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A few years ago in the South, coordinated ICE raids of a bunch of chicken "factories" owned by Tyson netted 800-900 arrests of undocumented employees. Many of

A few years ago in the South, coordinated ICE raids of a bunch of chicken "factories" owned by Tyson netted 800-900 arrests of undocumented employees. Many of them testified that Tyson encouraged and coached them, even provided written instructions on how to deal with various employment/taxation things as someone undocumented. Asked about this at a press conference, and whether there were "any plans to issue fines, or charges/arrests against the company or management at the company who were very much aware they were employing undocumented workers"? DA / prosecutors: "We have not discussed and do not have plans to do so at this time." And to no-one's surprise, no "plans to do so" showed up later, or at all, either.

klooney 4y ago
The whole conversation about rural meat packing plants always drives me crazy. They moved them to rural locations, where by definition very few people live, and then suddenly a hundreds of dudes from rural Mexico showed up to work there. So naturally we talk about Americans being lazy and racist when they complain.
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  If your entire problem with that cycle is the mexicans who end up working those jobs it's not ridiculous to consider that racism plays a significant role lol.
  - ticviking 4y ago
    The problem is that the company is blatantly trying to undermine the labor protections and quality of life my ancestors fought hard for.
    - foogazi 4y ago
      Maybe it’s your turn now
    - giraffe_lady 4y ago
      Then I wasn't talking about you then was I?
- krapp 4y ago
  They aren't lazy, but let's not pretend the situation you describe doesn't breed racism.
Ancapistani 4y ago
I live in the area where Tyson has most of its poultry operations, and I know a few people who work for them fairly well - including a couple who are working there under false identities due to immigration status. Tyson knows. They couldn't _not_ know. They seem to maintain an acceptable level of "plausible deniability" at least, and I've not seen any evidence that they're explicitly allowing it to happen, or even that it's their preference. It seems more like they _have_ to tolerate it. If they tried to aggressively stamp out their workers using false documentation, they'd lose a big part of their experienced workforce and would incur significant additional labor costs as the market adjusted to the change. More to the point, those people aren't just going to shrug their shoulders and head back to their home countries. Many of them would just go through more complicated steps to get false documents that passed the increased scrutiny. Tyson would have to pay more to get workers. Much of that money would be spent by the very same employees obtaining and maintaining false identities, and the people they're getting them from aren't exactly upstanding citizens. If anything, I'd expect a crackdown on illegal labor practices here to result in funneling more money to criminal organizations (i.e., "the cartels") and tying the immigrant community more deeply with them. It really looks like a lose/lose proposition from where I sit. NOTE: None of the above is a comment on US immigration policy, or indicative of my personal position on how that should be handled.
- pphysch 4y ago
  Of course Tyson knows. Cheaper labor directly translates to increased profits. If Tyson and other megacorporations don't encourage this practice, they are leaving money on the table and violating their fiduciary duty.
  - onedognight 4y ago
    Their fiduciary duty is to violate the law to make money?
    - pphysch 4y ago
      If that is what it takes, sure. As long as the punishment is less than the reward, it's good business.
mrguyorama 4y ago
Up north where I am from, all the racist conservatives own farms, and are constantly blaming things on "those illegals", but come harvest time you know exactly who are out in the fields doing the work. They purposely don't check anything, because they don't want no migrants, they want an underclass to exploit.
foogazi 4y ago
Big Poultry is too big to fail

klooney 4y ago

The whole conversation about rural meat packing plants always drives me crazy. They moved them to rural locations, where by definition very few people live, and then suddenly a hundreds of dudes from rural Mexico showed up to work there. So naturally we talk about Americans being lazy and racist when they complain.

giraffe_lady 4y ago
If your entire problem with that cycle is the mexicans who end up working those jobs it's not ridiculous to consider that racism plays a significant role lol.
- ticviking 4y ago
  The problem is that the company is blatantly trying to undermine the labor protections and quality of life my ancestors fought hard for.
  - foogazi 4y ago
    Maybe it’s your turn now
  - giraffe_lady 4y ago
    Then I wasn't talking about you then was I?
krapp 4y ago
They aren't lazy, but let's not pretend the situation you describe doesn't breed racism.

Ancapistani 4y ago

I live in the area where Tyson has most of its poultry operations, and I know a few people who work for them fairly well - including a couple who are working there under false identities due to immigration status. Tyson knows. They couldn't _not_ know. They seem to maintain an acceptable level of "plausible deniability" at least, and I've not seen any evidence that they're explicitly allowing it to happen, or even that it's their preference. It seems more like they _have_ to tolerate it. If they tried to aggressively stamp out their workers using false documentation, they'd lose a big part of their experienced workforce and would incur significant additional labor costs as the market adjusted to the change. More to the point, those people aren't just going to shrug their shoulders and head back to their home countries. Many of them would just go through more complicated steps to get false documents that passed the increased scrutiny. Tyson would have to pay more to get workers. Much of that money would be spent by the very same employees obtaining and maintaining false identities, and the people they're getting them from aren't exactly upstanding citizens. If anything, I'd expect a crackdown on illegal labor practices here to result in funneling more money to criminal organizations (i.e., "the cartels") and tying the immigrant community more deeply with them. It really looks like a lose/lose proposition from where I sit. NOTE: None of the above is a comment on US immigration policy, or indicative of my personal position on how that should be handled.

pphysch 4y ago
Of course Tyson knows. Cheaper labor directly translates to increased profits. If Tyson and other megacorporations don't encourage this practice, they are leaving money on the table and violating their fiduciary duty.
- onedognight 4y ago
  Their fiduciary duty is to violate the law to make money?
  - pphysch 4y ago
    If that is what it takes, sure. As long as the punishment is less than the reward, it's good business.

mrguyorama 4y ago

Up north where I am from, all the racist conservatives own farms, and are constantly blaming things on "those illegals", but come harvest time you know exactly who are out in the fields doing the work. They purposely don't check anything, because they don't want no migrants, they want an underclass to exploit.

foogazi 4y ago

Big Poultry is too big to fail