Immigration raid cripples Ga. town

[kskiska]

Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago.

This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants.

The sweep has had the unintended effect of underscoring just how vital the illegal immigrants were to the local economy.

(snip)

Federal agents also swarmed into a trailer park operated by David Robinson. Illegal immigrants were handcuffed and taken away. Almost none have returned. Robinson bought an American flag and posted it by the pond out front -- upside down, in protest.

"These people might not have American rights, but they've damn sure got human rights," Robinson said. "There ain't no reason to treat them like animals."

more…
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8K5ESQ83.htm

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. Two schools of thought

the migrants have human rights, but I was wondering were there workplace protections for these people? What was the pay? The 2nd couldn't you pay Americans a decent wage to work poultry plant Mr. Robinson?

[Coyote_Bandit]

3. The third

I've known plenty of Amerikans who worked in poultry plants. The work was not beneath them. I bet some would be happy to take those jobs....

[liberal N proud]

5. They most likely will not hire them

The reason they hire illegals is because they can get by without benifits and lower pay

[jwirr]

15. My parents owned a small poultry plant and the family ran it.

[bitchkitty]

16. So, where are they?

Did you read the article - it's a ghost town. There are no Americans willing to work in that poultry plant.

[MaraJade]

18. Low wages, no benefits and poor working conditions

were and are the reasons why Americans would not move to this area and take these jobs. Most Americans want to make enough money to live in homes that appreciate in value, and they do not want jobs that endanger their lives.

When American industry starts paying living wages and starts providing decent working conditions,
Americans will take these jobs. Until then, I say good riddance to the illegals. And I hope the
cheap-ass owners of the poultry plant have to shut it down. We don't need that kind of employer in this country.

[greccogirl]

35. Ditto. In fact

I am going to stand back and watch with Ford. I bet they are going to move those plants they are closing down to other countries while 75,000 lose their jobs.

[Maine-ah]

48. If I could nominate a post!

[entanglement]

72. Conditions and wages will improve for ALL workers

only by a concerted struggle by all working people, not anti-immigrant venom spewed by people like you.

[cornermouse]

74. The point which you appear to have missed is the fact that as long

as they are allowed to hire illegal workers, wages will remain low and conditions will not improve.
That is not venom. It is fact.

[Gormy Cuss]

27. At the end of the article there is mention of an American willing to

work there. The poultry plant is offering $7.75/hr now ($1.00 more than they were paying the undocumented workers.) One replacement worker interviewed is a local who quit her WalMart job because now the poultry plant is paying over $2.00/hr more than Wallyworld. If the plant is able to fill the jobs with local workers at its new wage level then it's clear that the issue isn't that Americans are unwilling to work there, just that they are unwilling to work there for the lower wage.

[Generic Brad]

68. Lower wage?

Could you possibly mean 'liveable wage'?

[Gormy Cuss]

81. No, I think you misread it.

I wrote :
"If the plant is able to fill the jobs with local workers at its new wage level then it's clear that the issue isn't that Americans are unwilling to work there, just that they are unwilling to work there for the lower wage."

In other words, the locals are willing to work there for a higher wage.

[sofa king]

31. I think you read the news speak instead of the real news.

I'm not trying to be a jerk about this, but the article itself contradicts your assertion by concluding with an example of a citizen-worker who suddenly was willing to work in that plant--after the company grandiosely raised its starting wages from a (presumed) $6.75 an hour. Also presumed is the fact that the employer now has to offer some sort of benefits to employees.

In other words, the employer was creating a false labor market for illegal immigrants, by offering below-subsistance wages with no benefits. The only people who can afford to take that sort of job are the people who don't lose 40% of their paycheck off the top to taxes--and those people are illegal immigrants. The illegals only show up where someone is willing to break the law to hire them.

The employer took the profits they made by screwing their employees and artificially depressing the labor market in the area and pocketed it--at the expense of everyone else in the community, including the illegal immigrants. The illegals wouldn't have been there if the employer had obeyed the law in the first place, and the local economy would not have suffered from the artificial boom-and-bust cycle created by the illegal hiring.

And the government arrested the illegal immigrants, instead of the employers.

[roody]

33. Undocumented workers get the same paycheck

with state, fed, and local taxes taken out and social security. They do not get them back or ever collect SS.

[sofa king]

45. If I were undocumented, I'd be taking my deductions up front.

As many as I could make up. However, I take your point on state, local and payroll taxes.

I do notice something interesting, though. I don't know if it's the case in Georgia, but many states consider a head of household's income under $13,500 to be beneath the filing threshold, and coincidentally or not that's almost exactly what a full-time employee making $6.75/hr takes home in a year. That however would be applicable to both documented and undocumented workers.

[alarimer]

50. They need to throw the employer in jail

And confiscate ALL his assets. Bet he's sitting on a wad of cash he got by underpaying illegals.

[lgn19087]

79. People don't just appear

To say that there are no Americans "willing" to work there betrays your ignorance about the way a market economy works. In my locality, sanitation workers are actually paid quite well...the sanitation companies had to raise salaries in order to get people to do the jobs, and it worked. The raid occured on September 1st...people don't just materialize to do work, and either the facility will raise wages to the point where people WILL do the jobs, or the plant will simply close.

Its a self-correcting problem.

[melnjones]

13. Mr. Robinson didn't work in the poultry plant.

He had the trailer park, which has no legal requirement to check immigration status as far as I'm aware.

[BrotherBuzz]

2. And what punishment will Crider plant face?

I'm just asking. :shrug:

[brer cat]

12. That's the key. Why weren't owners/management arrested

instead of just the workers? The people who do the hiring have no excuse...they know the laws and chose to break them. They need to be locked up!

[NoAmericanTaliban]

4. Looks like Operation Brownskin is up & running

If some people are so upset about illegal activities why weren't the Crider owners & managment put in handcuffs. Didn't they commit crimes when they hired the illegals & arent't they illegals as well. Where are the arrested being contained as they await court? Maybe they could be penned in on Governor Perdue's mansion.

[diamidue]

63. Now that's a very good question.

..."why weren't the Crider owners & managment put in handcuffs"?.

[WhiteTara]

6. The pear crop is lying on the ground

in northern California because there are no pear pickers. I haven't check to see the impact of the migrant workers not being in neighborhood stores, but I think I might just check on that.

[MaraJade]

19. There are Americans who pick fruit--

Why can't these workers be hired to pick the fruit--

Oh! I forgot. The Americans want at least the minimum wage and access to toilet facilities
to do the work--

[WhiteTara]

20. actually this is a nice orchard and

has good facilities. I know that "Americans"? work there also and that they pay minimum wage ($6.75 with taxes etc) but there aren't enough. One of the main problems is that is seasonal as opposed to full time, year round.

[cap]

24. well... let's see $6.75 in the hot sun with no guarantee of

regular work or $5.00/hr in retail or fast food for a guarantee of 30-35 hour work week that would last for over 1 year. Let me think... $6.75/hr for several weeks (you only need the extra labor during the harvest and definitely not during winter) or $5.00/hr for a year. Hot sun vs air conditioning. Heavy lifting vs non heavy lifting.

It doesnt take an Einstein to figure out that you gotta be offering something like $10/hr. to get a US citizen to take a non permanent job with heavy labor.

I had to make choices like that as a college student. Temp secretary in decent office vs house cleaning. It wasnt hard to take a job as a temp.

[WhiteTara]

32. choices here are to grow pot

or work at a job of any kind...well, guess which one wins that toss up.

[cap]

39. what is needed is a review of subsidies paid to the family farmer

so that the farmer can pay his help a decent wage and earn a decent margin. The average farm income is $15,000/year. We need to take a hard look at what agribusiness is doing as well -- not sure if or how much we should subsidize them.

[WhiteTara]

40. Hear Here cap! I think this

is a big part of the problem is the giant agribusiness pawning itself off as the family farmer and sucking all the air out of the real family farms.

Maybe in the next administration we will see the people first and the corps paying their fair share instead of getting all the wealth.

[Wretched Refuse]

64. You mean

next Constitution or Next World after this FUCKER Bush gets finished with it.

[UncleSepp]

42. Reasonable for your situation, but not true in all cases

My nephew is looking at working the beet harvest this year for supplemental money. He already has one job.

Many of his friends, all of them American citizens, travel through the country to harvest various crops. They follow the seasonal work, often staying with friends who have permanent homes in agricultural areas. Yes - they're migrant farm workers who are US citizens. Their working conditions and wages aren't any better than anyone else's out in the fields. Americans will take those jobs, under those conditions, when their circumstances are desperate enough.

[cap]

51. hope your nephew can get a better paying job soon with a future..

my sympathies... it's tough out there.

[kineneb]

62. Migrant labor is needed for these crops

the problem, in our case, is the location...


Lake Co. is off the beaten track and many of the residents are not able to work in the fields or orchards. (We have the highest percentage of people over 60 of any county in CA.) When the pear harvest started, most of the high schools and junior college classes were already in session, so that population was also unavailable.

It has been a rough year for the pear growers. I hope they can stay in business.

[WhiteTara]

77. me too. I hate seeing grapes

take over all the available space in our area.

[Le Taz Hot]

78. I'm in the San Joaquin Valley

I'm hearing the same concerns from local farmers; however, I think the problem lies in the system by which they have all come to rely. When I was growing up, farm labor was done by students and people who included farm labor in their seasonal work year. Farm labor contractors (the ones who find the workers and bring them out to the fields) have been using illegal immigrants as their only source for labor. THAT is what needs to change. Contractors need to reach out to other sources for farm labor: the unemployment office, high schools, colleges, civic centers, youth centers, churches, etc. I KNOW people would respond IF there was an outreach made. Granted, there are no benefits . In most cases, farmers can't afford to offer benefits to seasonal farm workers (though most do offer it for their year-round employees). But if you're out of work and are in need of money, (and there are a lot of people out there in that situation), it's money that will feed you and your family and pay the rent or mortgage -- at least for the time being. Nobody is suggesting this as a lifelong career (unless they want it to be)

And before someone starts screaming that I'm a racist, this has nothing and I mean NOTHING to do with hating brown people. That argument plays right into the hands of the Robber Barons. Why do you think it's out there??? This is about respecting ALL WORKERS by paying them an honest days' salary for an honest days' work. EVERYBODY benefits when ALL WORKERS WORK TOGETHER FOR THE SAME ENDS.

[bahrbearian]

7. Wouldn't it be easier to arrest the CEO of the plant ?

Oh couldn't do that he might be rich and a contributor.

[tanyev]

8. Why, yes indeed.

Results: 15 records found in 0.4063 seconds.
Search Criteria:
Donor name: crider
Donor State: GA
Cycle(s) selected: 2006

Total for this search: $31,400

CRIDER , MR WILLIAM JR
METTER,GA 30439
CRIDER POULTRY CO./PRES. POULTRY PR
4/9/2005
$2,000
Kingston, Jack

CRIDER , MR WILLIAM JR
METTER,GA 30439
CRIDER POULTRY CO./PRES. POULTRY PR
4/25/2005
$2,000
Kingston, Jack

CRIDER JR, WILLIAM
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC./VICE PRESIDENT
5/9/2005
$2,000
Norwood, Charles W

CRIDER JR, WILLIAM
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC./VICE PRESIDENT
5/9/2005
$2,000
Norwood, Charles W

CRIDER, BILLY MR
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER POULTRY/OWNER
3/31/2005
$2,100
Marshall, Jim

CRIDER, BILLY MR
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER POULTRY/OWNER
3/31/2005
$2,100
Marshall, Jim

CRIDER, W A JR
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC/OWNER
6/23/2005
$2,100
Burns, Max

CRIDER, W A JR
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC/OWNER
6/23/2005
$2,100
Burns, Max

CRIDER, W A JR MR
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC
5/3/2005
$2,000
Isakson, Johnny

CRIDER, W A JR MR
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC
5/3/2005
$2,000
Isakson, Johnny

CRIDER, W A MR JR
METTER,GA 30439
CRIDER POULTRY/CHAIRMAN
7/1/2005
$2,500
National Chicken Council

CRIDER, WILLIAM
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER COMPANIES/VP OPERATIONS
6/30/2006
$2,000
Chambliss, Saxby

CRIDER, WILLIAM
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER COMPANIES/VP OPERATIONS
6/30/2006
$2,000
Chambliss, Saxby

CRIDER, WILLIAM
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDERS POULTRY/OWNER
2/17/2006
$2,000
Norwood, Charles W

CRIDER, WILLIAM AI MR III
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC./VICE PRESIDENT
7/20/2005
$2,500
National Chicken Council

www.opensecrets.org

[bahrbearian]

26. Mr Crider made a big mistake.. he didn't donate to the chimp .

[Breeze54]

53. Crider INC. isn't just into poultry...

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2005/01/31/story5.html

snip-->

Kinney says Hyaluron took in $3.4 million in revenue for 2004 and is projected to double that to nearly $8 million in 2005. In addition, the company plans to add 20 new employees over the next year and another 25 in 2006 if growth continues. The new manufacturing facility would create as many as 150 additional jobs on top of that.

Hyaluron, which isn't venture funded, was bootstrapped through operations and founder cash until 2003. The company also negotiated undisclosed funding from poultry-processor William Crider, owner of Crider Inc. in Stillmore, Ga.

The substance hyaluronic acid brought the company and the poultry processor together. The acid, which can be derived from cells contained in the red "rooster comb" on a chicken's head, is used in eye surgery and to treat joint pain and infertility. <--snip

[williesgirl]

9. Force the plant to pay a living wage & they'll have workers lined up for

these jobs. I bet the owner has health insurance! Arrest him/her and make an example in a small town - word will spread fast.

[Vidar]

17. A worthy goal, but it will probably take an armed revolution

against our corporate masters to accomplish it.

[michreject]

29. This is a start

From OP link

The poultry plant has limped along with half its normal workforce. Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit new workers.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. ... "and they have money to spend in mah trailer park!"

"Let my people go!"

[NorthernSpy]

44. LOL! "Hell hath no fury like a vested interest...

... masquerading as a moral principle."

-- Dorothy Parker (I think)

"This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo coming in and yanking people up," Slater said.

(...)

The B&S convenience store, owned by Keith and Regan Slater, the mayor's son and grandson, has lost about 80 percent of its business.

"These people come over here to make a better way of life, not to blow us up," complained Keith Slater, who keeps a portrait of Ronald Reagan on the wall. "I'm a die-hard Republican, but I think we missed the boat with this one."

Uh oh... better call the WAAAAAAHmbulance for those poor businessmen who were having such a jolly time milking illegal immigration for all it wa$ worth.


:eyes:

[Blue_Tires]

55. great quote

i also like how they are making INS out to be the spectre of evil government...

[VegasWolf]

11. "The raids came as immigration is a hot election issue." If the

immigrants can hold out past November, they should be safe for two more years.

[GetTheRightVote]

14. I believe it underlines the lost jobs that Americans should had have

but were taken by illegals. Yes, they are not legal and should not be working in this nation period, ever. Their rights are attached to their nation whose name is Mexico, etc. If they what them they need to go home not ask us to treat as citizens instead of the criminal law breakers that they are while crossing our borders illegally. To many Americans are living in provety due to the actions of illegals for lower wages. This story only underlines it even more so.

:kick:

[Bridget Burke]

52. So--you're either a citizen or a criminal...

There are plenty of non-citizens who are living & working here legally. Guess you don't like them, either.

[proud2BlibKansan]

75. Good answer!

[Seabiscuit]

21. "A Day Without A Mexican" visits Georgia.

[countryjake]

22. Looks like Georgia will just have to import their chicken from Mexico now

while small businesses in this country go under and mega-corporations get bigger. Neo-con strategy working fine, I see. NAFTA rules!

Maybe the entire state of Georgia will become a "ghost town". Maybe then some immigrants can move back and rebuild it into a decent place, where human rights are valued.

[xchrom]

25. chicken from mexico -- now there would be some heavenly irony.

[Irreverend IX]

23. I wonder...

How many corners did they cut and how much illegal overtime were they able to force at that poultry plant thanks to the use of undocumented workers? Whoever owns that place had better cancel his order for a new ivory backscratcher and stary paying wages that will attract workers from the surrounding area, because he's ultimately the one at fault for this. Industrial tycoons who undercut their fellow citizens and exploit illegal workers so they can make a buck are enemies of the US.

[diamidue]

43. Not just a matter of money.

Ever read the book, "Slaughterhouse" by Gail Eisnitz? She investigated these poultry plants. In her book, she includes this statement from a former poultry plant worker in testimony before Congress:

"The plants are covered with grease, fat, sand and roaches. Bugs are up and down the sides of the walls. Some of the flying roaches were huge, up to four and five inches long.....There are flies all around, including big blowflies....There is so much fecal contamination on the floor from chickens, that it kept getting into one worker's boots and burned his feet so badly his toenails had to be amputated...The waste is not always from the chickens. The company won't allow workers to leave the line when they have to go to the bathroom.." Workers get sick to their stomachs into the drains. She also talks about having to pull tumors off of diseased birds as they pass thru on the assembly line..and much, much more.


Would YOU want to work there? Sounds like hell.

[Blue_Tires]

56. welcome to the site!!

eww....time to finally start that vegan diet

[hollowdweller]

28. "Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit new wor

That line is the key line in this article

[texanshatingbush]

30. Average hourly wages have tumbled in the last few decades

Don't have the link, but I DO remember hearing a radio program in the last couple of months which stated that meat packing plant avg wages had tumbled from around $18/hr in the 1980's to around $8/hr today. Ergo, proof that influx of illegal immigrants HAD negatively impacted the job situation in this country.

[Recursion]

37. I'm sorry, "the influx of illegal immigrants?"

They aren't coming here for the scenery or the food, they're coming here because owners and managers are willing to
A) Turn a blind eye towards I-9 information, in return for
B) Offering wages that are higher than in Mexico or Guatemala or etc., which also happen to be
C) Lower than wages someone who grew up with a US standard of living can afford to live on.

It's just supply and demand.

[roody]

49. Let's blame the union busters.

These used to be good union jobs. The immigrants did not break the unions.

[proud2BlibKansan]

76. So do you think those workers just waltzed in the country and took those

jobs? LOL

These plant owners took buses down across the border and brought the workers here illegally! That is what happened in the 1980s.

[DeaconBlues]

34. Am I supposed to feel sorry because these businesses are feeling the

pinch directed related to the fact that they relied on illegal labor or customers who are here illegally?

Because I really don't.

[Gregorian]

36. I see prices going up. Or our standard going down.

Is this just another indication of our artificially high standard of living? Mexicans have essentially been slaves. And our gas has been highly undervalued because of the bombs we have poised.

I see this as just the beginning of Americans doing the jobs, but at higher prices than the Mexicans.

I'm not sure how to feel. The Mexicans I know, were happy to return to Oaxaca with their American wages. Their families waited for half of the year. But reunited when the work ended. So Republicans have perhaps put an end to that. And now Americans will be doing the work? But at what price?

I just know that the people with orchards have been happy to pay the low prices for immigrant workers. They'll now have to pay more. And so will we. I don't see a problem with any of this. I'm not complaining. I just think we all need to be honest and open.

[KaptBunnyPants]

38. Abolishing slavery was devastating to the South.

It still had to be done. These people either need to be expelled from the country or granted American citizenship; this buisiness of allowing companies to use illigal immigrants to avoid American labor laws must stop. Like others here, I'm wondering why the exploitation of these undocumented workers appears to be going unpunished...

[cap]

41. the South needs to abolish its plantation system

it never really got away from the idea that a few people can own everything and everyone else sucks wind whether it's a poor white, a poor black or an illegal alien. The problem is that the Civil Rights movements deprived the employers of blacks living in slavery or slave-like conditions so the employers turned to illegals as a source of very low paid powerless workers.

[IndianaGreen]

46. "The raids came during a fall election season in which immigration...

is a top issue."

Nothing like elections to bring out the worst in humanity.

[NorthernSpy]

47. oh, look: wages at the plant are now on the rise!

Bbbut how can that be? I mean, we all know that Illegal Immigration Does Not Harm American Workers...

:eyes:

The poultry plant has limped along with half its normal workforce. Crider increased its starting wages by $1 an hour to help recruit new workers.

Stacie Bell, 23, started work canning chicken at Crider a week ago. She said the pay, $7.75 an hour, led her to leave her $5.60-an-hour job as a Wal-Mart cashier in nearby Statesboro. Still, Bell said she felt bad about the raids.

"If they knew eventually that they were going to have to do that, they should have never let them come over here," she said.

[Telly Savalas]

67. So by eliminating the undocumented workers

we've created a few jobs for Americans that pay about $16K a year.

If Bush were to get on TV and brag about a program which created jobs that paid $16K a year, would we applaud him for it? Its net result would be no different than that of the Nativist agenda. Rather than salivating over this wedge issue, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to fight for the implementation and strict enforcement of a living wage policy?

[treestar]

54. If true, shows how weak our immigration laws are, and how they

fail to even meet our own needs. Frankly, our immigration laws, based on a 1952 act, are outdated. People we need here or want here can't get here legally. People we could care less about can get in easily.

[Blue_Tires]

57. hypocritical jagg-offs

"Close the border and deport the illegals!! But only in other communities and states because HERE they are part of our economic lifeblood, and we need a slave labor pool to pay peanuts to!!"

[MGD]

58. Fuck you and your upside down flag David Robinson.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

59. Haven't heard of any dire effects on Tyson...

There wouldn't be a problem if corporations weren't facilitating the phenom by hiring illegals in the first place.

Lets put the blame on the cause and facilitators.

[MGD]

60. It's a game as old as America,

the haves exploiting the have nots by pitting them against one another in the job market and then profitting from the resulting workforce imbalances.
"capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. ..."
John Kenneth Galbraith

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

61. Well said... Great Quote.

[laureloak]

65. Then they should have entered LEGALLY. n/t

[COSPRINGS]

66. EVERYONE FORGETS..

The dirty fact of how much we depend on them working...

[UncleSepp]

69. You're right. And we forget what is a luxury, and what is not.

We expect to be able to drink cheap orange juice by the half-pint glass, to buy chicken for a couple bucks a pound, and to buy tee shirts made of cotton 5 for $10. We expect that a person making a working class salary will be able to afford not one, but several pairs of leather shoes and probably a silk shirt, and meat at every single meal as a course and not as a flavoring. We expect to have fresh fruits and vegetables year round, regardless of seasons. We expect salmon in the flat Midwest and Gulf shrimp in the Northern states, all at every day low low prices. Who's paying the cost? The workers who are picking, preparing, processing and packing the food, the workers who are making the shirts and the shoes, who can't afford the very luxuries they produce even at the commodity prices the products command.

We've become a civilization of Marie Antoinettes.

[Divine Discontent]

70. sure, true..

I agree to an extent on that. But when I was growing up the owners of these businesses just had to pay a living wage to Americans to get them to do part time or temp work (usually 8 an hour or more) and what's wrong with that??? it's just GREED got into the way and they saw they could give 5 bucks an hour with no benefits to a worforce of illegal immigrants.

I hate businesses in general. They rarely think of our country citizens that have gotten them to where they are. Now, those local business don't pay the $8-12 they were giving to people to work those jobs, they get illegals to do it for half the cost.

I have sympathy for those wanting to come to this country, but I also have anger towards business owners wanting to make $200K a year instead of $140K.

[entanglement]

73. On this issue, some people here are as bad as Joe Freeper

Welcome to DU anyways :hi:

[lgn19087]

80. I disagree

The natural progression of the market will solve the problem.

[entanglement]

71. Utterly shameful and disgusting

Of course, xenophobes of all stripes will be delighted by this. Harassing immigrants is not the solution to America's economic woes, not by a long shot. I suppose this is to make the Red 'base' forget who really screwed (screws?) them.