Advocates: Mississippi plant fires workers left after raid

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Jeff Amy, Associated Press Updated 2:04 pm CDT, Thursday, August 15, 2019

A Mississippi chicken processing plant fired most of its remaining workers after nearly 100 accused of immigration violations were arrested last week, witnesses said, an indication that the crackdown could make finding work in the state's poultry industry more difficult for Latino immigrants.

Terry Truett, a volunteer with the Mississippi Immigration Coalition, said she and others were called Tuesday to a Morton park where former PH Food workers were staging a protest, saying the company had abruptly fired them at the end of their shift and was illegally withholding pay.

It's unclear exactly how many were fired, although Truett said more than 100 workers' names were collected at the protest in Morton, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Jackson.

PH Food is one of seven Mississippi plants raided Aug. 7 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The agency arrested 680 people accused of working in the United States without legal permission, quickly releasing about 300. ICE also seized company documents as part of an investigation into what managers knew. ICE said it arrested 99 people at PH Food.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Advocates-Mississippi-plant-fires-workers-left-14306911.php

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Yes

after creating all that ill will, companies need to purge the bad vibes that remain.

Wonder if some won't be able to find new workers?

Imagine if ICE raids led to chicken shortages in supermarkets

That wouldn't be popular

[Igel]

6. Sounds like they're firing workers that aren't legally permitted to work.

OP says that only one shift was subject to the ICE raids--of course, after that any illegal workers wouldn't have shown up. Also says that since then they've apparently been trying to get their ducks in a row. What do you do with workers that aren't legally allowed to work if they're on the payroll? You fire them.

Now, withholding their pay for the time they've worked, dunno.

The "they collected names at a protest" Tuesday and fired many of those workers today may be a red herring. I mean, the first response is, "You can't fire somebody for just going to a protest!" but then I recall all the people fired for going to the wrong kind of protest, saying the wrong thing on social media or just saying the wrong thing in private only to have somebody record it and make it public.

Then again, it might just be that those who went to the protest and later fired didn't have work authorization.

[athenasatanjesus]

2. Impossible!

They must have hired real Americans to the jobs that those evil aliens were taking =p

[Blue_Tires]

3. The hubris of this fucking place astounds...

First they announce a "Job Fair" 3-4 days after the first raid, and now this?

Why aren't these plant managers being arrested as well??

[cstanleytech]

4. The whole crackdown on people here illegally its being run as a circus show to distract the public.

Why? Because if Trump was honest about wanting to truly reduce the number of people here illegally he would be going after the owners of the company and not with slap on the wrist monetary fines but rather with real hard time in a prison for years if not decades.
That is why I call this a circus show.

[House of Roberts]

5. WARN Act violation?

Sounds like it to me.

I doubt the Trump DOJ will enforce it.

[Hotler]

7. I wonder how many unemployed tRump supports will run to apply.

Now that all those illegals have been stopped for taking their jobs.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. Trump will hire them to work Mierde A Lago

[marble falls]

9. They may as well shut the factory down.

[Demonaut]

10. Hire former coal miners, safer work

[iluvtennis]

11. There aren't any "real Americans" who want to do this hard labor - that's why the undocumented

workers were hired in the first place. Higher prices for chicken/byproducts are coming.

[friend of m and j]

12. Who do PH Foods market to?

I would like to know what retail brand winds up on those processed chickens. Are they sold to restaurant chains etc. Some investigative reporter needs to find out so people like me would never spend another penny that would ultimately go to PHFoods.

While the company can't be blamed for the ICE Raid, Firing the remaining workers and refusing to pay them for the time worked puts them on my shit list that I don't want to support by buying products they produce.

[Duppers]

13. Good point.