Thread: Former child workers describe meatpacking plant perils

Former child workers describe meatpacking plant perils
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 8, 2008

POSTVILLE, Iowa - Luisa Lopez says no one asked about her age when she started working at the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant.

She was 17, and within days she was on a fast-moving poultry production line, wielding a long, sharp pair of scissors.

"They never told me how to use them," Lopez said in Spanish. "Things moved so fast and I was always worried I would cut myself."

Yesenia Cordero, whose baby face makes her look younger than her 16 years, also said age was never an issue at the Agriprocessors plant, which state officials allege employed dozens of underage workers in an "egregious" violation of labor laws.

Former underage workers at the northeast Iowa plant describe a perilous environment where teenagers were asked to perform the tasks of grown men and women, often with little guidance. Under Iowa law, no one under 18 can work on a meatpacking plant floor.

"I was providing for my family," Cordero said. "It was the only way." She and Lopez were among 389 undocumented workers arrested May 12. Their cases are being processed, but they are among those illegal immigrants who have been released for reasons such as caring for relatives. Cordero's 18-year-old boyfriend, Henry Lopez, remains in custody. She said he was 14 when he first picked up a long, razor-sharp knife and went to work on the slaughter line.

Agriprocessors has denied state allegations it knowingly allowed underage workers into its plant. On Wednesday, Menachem Lubinsky, a spokesman for Agriprocessors, said the company has cooperated with state officials. Company officials have said no further comment is forthcoming.

Cordero said Henry Lopez hadn't wanted her to work at the plant, but when she became pregnant he agreed that she could work there after the baby was born. Cordero began in February, working in the plant's quality control department. A typical workweek was six days, with long hours - sometimes more than 12 a day, with only intermittent overtime pay.

Cordero and her boyfriend were working when the plant was raided. They haven't seen each other since but have talked on the phone, she said.

Luisa Lopez said she hadn't wanted to work at the plant, but quit school to do so because her family needed the money. She said she never quite grew used to blood and gore she walked past on the floor, or to a verbally abusive boss she had complained about to no avail.

"When you work many hours, many days in the cold and it is warm outside it is very hard," Cordero said. "You get so sad and tired." In Postville, where the May immigration raid has deeply rattled residents, some said that new revelations and openness about the working conditions inside of Agriprocessors were an unexpected benefit.

"Maybe the closest thing to a good that I've seen out of this has been that it revealed how badly people were treated at Agriprocessors," said the Rev. Lloyd Paul Ouderkirk of St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church. " ... It's like out of a ghost story, but it's true."
http://www.newsday.com/news/printeditio ... 8750.story

Something tells me someone will get sued and some ILLEGALS WILL get rich and it will be AN AMERICAN ATTORNEY to jump on this case. Maybe I am wrong and I HOPE I AM!..

But they came here ILLEGALLY and now THAT THEY WERE CAUGHT /??THEY COMPLAIN of the conditions!

I am so sorry but there is no sympathy coming from me on this one....

"I was providing for my family," Cordero said. "It was the only way." She and Lopez were among 389 undocumented workers arrested May 12. Their cases are being processed, but they are among those illegal immigrants who have been released for reasons such as caring for relatives. Cordero's 18-year-old boyfriend, Henry Lopez, remains in custody. She said he was 14 when he first picked up a long, razor-sharp knife and went to work on the slaughter line.

All across this nation many of the illegal immigrants go to the meat packing plants and eventually overtake the whole plant. Wages drop and so do the SAFETY PRECAUTIONS....