Thread: Immigrants flock to St. Joe, Mo

Immigrants flock to St. Joe, Mo.ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/12/2007

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) -- Social services in the St. Joseph area are struggling to meet a burgeoning demand caused by the influx of workers coming to the Triumph Foods plant here.

The pork-processing plant opened in January 2006. It employs more than 2,200 people, about 50 percent of whom are Hispanic. Immigrants from other countries also have come to St. Joseph to work at the plant.

The Immigration Outreach Center, a partnership between Catholic Charities and InterServ, opened in November to help integrate the immigrants. And the St. Joseph Public School District saw enrollment in its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes increase from 90 early last year to 270 currently.

Lilia White, the immigrant services coordinator for InterServ, said her organization is helping not just Hispanics.

"There is a community of about 200 from Sudan and we are receiving calls from them," White said. "There are also several from Germany, England, South America. There are immigrants from many different countries here."

White said InterServ helped 534 families from 31 countries find housing, medical services, clothing and other forms of aid in 2006. The new immigration center served 16 families in February, and White said she expects that will increase as more immigrants find out about the organization's services.

Gena Bergonzoni, ESOL coordinator for the school district, said 85 percent of the students in a program that matches students with tutors who help with English speak Spanish. The others speak many different languages, but Bergonzoni said those students usually have at least one English-speaking parent at home to help them.

Triumph also has offered programs to help its employees.

Patt Lilly, chief administrative officer, said the company offers language classes in English and Spanish, plus programs to help immigrant workers find housing and other services.

He said the company's recruiting practices, designed to attract experienced meatpackers from other plants in the Midwest, reduce the need for some services.

"(The language barrier) has not been much of an issue," Lilly said. "The reality is that most of the individuals who work here, even if they do not speak English as their first language, speak English well enough to take directions and understand what is going on in the course of their work."

Triumph employed 2,287 people as of March 7, roughly 100 below capacity, Lilly said. After a year of high turnover during which Triumph hired around 5,000 people, Lilly said he now expects that number to drop as workers become more comfortable with their jobs and the community.

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Information from: St. Joseph News-Press, http://www.stjoenews-press.com

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument

The pork-processing plant opened in January 2006. It employs more than 2,200 people, about 50 percent of whom are Hispanic. Immigrants from other countries also have come to St. Joseph to work at the plant.

Why hasn't ICE raided every meat packing plant in this country? You can't tell me that many, if not all, of those immigrants this article is referring to aren't criminal aliens!

Average wages in a meat packing plant in 1990 was $19 per hour, now it's $9 per hour. Do you think hiring illegals might have pushed wages down? I hear that legal citizens have been filling the jobs at the swift plants. Jobs Americans won't do, bulls^*t!

Originally Posted by jecg_97030

Average wages in a meat packing plant in 1990 was $19 per hour, now it's $9 per hour. Do you think hiring illegals might have pushed wages down? I hear that legal citizens have been filling the jobs at the swift plants. Jobs Americans won't do, bulls^*t!

that is so true, i worked at IBP(now Tyson) in Kansas and can tell you its rough stuff and deserving of higher pay.

Dont quote me, but I think Triumph actually pays a higher wage and screens employees for legal status well, as you see in the article they have all sorts of folks there and give directions in English.

At Tyson plants english speakers must wear headphones to translate the spanish.....