Dec 19 2006
Legal workers sue Swift for favoring illegal workers- and a few other thoughts
The country is still buzzing about the ICE raids of several swift meat packing plants that netted 1200 suspected illegals. Read about it here.
Well in an interesting twist, the companies claims that it did not deliberately hire illegals is being challenged by former workers who claim Swift not only knew, but favored the illegal workers in a deliberate attempt to lower wage costs.
Legal Immigrants Accuse Company of Favoring Illegals to Depress Wages
Eighteen former employees who worked at Swift & Co. have filed a $23 million lawsuit alleging that the meat packing company conspired to manipulate and depress the labor market and wages by hiring illegal immigrants. Earlier this week federal immigration officers raided six Swift production facilities in six states, arresting nearly 1,300 people in what is believed to be the nation’s largest-ever workplace raid on illegal workers.
"These plaintiffs are legal residents and victims in a longstanding scheme by Swift to depress and artificially lower the wages of all its workers by knowingly hiring illegal workers," says Angel Reyes, of Dallas’ Heygood, Orr, Reyes & Bartolomei, attorney for the plaintiffs. "By lessening its labor costs and increasing its profits, Swift has severely damaged the potential earnings and livelihood of these hard-working men and women. This litigation seeks to redress those wrongs."
Each of the plaintiffs were employed at the Swift facility in Cactus, Texas, located north of Amarillo. A total of 295 people were arrested on immigration violations or other criminal charges in a raid of the Cactus facility on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
According to the lawsuit, Swift executives "actively sought to locate these illegal immigrants and hire them — knowing full well that it was in violation of the immigration laws of the United States to do so." The lawsuit also accuses the company of transporting, smuggling, harboring and concealing illegal immigrants.
If true it would prove what many have long since believed, that some employers deliberately take advantage of the lax enforcement of illegal workers to make profits.
