Thread: Sane way to a legal workforce

Sane way to a legal workforce
April 29, 2007

GIVE US A break from misguided immigration enforcement. That's the message employers are sending to Congress, adding a much needed voice of reason to the campaign for comprehensive reform.

"Simply put, a company cannot legally and practically do more than we have done to ensure a legal workforce under the current tools and regulations available from the government," Jack Shandley said in written testimony delivered to Congress on Tuesday. Shandley is the senior vice president of human resources at Swift & Co. , the meat processing business that federal immigration officials raided in December. Nearly 1,300 workers were detained at sites in six states. Production was compromised. Swift lost more than $30 million.

The most telling detail: Shandley says Swift played by federal rules. It checked worker identification, filled out the proper forms, and used Basic Pilot, the government's voluntary verification system.

What Swift couldn't do was verify that every worker's document was legitimate. The company tried; in 2001, the Department of Justice actually sued Swift for discrimination for too closely scrutinizing the documents of workers who looked or sounded foreign at a plant in Worthington, Minn. Swift settled, paying $200,000 but not admitting wrongdoing.

Swift isn't alone in its plea for reform. Five human-resource groups have formed the HR Initiative for a Legal Workforce, which insists the federal Basic Pilot verification program isn't good enough. Instead, the country needs a faster, more accurate system that could be easily used by big companies and mom-and-pop shops alike. It would be entirely electronic -- freeing companies from the paperwork tyranny of false documents and the need to fill out I-9 employment eligibility forms, which employers must keep on hand for three years after an employee is hired.

How would a better system work? Initiative members say a task force of government, business, and technology experts should decide. That's a good idea. But the initiative's proposal to base a verification system on biometric data -- such as fingerprints or retina scans -- would raise troubling concerns about worker privacy.

As the federal government tackles this problem, a guiding principle should prevail: Employers shouldn't be directly or indirectly penalized if they've sincerely followed the law. Swift wasn't so lucky. Although it hasn't been charged with wrongdoing, suddenly losing hundreds of workers in the December raid was a de facto financial penalty.

Companies, workers, and law enforcement officials all face the contradictions of antiquated federal immigration laws and policies. That's why Congress and President Bush need to advance thoughtful, logical reform.
http://link.toolbot.com/boston.com/76123

One clue would be: can they speak English and do they need an interpreter?

This is yet another case of no accountability:

It's not the illegals fault cause they are world citizens, (except in China), where all our jobs went,

It's not the corrupt companies fault - they are unable to do the job cause, it's the fault of the Department of Justice,

It's not the fault of the Department of Justice cause they are incompetent, deliberately understaffed, take bribes and look the other way. It's the American people's fault cause they are Americans.

Either way in the light of day they are all the creeps I dislike the most.

Screw the Government, Swift & Co. , and the illegals