Thread: Easley vows to combat mistreatment of immigrant poultry work

Posted on Fri, Apr. 18, 2008reprint or license print email Digg it del.icio.us AIM Easley: Worker
neglect 'horrible'
He vows to combat mistreatment of immigrant poultry workers
AMES ALEXANDER
aalexander@charlotteobserver.com
Gov. Mike Easley
Special Report | The Cruelest Cuts
Gov. Mike Easley on Thursday decried the mistreatment of immigrant workers described in recent Observer stories about the poultry industry, saying he'll make sure N.C. regulators have the resources and authority to combat it.

"It's just horrible," he said during a 40-minute interview Thursday. "This cannot be allowed to continue regardless of what budget situations are."

Easley said he has waited until now to speak out on the Observer's February series because he was giving state agencies time to tackle workplace safety problems on their own. But he says he has grown disappointed in the N.C. Labor Department's response.

"I think the Department of Labor has to be more aggressive," said Easley, a Democrat. "... I didn't see the level of concern that needs to be there."

N.C. Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, an elected Republican, on Thursday defended her department.

Berry pointed to declining rates of deaths and reported injuries in the state's workplaces. She says her department has accomplished more by working with employers than by imposing stiff fines. "We're doing a very good job now," she said.

Easley said he would instruct his staff to work with the agencies that oversee workplace safety and workers' compensation to determine the appropriate fixes. He vowed that he would fight for new legislation and more resources if that's what's needed to protect workers. He and his aides said they were not ready to propose specifics.

"Legal or not ... these workers are still human beings," he said. "They're still God's children. And we have a moral obligation -- that supersedes state or federal law -- to treat them with dignity."

In a six-part series, the Observer reported that House of Raeford, an N.C. poultry company with seven processing plants in the Carolinas, has masked the extent of injuries behind its plant walls. Employees say the company has ignored, intimidated or fired workers who were hurt on the job. Illegal immigrants also told the Observer it was easy to get a job at House of Raeford and that they were less likely to question working conditions for fear of losing their jobs or being deported.

House of Raeford officials say they follow the law and strive to protect workers. When the first installment of the series was published, the company issued a statement saying: "This article does not provide an accurate portrayal of the programs, policies and practices of our company or the poultry industry."

The newspaper also reported that the number of workplace safety inspections at N.C. poultry plants has plummeted during the past decade, while fines for serious violations at the state's poultry plants are less than half the national average.

"The lack of enforcement encourages employers to use more of the illegal work force and bring them into North Carolina and treat them inhumanely," Easley said. "That has to change. If it takes legislation, I'll get it passed. This just cannot continue."

Easley has less than a year of his second term remaining, and some issues are beyond his control. It's up to Labor Department officials to determine how heavily to fine workplace safety violators, for instance. And any changes in immigration, employment or workplace safety laws would have to come from the legislature or Congress.

But the governor's influence includes proposing spending through his budget plan and rallying support for legislation.

Easley said he has asked the chair of the N.C. Industrial Commission, which oversees the state's workers' compensation system, to meet with companies to ensure workers know how to file workers' compensation claims and complaints. Industrial Commission Chair Pamela Young was not available for comment Thursday.

The S.C. Workers' Compensation Commission is conducting a review to determine whether House of Raeford is properly reporting injuries and providing medical treatment for workers hurt on the job. The company's S.C. locations include plants in Greenville and West Columbia.

Spokespersons for S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford and Adrienne Riggins Youmans, director of the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, said they were not available for comment Thursday.

The N.C. Labor Department has told Easley's staff it needs money to fill 12 positions frozen this year following a reduction in federal funding. Labor commissioner Berry, who's seeking a third term, reiterated Thursday she would not request additional money beyond what's needed to fill the frozen positions.

"I'm not about expanding government," she said. "I'm about taking the resources we have and using them as efficiently as possible."

Easley, who will present a proposed budget to the legislature in May, said his aides will examine whether the department needs to expand its staff or resources.

Federal statistics released Thursday show the number of deaths in U.S. workplaces rose 2 percent from 2005 to 2006. That was driven in part by an increase in deaths among Latino workers.

Too many employers are working immigrants until they are seriously hurt, Easley said.

"Then they just throw them on the curb and move on," he said. "There need to be in place some laws to protect these workers ... The people of the state don't want to tolerate this."


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Staff writer Kerry Hall contributed.
http://www.charlotte.com/739/story/586094.html

"Easley has less than a year of his second term remaining"

I'll be so happy when wEasley's out of office. I'm fed up with his crap.

There are citizens who work at these plants, too, but he doesn't seem concerned about them.

It isn't a coincidence this article was published today. He's trying to divert attention from the complete mess he's made of the state mental health system & the fact that the federal government has withheld $175 million in payments with the threat of withholding more.

His office told public information officials to delete daily emails received from the governor's office since public records requests are increasing. So now we have email-gate, too.

One of the best ways of our protecting immigrant poultry workers would be to make sure that no illegal aliens are allowed to take jobs and there by undercut their wages.

Ugh! Why doesn't he ever speak up about the innocent victims of drunk driving illegal immigrants. Where is his outrage for them?!