Thread: Palauans prepare to make trip to Postville for meatpacking w

Report: Palauans prepare to make trip to Postville for meatpacking work
By TONY LEYS • tleys@dmreg.com • August 29, 2008


The prospect of South-Pacific islanders moving to Iowa to work in a meatpacking plant appears to be moving toward reality.

A newspaper in Palau reported this week that at least 25 citizens of the tiny country are preparing to travel to Postville, where they would seek jobs at the Agriprocessors plant. A consultant for the meatpacker acknowledged Thursday that managers have talked with an intermediary trying to broker the deal.

Agriprocessors is rebuilding production in the wake of a May 12 raid in which federal agents arrested nearly 400 workers who were in the United States illegally. The company has denied knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, and it has promised that all its replacement workers will be legal.


Earlier this month, the company said it didn't know anything about reports that an employment recruiting company was seeking workers for Agriprocessors in Palau, which is near the Philippines.

Citizens of Palau and neighboring island countries can work legally in the United States. Unlike people from most foreign countries, they don't need "green card" permits. That's because the countries used to be United Nations territories that were overseen by the United States, and they signed "Compacts of Free Association" with the American government after they became independent in the 1980s and 1990s.

Agriprocessors consultant Menachem Lubinsky said Thursday that no deal has been reached. He said company managers do not know how many workers might be coming from Palau to Postville, or whether those potential employees have the necessary skills.

The Marianas Variety newspaper reported this week that a Palauan senator had warned citizens about controversy at Agriprocessors, including allegations of labor-law violations, which the company has denied. Palauan employment recruiter Webster Franz countered by saying if the workers don't like the Agriprocessors jobs, they could apply for positions at other U.S. employers.

A U.S. union has tried to persuade the Palauan workers not to make the trip. The United Food and Commercial Workers sent a letter to the Palauan government earlier this month outlining alleged problems at the plant. The union, which wants to organize Agriprocessors workers, expressed its disapproval Thursday.

"The fact that Agriprocessors is being forced to recruit workers from eight thousand miles away from Postville is pretty telling," UFCW spokesman Scott Frotman wrote in an e-mail to the Des Moines Register.

"These men and women are probably the only people left who have not heard about the atrocious treatment of workers at the plant. We are extremely concerned that they will get to Postville, learn about the conditions and false promises and be forced to stay because of travel-related expenses and incurred debt."

Agriprocessors leaders say they have increased starting wages to $10 an hour and are trying to make the plant as safe as possible. Lubinsky denied the Palauan newspaper's report that Agriprocessors has agreed to help pay for airline tickets, and he said the Palau connection is just one of several possibilities managers are considering.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... E_ICE_RAID

OK, Even though these people are LEGAL, what is this plant owners problem with hiring AMERICANS? I just want to know, it seems he will go to any length to prevent doing that. Could it be he is not really looking fo workers but slaves? I can't believe people actually support legalizing slavery again, but the OBL's seem to be in favor of such an idea.

The problem is that for decades recruiters never bothered to consider hiring local American citizens, nor even make any concerted effort to hire Americans from out of state because they had a direct pipeline to illegal alien workers at a drop of a hat. There was never any need for any of the HR people to be innovative, aggressive in their search for legally authorized workers anywhere. The HR "professionals" in many of these industries usually are from the same "community" as the illegal alien workers they would hire. In fact, that's what companies would look for...get a person that has connections/contacts with the illegal alien community, traffickers, smugglers to work in HR and assure themselves a steady stream of cheap, easily replaceable illegal alien workers.

There are pockets of deep, deep unemployment in this country...and with a little effort, public relations and support from the community...I'm sure there are many unemployed Americans who would be willing to take a chance and move to Postville. However, companies like Agriprocessors need to change their ways and treat American workers like they deserve to be treated...Third-world standards no longer are acceptable.

I am willing to bet that if they made offers to fly and house Americans that are seeking work they would have no problem,but why has that not been offered ? It makes me wonder.

I believe our Government (what a laugh) has told agiprocessors "Don't you dare hire any Citizens ". It does work with the agenda of our over-powerful puppets in office . If i'm wrong tell me why , i'm listening . Corruption first , then lies = our government .

There are a lot of unemployed legal Latinos people who are here in the second or third generation and whose families know their rights. That is why the employers do not want them. The illegal aliens are at a legal disadvantage and so they are much the more likely to be exploited AFTER they are hired instead of by not being hired.
American Blacks are in the same disadvantaged position because the employers feel that they will not accept bad conditions.

There are 20,000 Palauans in Palau and a lot of them live in Guam. I think that they should establish manufacturing and tourism in their home country. The idea intrigues me that they could combine a Consulate or their Embassy with a function hall. That way their clients could say that they were being honored at a Consular or an Embassy party. With only the tiny population and average income below the United States their neighbors and the other diplomats are less likely to complain than if it were some country with a sizeable economy like Mexico.

"The fact that Agriprocessors is being forced to recruit workers from eight thousand miles away from Postville is pretty telling," UFCW spokesman Scott Frotman wrote in an e-mail to the Des Moines Register.

It sounds very fishy. Why would a company go 8 thousand miles to find employees? Is this company trying to do "PAYBACKS" for ICE's raid? Is this Agriprocessors way of saying "WE WILL SHOW YOU, IF WE CAN'T HAVE ILLEGAL ALIENS THAT WORK FOR NEXT TO NOTHING, WE WILL TRAVEL 8 THOUSAND MILES AWAY AND HIRE LEGAL ALIENS THAT WILL WORK FOR NEXT TO NOTHING"?.