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.


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