Thread: NC: Smithfield Workers, Supporters Gather for Protest

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1195140/

Smithfield Workers, Supporters Gather for Protest
Protest Focuses on Smithfield Plant

Posted: Feb. 6 6:55 p.m.
Tar Heel — Dozens of people wearing matching shirts and holding signs gathered outside the Smithfield Packing Co. plant in Tar Heel on Tuesday to send a message to the company about working conditions, especially for Hispanic workers.


A group gathered outside the Smithfield Packing Co. plant Tuesday to protest working conditions and immigration enforcement that has snared several workers.

“They are forced to endure arrests, break-up of family, loss of income and are thrown into a state of fear,” said Rev. Nelson Johnson of the Southern Faith Labor & Community and Alliance.

Last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 21 workers inside the plant, where about 5,000 workers process about 32,000 hogs daily.

It was part of a national crackdown.

“We have seen this game before and we continue to see it, but we're not going to allow it anymore,” said Mauricio Castro of the North Carolina Latino Coalition.

An ICE spokesperson said the 21 were all arrested on administrative immigration charges, which include being in the country illegally or overstaying a work visa. Hundreds of employees failed to show up for work the day after those arrests.

Last year, about 1,000 workers walked off the job to protest the firing of about 50 immigrant workers.

“The last time that I took time to go and be in support of my brothers and sisters… right after that I was fired from this plant,” Margarita Vasquez said through a translator.

A small group also walked out on Martin Luther King Jr. Day because the plant failed to designate it as a paid holiday. The company said then that workers had not raised the issue far enough in advance for the plant to reschedule work if it were to close that day.

“Without the workers, you couldn't make a profit. That's the whole idea–without us you can't make nothing, so treat us like somebody,” another worker told the group.

A Smithfield official told WRAL that the company wants to maintain a positive environment at Tar Heel and other plants, but the company has to follow the law and cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security in its enforcement of immigration laws.

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=254000

Published on Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Smithfield protesters decry intimidation

By Venita Jenkins
Staff writer

Click to learn more...
3 Photos

Story Photo
Margarita Vazquez, left, speaks to protesters while Mauricio Castro, second from left, and the Rev. Nelson Johnson listen. At right is Libby Manly.

TAR HEEL — Religious and labor leaders concerned about the treatment of Smithfield workers staged a protest at the hog-processing plant Tuesday.

More than 60 people gathered in front of the plant to hear speeches from organizations in support of a union and to speak against the way Smithfield handled the arrests of 21 workers by immigration officials two weeks ago.

The Hispanic workers were arrested on the job Jan. 24 on administrative charges by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Administrative charges include being in the U.S. illegally or overstaying a work visa.

The Rev. Nelson Johnson, co-founder of the Southern Faith, Labor and Community Alliance based in Greensboro, said the purpose of Tuesday’s protest was simple: to stand for justice for the workers.

“We are deeply concerned about the treatment of Latinos and the way that they are being arrested and put in fear,” he said. “Our view is that they did not create this flawed immigration system and, frankly, have not been the greatest benefactors from it. They have benefited some. Now they are being asked to bear the burden of separation of family, the loss of income and deportation.”
Company response

Twenty men were taken to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga. They face removal from the country. One woman who was detained was temporarily released. She is scheduled to appear in federal court in Atlanta in March on illegal entry charges.

Smithfield officials say they are required by law to fire workers who are undocumented. The company did not hand over workers as a form of intimidation, they say.

The company also says it recognizes workers have a right to join the union and called for a vote on the issue Tuesday.

Johnson, citing portions of the Declaration of Independence, said the Hispanic workers have certain inalienable rights.

“Among them is life, people are here trying to live; among them is liberty, people are here to try to earn the income so they can have some economic freedom; and people are here to pursue happiness for their children and for their families,” he said. “ … There is a problem with immigration. It needs to be resolved, but the Latino workers do not need to be in this position.”

Latinos and blacks must work together to bring about change, Johnson said.

“I think at the end of the day, if we can create a unity between the races and unity around just causes, it will result in a better life for all of us,” he said.

Antonio Vasquez, regional organizer for the American Friends Service Committee in Charlotte, said raids that have taken place throughout the country promote discrimination and racial profiling.

Last year, 1,300 people were arrested at six Swift meat-processing plants.

“It sows fear and uncertainty in our immigrant communities in this country,’’ he said. “At worst, these raids weaken the social and economic fabric of our greater community and threaten the basic civil and human rights of immigrants and non-immigrants alike.’’

The raids stir “unfounded negative sentiments towards migrants and divide working class entities,’’ Vasquez said. “Workplace community raids must be stopped now.’’

The committee, along with 100 human rights organizations, is urging President Bush to issue an executive order that declares an immediate moratorium on community and work-site raids, he said.
Intimidation allegations

Margarita Vazquez, a former Smithfield worker who lives in Fayetteville, spoke into the bull horn about her experience at Smithfield.

She said she was fired after participating in a protest in November.

“I support my co-workers speaking with one united voice,” she said. “Because I support this, they fired me from my job. … Intimidation does not solve anything.”

Vazquez said she was told she was let go after a year on the job for accumulating too many points for absences. She missed work to go to court with her son, she said. The company made her choose between work or her family, she said.

“I want to bring to light these companies that do not respect the rights of the workers in all of the plants. Not just here,” she said.

Allegations of intimidation expressed by the union and others are false, said Dennis Pittman, a spokesman for Smithfield.

“Intimidation is not going on, and it is not a problem here,” he said. “ … We feel most of the employees are satisfied with the benefits and wages and folks are treated well here.”

The union is not being honest about the status of immigrant workers, Pittman said in a statement released later Tuesday.

“Smithfield is required by federal law to dismiss any employee who is not legally authorized to work in the United States,” the statement said. “The union knows this. But, it is trying to frighten Hispanic employees into supporting the union.”

The company is ready for a vote on the issue. A letter was sent Tuesday to Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union calling for a vote.

Joe Luter IV, the company’s president and chief operating officer, asked that the employees be allowed to vote by secret ballot whether they want a union.

“Let them decide whether the charges your union is making against Smithfield are true,” he said in the statement.

The company would bear the cost of a neutral outside observer to assure a fair vote, Luter said.

“It’s time to resolve this matter,” he said. “Let the employees choose what is best for them.”

Johnson, of the Southern Faith, Labor and Community Alliance, said now is not the time for a vote.

“When you are searched down, pulled out of a place and taken to a distant place with your family left there dangling, what kind of an atmosphere is that to put on an election?” he asked the crowd.

Chris Council, who lives in Dublin and works at the plant, said he has spoken to Hispanic workers about the importance of unifying to bring about change.

“The employees are scared they will lose their jobs,” he said. “We know how people are being treated, and we know what it’s like. It’s very corrupted inside that plant.”
Mixed messages

Keith Ludlum was hired in 1993 but fired the following year for his involvement in trying to establish a union, he said. He was reinstated in 2005 following a lengthy court battle, he said.

Hispanic workers are constantly being hit by different messages from the company, he said. He recalled ads that were played on Spanish radio encouraging workers to come back after the arrests by immigration officials.

“They want them back for their convenience,” he said. “Then they will let them go 50 to 60 at a time.”

The company plans to fire about 500 workers in the coming weeks because their Social Security numbers and other identification information failed to match. Smithfield participates in the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers program, or IMAGE. The program flags employees when there is a mismatch between their name, Social Security number, date of birth and gender.

“They are pleading innocence by ignorance, but they all know these people are undocumented workers,” Ludlum said.

Ludlum said businesses have relied on the work of immigrants for years.

“The same thing that happened to the Latinos happened to the Irish, Germans and Chinese,” he said. “They were all used when they got to this country for cheap labor. And, we have known that the migration from Mexico has been going on for many years. Some people are trying to tie it to 9/11. But the terrorists of 9/11 had legitimate visas. They were not working in packing plants.”

Staff writer Venita Jenkins can be reached at jenkinsv@fayobserver.com or (910) 738-9158.

Fire them ship them back. Clean house! Notice how they side step that some have stolen identities. They basically feel they broke the law, but so what? They have been doing it too long for anyone to question it now!
Well the goose just stopped laying the golden eggs! ICE IS COMING FOR YOU!!!!!

“We have seen this game before and we continue to see it, but we're not going to allow it anymore,” said Mauricio Castro of the North Carolina Latino Coalition

Here's more of the same rebellious "I don't have to follow your laws" attitude.
Well guess what amigo, you don't have a choice. The law is the law and if you are illegal, you do have one of two choices.
1) Get out of the US quickly
2) wait around to get arrested and hopefully deported.

They can fire the illegals and hire americans.

The company plans to fire about 500 workers in the coming weeks because their Social Security numbers and other identification information failed to match.

Why isn't ICE apprehending and deporting these 500 workers? Firing them wouldn't be an issue if ICE would do the job they're supposed to be doing!