Thread: Protest over firings leads to more at Aurora plant

Protest over firings leads to more at Aurora plant

By Vanessa Bauzá and Gerry Smith Tribune staff reporters
11:14 PM CDT, September 21, 2007

More than 20 Hispanic workers protested quietly outside an Aurora manufacturing plant Friday, saying they were fired in a growing controversy sparked by the federal government's crackdown on illegal immigrants and the companies that hire them.

Some of the workers outside the Ballco Manufacturing plant said that last week, they were told of problems with their Social Security numbers. Eight workers were fired Wednesday, activists said.

On Thursday, other employees joined the eight who were fired on a picket line, and early Friday, 15 of the workers who walked off the job in sympathy also were fired.

A Ballco employee who answered the phone at the facility, on Aurora's east side, said the company would not comment on the firings. Ballco officials did not respond to an e-mail.

Immigrant advocates think the first round of firings were related to "no-match" letters, which are notices sent by the Social Security Administration informing employers of discrepancies between a worker's stated identity information and the administration's records.

No-match letters have been sent out for years, but employers, who were not required to take action on them, often ignored them.

Last month, however, as part of a promised crackdown on illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new rule that would require employers to clear up discrepancies in 90 days or face hefty fines or prosecution.

A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the government from sending out the letters threatening penalties. The next hearing in the case is set for Oct. 1.

Still, immigrant advocates say, the threat of beefed-up enforcement has caused some employers to overreact.

Some employers "assume a no-match letter indicates a worker is undocumented and jump the gun without giving them an opportunity to respond," said Jennifer Chang, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing one of the plaintiffs in the San Francisco lawsuit against the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

"There are so many innocent reasons a worker might become a recipient of a no-match letter," Chang said. "The lawsuit argues that the receipt of a no-match letter . . . does not create knowledge of a worker's work authorization status."

In Aurora, two lines of picketers outside Ballco carried signs that read "Unfair Labor Practice Strike" and "Honk for Justice."

The protesters said they were called individually into a supervisor's office and told that the Social Security numbers they had provided did not match government records.

"They just told me, 'There's a problem with your Social Security number, so we're going to have to fire you,' " said Arturo Lopez, 26, a machine operator at the plant, which manufactures steel balls, valves and pipe fittings.

Another machine operator, Gonzalo Bello, 28, said he was told he was being fired because, in addition to discrepancies with his Social Security number, he had been working at the plant for less than a year.

"They said if I ever fix the problem with my Social Security number that I can try to come back," Bello said. "It's unfair because they didn't give us enough notice. They called me in at 3:10 and said, 'This is your last day.' "

Marcos Samano, 31, a supervisor at the plant, said that initially, he was told to stay at Ballco through the end of the year to train new employees, but he was fired after walking out to join other employees in protest.

Samano acknowledged that some of the workers who were fired were undocumented. Although seven had worked at the plant for less than a year, he said, many others had worked there for more than two years.

Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, employers are required to verify employee documentation within three days of hiring. Samano said he was confused about apparently being fired for not documenting his employment eligibility eight years after going to work at the plant.

"Why are they telling me this now?" Samano said.

Social Security Administration spokeswoman Kia Green said she could not disclose whether Ballco has received any no-match letters for its employees. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts said there was no record of legal action taken by his agency against the company.

Critics of the no-match letters say discrepancies in Social Security records often arise from clerical errors or name changes due to marriage or divorce. They pointed a report from the Office of the Inspector General, which states that about 70 percent of the discrepancies in the Social Security Administration's records involve U.S. citizens.

"All it takes is for someone to put in a typo when filling out a Social Security number, and that's going to generate one of these letters," said Michelle Ringuette, a spokeswoman at the Service Employees International Union.

"Clearly we have a broken immigration system, but this punitive approach to enforcement is doing untold damage to immigrant communities around this country," she added.

vbauza@tribune.com

gsmith@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... ?track=rss

Has anyone read anything as to what may happen on October 1st, a mere week away? Could the suit actually be dismissed that day so the letters can go out? Is there anything we can do? Or does the government and this liberal judge have to duke it out?

We all know obviously how big this could be. (More folks moving to Canada, eh? I never even thought of that happening I've been so focused on the US of A.)


Suit Seeks to Stop 'No-Match' Rule

A group of labor, civil liberties, and immigrant rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit Aug. 29 to stop implementation of the Homeland Security Department's “no-matchâ€