Thread: Suit: Oberweis milked illegal labor

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ober09.html

Suit: Oberweis milked illegal labor

November 9, 2005

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Staff Reporter Advertisement

Two undocumented workers from Mexico have filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Labor alleging Republican dairy magnate Jim Oberweis and a Lake in the Hills subcontractor paid them well below minimum wage to clean three suburban Oberweis ice cream shops.

Immigrant rights activists said although Oberweis was unaware that Rosa Ramirez and Jorge Ibarra were allegedly hired and exploited by the subcontractor for a mere $3.23 an hour, as chairman of Oberweis Dairy, he is still responsible. They further characterized the gubernatorial candidate as a "hypocrite," since he blamed illegal immigrants for destroying the country's economy in his failed bid for U.S. Senate last year.

"[Oberweis] says that we should not be here, and then he hires us, abuses us, and gets rich off of our work," Ramirez, 41, said in Spanish during a news conference Tuesday at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights offices, 36 S. Wabash.

Oberweis: 'Dirty politics at work'

Patmar Janitorial Services promised Ramirez and Ibarra $350 each for every two weeks they cleaned up Oberweis stores in Arlington Heights, Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg during the month of May, according to coalition executive director Joshua Hoyt. But the two northwest suburban residents, who were supervised by Oberweis employees and used the company's cleaning supplies, were only given half the amount promised, Hoyt said.

Oberweis, who said he would never knowingly hire undocumented workers, questioned the timing of the complaint, which was formally filed Thursday by the coalition and Chicago Workers' Day Laborer Collaboration. He said Ramirez and Ibarra, 34, were "plants" set up by the groups who videotaped the two mopping the stores' floors and wiping its windows.

"Oberweis is proud of its employment record. We have always followed the spirit and letter of the law. I ask that the party behind this smear campaign get their facts right. It's dirty politics at work," Oberweis, 59, said.

Deportation unlikely?

Hoyt denied trying to derail Oberweis' political career. The complaint, which cites violations of state and federal minimum wage laws and the failure of full payment originally agreed upon, calls for an audit of all Oberweis employees.

Although Ramirez and Ibarra could face deportation, since they are illegally in the United States, their attorneys say that's unlikely because they are, effectively, whistleblowers.

Representatives from Patmar Janitorial Services did not return calls placed by the Chicago Sun-Times.

They tried to pull the same stunt with Tom Tancredo. If we employ people, we really have to be careful about this stuff. The open borders lobby will stoop to any low to try to derail us.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beac ... EIS_S1.htm

Oberweis fires firm after illegal alien flap

beacon news staff

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