Thread: Pilgrim's Pride reportedly laying off illegal workers

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Pilgrim's Pride reportedly laying off illegal workers

Cox East Texas
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Last month, the owners of La Lengua, a Lufkin-based Spanish newspaper, knew their readers were going to have some serious concerns when a proposed federal "guest worker" bill stalled in Congress, effectively killing any path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and migrant workers.

Ino Reyes, who along with his brother, Roy, own La Lengua, asked their small staff to try to get the story and get to the bottom of what was happening. The newspaper began to chase down leads and ask questions of some of the businesses that employ mostly Hispanic workers, but they kept hitting dead end after dead end.

Christy Wooten/The Daily Sentinel
(ENLARGE)
La Lengua newspaper says Pilgrim's Pride on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Nacogdoches is laying off any undocumented workers who can't provide valid Social Security information.

What they were able to find out was that because there was probably no chance of resurrecting the guest worker program, industries across the nation were going to have to make changes.

"I think they knew that once the immigration reform bill was shot down, there was no hope for anything — amnesty or temporary permits," Reyes said. "They knew that if that bill didn't pass, the government was going to start coming down on industry."

What they still didn't know,however, was what effect that would have in East Texas.
Then the answers began to come, as La Lengua readers began calling the paper, saying that the Pilgrim's Pride facilities in Lufkin and Nacogdoches were going to lay off any employees who could not show a legal Social Security number.
"If they can't verify the Social Security number, they have to find another job," Hispanic community activist Gabriella Zavalla said. "Some of them they are giving three days

notice, and others they are giving eight days notice, but it's affecting a lot of people. One day in the morning (the Nacogdoches plant) laid off 40 people, then in the afternoon they let another 20 people go. Then one day it was about 100 people."

La Lengua attempted to get the story, but as they always respond to other news outlets, including The Daily Sentinel and The Lufkin Daily News, Pilgrim's Pride would not comment on personnel matters.

Officials with the Nacogdoches Economic Development Corporation said they hadn't heard of any layoffs at Pilgrim's Pride, and that when they talked to human resources officials two weeks ago, Pilgrim's indicated that citizenship was not going to be an issue.
However, for the workers who received official letters, it was a big issue.

Lufkin ISD Superintendant Roy Knight confirmed that it is apparently a big issue for a lot of East Texans who have been trying to call his office to see if they can help.
"I've had calls from the Hispanic community asking how we might provide for the needs of children of laid-off employees," Knight said.

Reyes said the people his reporters are talking to do not necessarily fault Pilgrim's Pride, because most of them realize that cracking down on illegal workers is not beneficial to the company, and that the company would not be doing it if they weren't made to do it.
"This goes way beyond the company here," Reyes said. "I guarantee you that the

production managers don't want this to happen. The end result is they are going to lose a big part of their labor force, and it's going to be the consumer who is going to pay the price. You can say what you want about them, but those guys work. They may be here illegally, but they will work two shifts or three shifts or four shifts or whatever you want them to do, as long as they have a job. If they (the company) have to get rid of them, they will have to hire new people and pay overtime, and that's going to cost us a lot more in the long run."

Tamar Jacoby, an immigration expert with the conservative Manhattan Institute in New York, said she is not surprised that companies are taking preventive action, when it comes to their immigrant workforce.

Jacoby consulted with key Republicans on the immigration debate earlier this year and helped create business coalitions in several states, including Texas, that lobbied for an immigration overhaul that would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and created a guest worker program. Pilgrim's Pride belongs to the Texas coalition, Texas Employers for Immigration Reform.

"Any business owner that's paying attention to what's going on now, knows that workplace enforcement is what's coming down the track," she said.

Companies are stuck between a rock and a hard place, when it comes to hiring immigrants, because it's hard to tell if documentation is legitimate, and they could be sued for discrimination if they demand proof of legal status, she said.

Jacoby also said the Texas economy could be hurt severely by "draconian" enforcement measures that will leave companies without hundreds of thousands of employees.

But lawyers are advising their clients who employ Hispanic workers to perform voluntary audits to discover if there are any internal issues they can address before the government gets involved.

Wayne Haglund, a Lufkin attorney, said if the federal government does get involved, officials are going to shift the focus from the employees to the employers who hired them.

Haglund said he had not specifically seen any of the letters issued to Pilgrim's Pride workers, but he said if he were to guess, it would go something like this:
"There's some issue or question about information you've provided. Please provide information that will clarify."

According to Haglund, companies have services where employers can check Social Security names against names and birth dates, and what employers are finding is that oftentimes, the Social Security numbers don't match up to names, age or date of birth.
"The government has redefined what is 'constructive knowledge' to prosecute employers," Haglund said. "If records were available to you, and you could have known that this person was not authorized to work, you are going to be penalized ... It's very harsh, but it is the law."

Haglund said he has looked at the law, and in his eyes, the state of Texas will most likely suffer, as a result of it.

"It's really hard for workers and for employers," he said. "I don't know that there are any winners, at all."

Reyes said the entire issue was fueled by what he calls racial reform, and it will have exactly the effect that was intended.

"They knew what they were doing," he said. "That's the only way to really stop illegal immigration. You go after the companies. If there are no jobs, then the people won't be here."

But Reyes said he thinks a lot of undocumented workers will stay around East Texas — at least at first.
"If they can't work at Pilgrim's Pride, many of them will find jobs elsewhere," he said. "You still don't need documentation for day labor."

But when all the East Texas industries and business are through with their internal audits, Reyes said, there will most likely be more mouths to feed than day labor or other work can support. And that's what La Lengua is trying to address, he said.

"We didn't do this story just for news," he said. "We were trying to help folks. We wanted to get the word out there so people could get involved and churches could get organized."
So far, Reyes said, it appears to be working.

"It's on the radio. It's on the street," he said. "Now, we'll see if anyone has any ideas how to help the families or find a way to stop it, but I'm afraid this is going to be a big problem for our region."
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Comments

By Juan
Jul 19, 2007 12:46 AM | Link to this
sp does this mean that the company knew it was hiring illrgal workers , but just looked the other way? I few workers i understand , but hundreds ? come on pilgrims pride you knew . That HR Manager can not say he did not know

By George
Jul 19, 2007 12:25 AM | Link to this
"No one will benefit?" From having our immigration laws enforced. The legal citizens of our country are the ones who will benefit. Yes, of OUR country, the law abiding, legal citizens. Whether they just took the oath or are descended from pilgrim stock. Whether they are brown, black, white or any other ethnicity. If they are here LEGALLY this is their country. It does not exist to furnish Mexico or any other country with a safety valve for its' exploited poor. And the companies hiring them are doing it for the same reason every other criminal does GREED.

By BettyBB
Jul 18, 2007 11:55 PM | Link to this

Yes the illegals should consider suing if they have been exploited, which probably the case if they have not been receiving overtime.

Also in two other states, the legal employees have sued their employers saying that employing illegals at cheaper wages, or without benefits depressed their wages, and alleging a RICCO violation.

Then other competing businesses are starting to sue. If they have legal workers, they cannot fairly compete against companies that use illegals and do not pay standard wages. It seems that the Small Business Groups are very concerned about the illegal worker situation and how it is negatively affecting them.

Has anyone heard of an American suing an illegal for identity theft for using their SSN? I understand illegals often take the SSN of children, so you should check your kids credit reports to see if there is any activity.

Looks like lawyers are going to be kept busy.

Breaking the law, be it the illegal aliens, or the companies who hire them, is starting to have repercussions.


By Paul the American
Jul 18, 2007 11:02 PM | Link to this
"If they (the company) have to get rid of them, they will have to hire new people and pay overtime, and that's going to cost us a lot more in the long run."

Is this an admission that the company was not paying the illegals overtime? That is in violation of federal law. Those former illegal employees can get an attorney and sue the company for those wages, just like some illegal welders I read about in Calafornia. Maybe I'll contact OSHA myself.

Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F, except on Tuesday when it's open until 9 p.m.

Yep, dry up the jobs.

"They knew that if that bill didn't pass, the government was going to start coming down on industry."

Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it with my own eyes or hear it with my own ears.

Has anyone heard of any serious raids being conducted since the latest amnesty attempt was defeated?

Pilgrim's was one of the ones who first hired illegals in East Texas and were/ and have been a magnet for them for decades.

I have been told Pilgrim's now is able to bring in a lot of workers 'legally' through NAFTA. East Texas is full of middle class, upper middle class Mexican families.

The story I got was through NAFTA, if you have a facility in another country, you can bring those employees here legally. Probably 20 years ago, Pilgrim's bought a chicken processing concern in Mexico and I am sorta assuming that is how they are doing it.

So they may be letting the illegals go and just bringing in more Mexicans - just legally.

I hope every laid off illegal sues Pilgrim's and every other company. The American people can't seem to get any redress for the exploitation of America's citizens - let the illegals have a go.

One thing we can know for sure, Pilgrim's and others like them, are not going to suffer from this. The President and his group have something else in mind for their biggest 'boosters'.

I will tell everyone who believes the lies that 'we won't be able to afford to buy chicken' - everyone, even the poorest people, were buying and eating plenty of Pilgrim's chicken before the illegals invaded that part of the country.

nntrixie wrote:

I hope every laid off illegal sues Pilgrim's and every other company.

I'd rather they just go home!

I want the employers to suffer the consequences of their actions too, however, I don't want to see illegals gain because of it. We must force our federal government to act against these companies, not hope the illegals, who knew they were breaking the law, prosper from illegally gained jobs. The illegals are not victims here, they knew full well they were breaking the law when the crossed the border illegally and applied for a job.

No, they are not the victims and I don't want them to gain from it either.

The fact is, our government is probably going to do less than nothing about this.

Believe me, Pilgrim's has the President on speed dial - they are not going to hurt because of this.

If enough ilegals began to sue these employers, it would make them think twice about hiring them. If they don't give them jobs, they will go home, and more won't come.

I am for anything that will help. I am not at all against using the illegals themselves to get the job done. Better they fleece the employer than the US citizens.

Unless and until these employers begin to hurt - either by our not buying their product or by something like lawsuits, they will continue the way they are going. As long as they have our money, they will buy their way out of this. We cannot depend on the government to do anything more than a little smoke and mirrors.

Pilgrim's probably just wants to move some of their illegals to another facility, so they lay them off and direct them to go to another place. Pilgrim's can't physically do it - might get caught by some honest DPS or INS officer.

These stories always make me think they have been planted for our benefit.

I repeat, I hope they all sue.

nntrixie wrote:

I repeat, I hope they all sue.

I repeat, I hope they don't.

I don't want to see one single illegal immigrant get anything from the United States but a bus ticket home.

The answer is to force our federal government to perform the job they're required to do by law, not reward illegals for breaking the law. We need to go after the employers, not have the illegals do it for us. Plus, any cost to the company will probably just be passed on to the consumer.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this one.

I understand what you are saying - really I do.

The fact is corporations (business) are the problem here. They are the magnet, they are the facilitators, they are the ones using our money to purchase politicians and hire illegals.

Forgive me if I say with all my heart, I do not for a moment think our government is going to do one thing to the employers.

It has always been my contention that if anything is done to the corporations, it will have to be done by the consumers. I believe that as much as I believe anything else in this world. In fact, from past history, I can say I know it.

Think about it, how many have been prosecuted in their 'publicized raids'. A couple with $3 million in their home - couldn't ignore that, and a couple of low level employees. It just isn't happening and it isn't going to happen.

As for passing the cost on to the consumers, I have lived 2 years with the only poultry product I have eaten is eggs.

I think any lawsuits would be settled for a small amount, then the illegal can go home a rich man - and it would be like a bucket of ice water on the urge to hire illegals - I think. It wouldn't take many.

We will disagree - I have no faith in the government. We can make a difference and we can fight each skirmish as it comes - and hold back the amnesty - but something else will have to take place to make a difference.

I still think Pres. Bush called Bo and told him he needed some 'good publicity' so move some of your illegals and tell everyone you are laying them off.

La Lengua newspaper says Pilgrim's Pride on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Nacogdoches is laying off any undocumented workers who can't provide valid Social Security information.

... http://www.cowboyway.com/Clips/Nacogdoches.wav