Crackdown Upends Slaughterhouse’s Work Force

Published: October 12, 2007
TAR HEEL, N.C. — Last November, immigration officials began a crackdown at Smithfield Foods’s giant slaughterhouse here, eventually arresting 21 illegal immigrants at the plant and rousting others from their trailers in the middle of the night.

Since then, more than 1,100 Hispanic workers have left the 5,200-employee hog-butchering plant, the world’s largest, leaving it struggling to find, train and keep replacements.
Across the country, the federal effort to flush out illegal immigrants is having major effects on workers and employers alike. Some companies have reluctantly raised wages to attract new workers following raids at their plants.
After several hundred immigrant employees at its plant in Stillmore, Ga., were arrested, Crider Poultry began recruiting Hmong workers from Minnesota, hiring men from a nearby homeless mission and providing free van transportation to many workers.
So far, Smithfield has largely replaced the Hispanics with American workers, who often leave poorly paid jobs for higher wages at the plant here. But the turnover rate for new workers — many find the work grueling and the smell awful — is twice what it was when Hispanics dominated the work force.
Making Smithfield’s recruiting challenge even harder is the fact that many local residents have worked there before and soured on the experience. As a result, Smithfield often looks far afield for new employees.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/us/12smithfield.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Stories like this almost make me feel bad for the poor company. Maybe if they didn't hire illegals to suppress wages this wouldn't be a problem.

 

Yes they are but as the story states Smithfield was a little lax on that policy. They had to get rid of over 600 employees because immigration came in and looked at there files. Not every employer follows the letter of the law. That is probably the biggest problem with illegal immigration. If companies were not so willing to turn a blind eye maybe we wouldn't have so many here.

 

The government is starting to enforce them a little more than they were. The only problem is they are not really putting alot of fines on the employers. They are just rounding people up and deporting them. Which is a start but it would be nice if they started going after the employers more.

 

It would be nice to see the fines imposed. I guess we will see if the government is serious about it or not.

 

I know but I can dream can't I.