Thread: Immigrants' firing leads to protest

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 8/1120/RSS

Home*|*Back
Immigrants' firing leads to protest

15 women lose jobs after attending rally; manager says they were warned
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
April 11, 2006

Activists wait to see the owner of the Wolverine Packing Co. in Detroit on Monday. Speaking with Elena Herrada are, from left, Ignacio Meneses, Rosendo Delgado and company worker Steve Reppenhagen. (MARY SCHROEDER/Detroit Free Press)

A manager at a Detroit meatpacking plant said Monday that 15 immigrant women were fired last month after attending a protest for immigrant rights. He said they had been told that they would be terminated if they missed work on the day of the protest.

But the workers and an activist working on their behalf said the women were given no such assurances. If the workers knew they would have been fired for attending the March 27 rally in Detroit, they never would have skipped the morning shift, said Elena Herrada, a Detroit activist who is trying to help the women get their jobs back.

Herrada and about 20 union officials went Monday to Wolverine Packing Co. offices on Rivard to inquire about what happened. They were given a letter signed by general manager Jay Bonahoom, explaining why the workers were terminated.

Meanwhile Monday, marches were held in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and other cities to protest proposed changes in immigration rules. On Sunday, hundreds gathered at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Detroit.

Some of the Wolverine workers were undocumented, Herrada and one of the workers said, and wanted to march in the Detroit rally to show their support for immigrant rights.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly Latinos, protested legislation that would make it a crime to help undocumented immigrants. The next morning, when the women reported to work for their shifts as meat cutters, a supervisor told them to clean out their lockers and go home.

Bonahoom said that as far as Wolverine knows, the workers were documented, but an employment agency does the actual hiring. He said the workers had been told, "written and verbally," on the Friday before the protests that their attendance was mandatory on the day of the protest.

They were fired "for standing up for their rights," Herrada said. The fired workers were natives of Mexico and many had worked at the plant for several years. Most have children and are worried about supporting their families, Herrada said.

Many were employed by Minuteman Staffing. So when Wolverine wanted to fire the workers, the meatpacking company told Minuteman to let go of the workers, he said. A manager with Minuteman said he couldn't comment on the case.
But the workers say they were treated wrongly.

"It was not fair,'" said Mercedes, a 31-year-old Detroit woman who attended the rally and was fired. "We went to fight for our rights." Mercedes is undocumented and asked that her last name not be used.

"It was really unfair of a company to do that," said Edith Castillo, head of the Detroit-based Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development.

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO at 248-351-2998 or nwarikoo@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.

My heart bleeds.

Oh boy, another tantrum!

These illegals must realize that there are consequences to your actions, obviously a lesson they did not learn in their own country.

"It was not fair,'" said Mercedes, a 31-year-old Detroit woman who attended the rally and was fired. "We went to fight for our rights." Mercedes is undocumented and asked that her last name not be used.

Asked that her name not be used...she has no rights here and damn well knows it.

MJ

Thanks Richard ,for pulling up the article - I got swamped

One more demand from these poor, pitiful immigrants. Lets see they want to now protest and miss work and not get fired even after they are told they will get fired, they want free social services, free education K-college, to pay no taxes, to send all money to Mexico without any U.S. surcharges, break into this country and be allowed to stay and become citizens, to be granted all rights that citizens of this country are granted, display unAmerican behavior in the streets of the U.S. invite Socialist/Communist organizations and governments to support their cause and no back talk from Americans.

Where does it end?

They were fired "for standing up for their rights," Herrada said.

When will these idiots realize they haven't any rights here? How stupid can they be. Someone must be feeding them that line--wonder who that might be!!