Latino Chipotle workers speak out after mass immigration firings in Minnesota

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: FBNews

Juan and Maria, two workers from Chipotle Mexican Restaurant who are Mexican immigrants, spoke out at a press conference after being fired as part of a statewide immigration sweep. Over 20 other fired Chipotle workers stood by them as they told what has happened over the past week and presented their demands to Chipotle Mexican Restaurant and to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Starting on Dec. 6, more than 80 workers have been fired at Chipotle Mexican restaurants around the state in coordinated immigration-related firings. The firings of Latino immigrants appear to be ongoing, since Latino workers in several locations say they are being asked to train in new white workers who they fear will become their replacements once the training is complete, as happened in several of the stores where firings have already occurred.



Read more: http://www.fightbacknews.org/2010/12/15/latino-chipotle-workers-speak-out-after-mass-immigration-firings-minnesota

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I-9 is the pesky form we all have to sing proving we can work

thank the 1986 immigration law for it. But let me get this straight, from what I can see, these people are LEGAL workers... what is wrong with this picture?

[RZM]

2. Sheesh

Not once does this article say a word about whether these workers are legal immigrants or not. Given what I can tell about 'Fight Back News,' I'm guessing that if the workers were here legally, we would have learned that in the article. Seems like a relevant point to me.

[EFerrari]

3. Stupid @ssholes couldn't even wait until after the holiday. n/t

[Tunkamerica]

10. lent? easter? july fourth? which holiday did you want them to wait till

to comply with the law? shouldn't have hired illegal workers in the first place.

[EFerrari]

12. Oh, freakin' please. George Bush is walking around free.

But keeping 80 people working at minimum wage until after Christmas would sink the nation.

[dkf]

15. Haven't they told George Bush not to fly to Europe?

Thought I heard that.

[Lasher]

17. Halliburton bribed Nigeria to drop the bribery charges against Lord Vader.

Too bad for Junior, nobody wants to bankroll a clean slate for him.

[EFerrari]

18. Nobody needs to. He's the crown prince of the BFEE. n/t

[Igel]

20. Think of the joy, though.

80 other people will get a minimum-wage job just in time for Xmas. It's mostly a wash.

And, for the overlap while they're being trained both groups are being paid.

[dkf]

4. They want these employers punished not the workers...

So Chipotle pays a fine and keeps the illegal workers? I don't get what they want. Are they saying that it is Chipotle's fault for hiring them in the first place so they should keep their jobs?

I really don't get this.

[AlphaCentauri]

6. No, what they are saying is that they have been replaced by cheap labor

now days there are plenty of unemployed white fox, corporations just found a new source for cheap labor.

[dkf]

8. Well that would be ironic if true.

So employers are going to use immigration to fire their highly paid illegal immigrant workers to pay low wages to American citizens? My head is spinning.

[HEyHEY]

9. This is the kind of in-depth, quality reporting you get from publications such names n/t

[Tunkamerica]

13. white fox? anyways... the only way there is a problem with this is if they're firing the workers

because they are Latino, not because they are illegal. If they are illegal, then the company has to fire them. The company should also be fined if they knowingly hired illegals. Also, the chipotles near my house are nice. I have worked in way worse conditions in restaurants. To say Americans won't work in a restaurant like Chipotle is overstating the entitled nature of the average American.

[Lasher]

11. They want ICE to stop conducting I-9 audits.

Last paragraph of the article linked in the OP:

According to MIRAc member Brad Sigal, “Firing large numbers of Latino workers right before Christmas is the wrong thing to do. We demand that Chipotle stop this cruel wave of firings and we demand that ICE stop these I-9 audits that punish workers, not employers.”

Chipotle is getting hit with some pretty hefty fines. They are firing these workers because they otherwise invite more fines. I have seen folks advocating here for immigration enforcement against employers and not against workers. That's just what is going on in this case.

[dkf]

14. What you are saying makes sense to me.

The quote does not.

[Lasher]

16. That was my take.

But I don't know how much sense I'd make if I were in their position right now.

[saigon68]

19. Its just more "Change We Can Believe In"

Corporate interests need the profits

[dkf]

5. Here Juan says he isn't taking a job an American would want to keep...

"We're just asking for fair treatment," Juan said. "We're not taking anyone's job. We came and applied for those jobs and we got them. I've seen lots of people come and take a job at Chipotle and then leave, because they can't take the low pay and the working conditions. But we don't have a lot of options, so we stay."

http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2010/12/chipotle_fires.php

[Lasher]

7. But it looks like Americans are already starting to fill those positions.

"...Latino workers in several locations say they are being asked to train in new white workers who they fear will become their replacements once the training is complete."

http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2010/12/chipotle_fires.php

Here's more:

About a year ago, 1,200 janitorial workers in the Twin Cities lost their jobs as a result of federal audits. In October, more than 50 workers at a South St. Paul tanning company lost their jobs in a similar audit. Last week, close to 50 workers lost their jobs at a South St. Paul cattle-hide processing company for the same reason.

In the year ended Sept. 30, immigration officials conducted more than 2,200 audits nationally, up from 1,400 in the previous 12-month period. They issued 240 fines totaling $6.9 million in the most recent period, up from 62 fines totaling about $1 million the previous year.

http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_16829638

That batch of 62 fines averages out to about $16K each, but the bunch of 240 was around $29K apiece.