands Job Resource ...

https://www.facebook.com/AnointingHandsJobResourceCenter/.../102064354465300...
Cloverhill Bakery is hiring like crazy start pay $10.25 an hour but you'll have to go up to their Temp Agency to put in a App make sure you take your...

Otis Spunkmeyer Application, Jobs & Careers Online

https://www.job-applications.com › Specialty Foods Store Jobs
Leading baked goods distributor Otis Spunkmeyer supplies muffins, cookies, and ... The company hires new workers on a constant basis to maintain commerce. ... of global foods corporation Aryzta, owner of La Brea Bakery and Cloverhill. ... After submitting hiring forms, job seekers may call or email staffing personnel to ...

The 800 workers were NOT employees of the bakery company. They were employees of a staffing company. A staffing company that I am unable to find named in any article. If anyone can find the name of the staffing company please post the name and a link to the source.

Chicago immigration raid leaves bakery scrambling to rehire after 800 workers lost

Thomas Mulier Bloomberg
November 28, 2017

A Swiss maker of hamburger buns for McDonald’s Corp. said it’s struggling to run a Chicago bakery after it lost a third of its workers in a clampdown on 800 immigrants without sufficient documentation.

About 35 percent of the workers at Cloverhill Bakery had to be replaced, according to Zurich-based Aryzta AG. The company, which makes baked goods for fast-food chains and supermarkets at a bakery in Chicago's Galewood neighborhood, said the employees were supplied by a job-placement agency that faced federal audits earlier this year. It also has a warehouse in Cicero.

“It’s proceeding very, very slowly because it’s like having a brand new factory and a brand new workforce,” Chief Executive Officer Kevin Toland said on a call with analysts. “That’s presenting a lot of challenges, as you can imagine.”

The raid on workers at Cloverhill is one of the biggest U.S. employment headaches reported by a European company so far as President Donald Trump has made curbing undocumented immigration a centerpiece of his presidency.

Aryzta said it faces challenges in retaining staff in the U.S. and pressure to raise wages.

The company did not specify when the raid happened, but said in its annual report "following this disruption [Cloverhill] locations incurred €16.3m of losses during June and July 2017."

The Cloverhill issues led to a 7 percent decline in Aryzta’s sales from North America in the three months through October.

The increase in employment costs — which is affecting retailers and restaurants nationwide — will eventually lead to higher consumer prices, Toland said.

Aryzta wasn’t able to verify that the workers had the necessary documents to work because they were brought in by a staffing agency, interim Chief Financial Officer David Wilkinson said in September. He also said the board wasn’t aware of the extent of the risk that existed to the business. The company first reported the loss of 800 workers at that time.

The Swiss company didn’t name the staffing company.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-cloverhill-aryzta-immigration-raid-20171128-story.html

Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Wins Higher Wages for Chicago Employees

55

http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...69-640x490.jpgAP Photo/Don Ryan
by NEIL MUNRO 27 Nov 2017 886

A huge Chicago bakery is now hiring Americans at higher wages, following a federal immigration enforcement action which forced the firing of 800 illegal immigrants.

The forced departure of the illegal-immigrant workers at the Chicago-based Cloverhill bakery was a financial shock to the Swiss company which bought the bakery from a U.S. investment group in 2014. The illegals comprised one-third of the bakery’s employees, so U.S. sales fell by seven percent when the enforcement forced the company to rebuild its workforce by hiring Americans, the CEO told Wall Street analysts, according to Bloomberg:

“It’s proceeding very, very slowly because it’s like having a brand new factory and a brand new workforce,” Chief Executive Officer Kevin Toland said on a call with analysts. “That’s presenting a lot of challenges, as you can imagine” …

The increase in employment costs — which is affecting retailers and restaurants nationwide — will eventually lead to higher consumer prices, Toland said.

Company officials blamed the illegal-immigrant workforce on an outside staffing firm which was investigated by federal agencies. However, some employees had complained about racial antagonism before the federal review. Also, the firm suddenly lost $1 billion in stock value in the seven days after Donald Trump was inaugurated and promised his “Buy American, Hire American” policy.

http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...20-2017-AP.jpg

President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.

The loss of illegal immigrants can be very expensive for a company because the new American hires can demand higher wages — and most of the prior employers will then demand similar pay levels.

But payroll costs are a relatively small share of costs in highly automated factories, such as the Cloverhill bakery, allowing wages to rise without threatening profitability. For example, the company reported a “very severe loss in margins … [because of] volume losses … [and] increased labor input costs.” But the extra costs only caused the company’s U.S. profits to drop from 16 percent to 9.5 percent of revenue.

http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...4.36.19-PM.png

The damage to company profits caused by immigration enforcement helps explain the rising effort by many business-supported advocacy groups to expand the supply of cheap-labor immigrants into the United States. For example, a loose coalition of lobbying groups is now pushing Congress to package a wage-lowering amnesty in the 2018 budget. The groups include FWD.us, New American Economy, and the National Immigration Forum.

The Cloverhill action suggests that officials at the Department of Homeland Security are stepping up their workforce inspections. In October, Thomas Homan, director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, told reporters at the Heritage Foundation that:

So we’re taking worksite enforcement very hard this year. Regarding the increased number of inspections and worksite operations, you are going to see us significantly increase this next fiscal year. We’re doing it differently than we’ve done it. Now we’re going to prosecute the employers who knowingly harbor the illegal aliens, we are going to detain and remove the [aliens].

TheDailyBeast.com recently reported that immigration officers plan “to conduct a major worksite enforcement operation at a national food service chain in the coming weeks, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) document.” The report said:

“These [illegal-immigrant] people are basically being used as slave labor,” said the official, who spoke to The Daily Beast anonymously because he was not permitted to discuss impending operations on the record.

The plans detailed in the document are the strongest indication to date that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are increasing what’s called “worksite enforcement”—meaning, efforts to prosecute people who employ undocumented immigrants. As with all complex law enforcement operations, there’s a chance this one is altered or even scuttled. If it does go according to plan, however, it will be the first major worksite enforcement action of an administration that has promised to prioritize this core ICE mission.

The food service industry is a particularly ripe target, with The Migration Policy Institute estimating that about 9 percent of food service workers in the U.S. are undocumented.

In March 2014, Cloverhill was sold to the Swiss holding company, Aryzta A.G. A press statement said:

Aryzta A.G. said it has closed on its acquisition of Chicago-based Cloverhill Bakery. Aryzta bought Cloverhill from Quad-C Management, a middle market private equity firm based in Charlottesville, Va. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed … Quad-C invested in Cloverhill in 2009, and during its ownership, Cloverhill invested approximately $100 million in growth capital and grew revenue by more than 80%.

The automated Cloverhill bakery supplied a wide variety of products to the other companies. It sells hamburger buns to McDonald’s and supplies many single-package products for vending machines.

Each year, four million Americans turn 18 and begin looking for good jobs in the free market.

But the federal government inflates the supply of new labor by annually accepting 1 million new legal immigrants, by providing almost 2 million work-permits to foreigners, by providing work-visas to roughly 500,000 temporary workers and doing little to block the employment of roughly 8 million illegal immigrants.

The Washington-imposed economic policy of mass-immigration floods the market with foreign labor and spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by blue-collar and white-collar employees. It also encourages discrimination against American workers, drives up real estate prices, widens wealth-gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and sidelines at least 5 million marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with opioid addictions.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...ago-employees/

Chicago bakery loses 800 workers after immigration raid

The raid cost the company $21.6 million.


ESTHER YU HSI LEE NOV 28, 2017, 11:00 AM

An immigration raid at a Chicago bakery lost one-third of its workers earlier this year, with roughly 800 workers who didn’t have “sufficient documentation,” Bloomberg News reported Monday.

Aryzta AG Chief Executive Officer Kevin Toland said the company faces pressure to raise wages and has a long process ahead to replace the 35 percent of workers lost during the raids at Cloverhill Bakery, the publication reported. The company supplies hamburger buns for the McDonald’s Corporation and single-package products for vending machines.

“It’s proceeding very, very slowly because it’s like having a brand new factory and a brand new workforce,” Chief Executive Officer Kevin Toland said on the call, according to Bloomberg News.

“That’s presenting a lot of challenges, as you can imagine.”
Aryzta AG company — the Zurich-based food service company with various operations on five continents and in the United States– wrote in its 2017 annual report released in October that it faced a “significant labour-related business disruption” at the Cloverfield facilities in Chicago when the raids took place in June and July. The company insisted that the labor force came from a third-party staffing agency so they were unable to check the legal status of their paperwork.

The loss of 800 workers with “significant knowledge and experience of the baking process” has meant not only decreased production from the baking facilities, but a seven percent decline in sales over the summer, Aryzta AG said, noting that the disruption incurred a loss of about $21.6 million for the company.

Earlier this year, the president signed executive orders on immigration to ramp up the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants. Those orders expanded the type of crimes punishable by deportation and helped to embolden federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to pursue undocumented immigrants without criminal records.

Last month, ICE director Thomas Homan said his agency would crack down harder on worksite enforcement, or efforts to detain more immigrants at workplaces by prosecuting employers “who knowingly harbor the illegal aliens” and “detain[ing] and remov[ing]” the immigrants themselves. Enforcement operations will take place more frequently at national food service chains, according to an internal ICE document obtained by The Daily Beast last week.

Millions of undocumented immigrants work in the food preparation and service industry, with a higher population in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Various workplace raids have taken place in previous administrations, but they dropped off during the Obama administration when ICE shifted its priority from the workers to the employers.

https://thinkprogress.org/chicago-ba...-90c8b049eea1/

Illinois bakery that makes McDonald’s buns loses 800 workers in immigration raid

BY COMPILED BY ELIZABETH DONALD
edonald@bnd.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2017 03:58 PM
UPDATED 3 HOURS 2 MINUTES AGO

A Chicago bakery that makes buns for McDonald’s lost 800 workers — about one-third of its workforce — after an immigration raid and was struggling to replace them.

Aryzta AG CEO Kevin Toland said the company was trying to replace 35 percent of its workers after a raid at Cloverhill Bakery in Chicago, according to Bloomberg News. The Swiss-based company bakes hamburger buns for McDonald’s Corp. and other fast-food chains and supermarkets.

The company now struggles to find enough workers and will have to increase its wages — what Toland called “like having a brand new factory and brand new workforce.”

The workers were hired by a staffing agency, according to company officials, and Aryzta officials were unaware of “the extent of the risk that existed to the business.” They could not verify the workers’ documents during the raid, which occurred in September.

http://www.bnd.com/news/local/article186935513.html

March 19, 2017

Illinois businesses prepare for possibility of dramatic immigration raids

Feds Going After Fast-Food Chain Employing Illegal Immigrants

At Chicago bakery, labor issues pit blacks against illegal aliens

Hostess to buy Cloverhill facility that lost 800 workers in immigration raid

Greg Trotter Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune

Hostess Brands will acquire the Cloverhill bakery on Chicago’s Northwest Side that was the site of a massive immigration raid last year, Hostess said Thursday.

Aryzta, the Swiss parent company of Cloverhill, announced agreements to sell its Cloverhill facilities in two separate deals.

Hostess will acquire the Chicago bakery, including the Cloverhill and Big Texas brands;

Bimbo Bakeries USA will acquire a facility in Cicero, according to Aryzta. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Chicago immigration raid leaves bakery scrambling to rehire after 800 workers lost »

The immigration crackdown at the Chicago bakery, first reported by Aryzta executives in September, resulted in a loss of 800 workers, about one-third of the workforce at the facility, hurting production and sales. Acquiring the 137,000-square-foot bakery in the Galewood neighborhood will allow Hostess to expand its breakfast baked-goods offerings, including honey buns and Danish pastries, and bolster its private label partnerships, Hostess said in a news release Thursday.

The Chicago bakery already was a significant production site for Hostess, the company said.

“This strategic acquisition allows us to bring important product manufacturing in-house as we expand and drive growth in our breakfast product portfolio,” said Bill Toler, Hostess CEO, in the release. “In addition, this purchase will enable Hostess to forgo in-house capital investments and create significant value over the next few years.”

A Hostess spokeswoman didn’t return calls and emails seeking more information on its plans and the impact on the workforce.

It’s also not yet clear what plans Bimbo has for the Cicero facility. A Bimbo spokesman couldn’t be reached.

The Cloverhill business has Chicago roots dating back to 1961. Aryzta acquired Cloverhill in 2014.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...201-story.html

Look at the welfare and food stamps roles...plenty to go to work and get them off the dole.

One parent can work days and one parent can work nights!

E-Verify doesn't prevent many companies from hiring undocumented workers

Grupo Bimbo

Hostess execs: More automation coming this summer at Cloverhill bakery in Chicago

http://www.trbimg.com/img-5af4c527/t...10/350/350x350

May 10, 2018

Hostess plans to bring more automation this summer to its Cloverhill bakery on Chicago’s Northwest Side as part of an effort to turn around the money-losing business, company executives said Wednesday.

More automation could translate to layoffs at the bakery, though none have yet been announced. A company spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to requests for information. Hostess — maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and other brands — bought the bakery and its brands from Swiss company Aryzta earlier this year for about $25 million after an immigration crackdown decimated Cloverhill's workforce and...


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Grupo Bimbo
Company

Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B. de C.V., known as Bimbo, is a Mexican multinational bakery product manufacturing company headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. Wikipedia

Stock price: BIMBOA (BMV)MX$39.61 -0.40 (-1.00%)
Jul 13, 3:00 PM CDT - Disclaimer

Headquarters: Mexico City, Mexico

CEO: Daniel Servitje Montull(1997–)

Subsidiaries: Hostess, Bimbo Bakeries USA, Barcel, Panrico, S.A.U., MORE

Founders: Lorenzo Servitje, Roberto Servitje, José T. Mata, Jaime Jorba, Jaime Sendra, Alfonso Velasco

Why aren't the execs who hired these criminal invaders being thrown in jail?