At House of Raeford, far fewer Latino workers
By Franco Ordoñez

Posted: Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009

RAEFORD, N.C.

During a break at a House of Raeford Farms plant in eastern North Carolina, dozens of workers in hairnets and rubber boots mingled outside the large gray factory among scattered turkey feathers.


It was a typical sight except for one thing: Most of the poultry processing workers were African American – not Latino, as they have been for much of the past decade.


House of Raeford, one of the nation's top chicken and turkey producers, appears to be transforming its workforce amid a court fight over federal charges that a subsidiary knowingly hired illegal immigrants.


Current and former workers at the company's main plant in Raeford say the firm stopped hiring immigrants in recent months and let hundreds more go for using fake documents.


Once more than 80 percent Latino, the production floor at the Raeford plant is now up to 70 percent African American, workers said.


“Before there were hardly any African Americans,â€