Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride seeks bankruptcy protection

[Scurrilous]

Source: Houston Chronicle

<snip>

"Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., which became the nation’s largest poultry producer under the leadership of one of Texas’ most controversial political donors, filed for federal bankruptcy protection Monday.

The company, based in Pittsburg in northeast Texas, was founded by Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim, 80, who has given $2.5 million to state Republican and anti-lawsuit political committees since 2000.

Pilgrim’s Pride attributed the bankruptcy to high feed prices, weak market conditions, high fuel costs and a heavy debt load tied to last year’s acquisition of competitor Gold Kist.

A corporate news release said the Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas was to address “short-term operational and liquidity challenges.” The company will continue operating under the bankruptcy protection."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6141828.html

[LeftyMom]

1. *smirk*

[davidinalameda]

2. I feel bad for the employees

I wonder how many will be let go and how many more will lose their benefits

[WritersBlock]

6. And I wonder how many of them voted for Bush & McCain.

Having spent far too many years around that area for comfort and sanity, I would wager that it was quite a few.

[davidinalameda]

12. you know what

that shouldn't matter

I don't care who people voted for; I feel bad because I know that I could easily be in their shoes

how many people who voted for Obama are out of jobs right now?

I for one can't take pleasure in someone else's misery

[WritersBlock]

14. It does matter, though. I think there's a damn good chance the country would be in much better

financial shape today if not for the past 8 years of Bush.

So yeah, it matters. Bush voters screwed themselves and everyone else. And the ones who voted McCain were all for more of the same.

I for one am not wasting sympathy on them. If you want to call that taking pleasure in their misery, then go for it.

[KakistocracyHater]

13. I miss local deli/butcher shops

they were all union, so I heard, & there was 1 in nearly every little shopping center. Now there are deli counters in Raley's, Safeway, etc.

[happygoluckytoyou]

3. I feel bad for the chickens who will have to go without being killed

and THAT ain't chickenfeed.... oh wait... that IS chickenfeed...

[regnaD kciN]

4. Sounds like a fowl company...

:evilgrin:

[Mari333]

5. looks like its an inhumane place

http://www.fatcatchef.com/food-and-drinks/peta-video-of-chicken-abuse-at-pilgrims-pride.html
no sympathy here.

[fudge stripe cookays]

8. It is.

Bo Pilgrim and his company are scum. Inhumane treatment of chickens AND workers. And he's one of the bigger Repub asshole contributors in Texas, along with James Lineberger.

[BunkerHill24]

7. label them as Islam Charity Group, and we would hear no more of them

[HillWilliam]

9. Guess it'd have nothing to do with

all the ICE raids into their plants, denying them access to slave labor. Apparently Bo's whelp can't run a company when they actually have to pay employees. Typical repuglican economics -- if the top 1% can't have it all, then nobody gets anything.

[Maestro]

10. I was just going to say that. All this immigrant bashing is

misplaced because it is big corps like this that keep hiring undocumented workers at slave wages without reprisal. I have no sympathy for Bo, but I feel for the workers both documented and undocumented.

[Gman]

11. Bo Pilgrim passed out $10,000 checks on the floor of the Texas Senate

in 1989 during the Workers Comp legislation fight. I never will forget that session. I damned near lived in Austin lobbying against the absolutely horrible gutting of the Texas Workers Comp program.

Here's a link telling what this company is all about:

For years, Dr. Louis Arrondo heard horror stories from his patients about working conditions at the local Pilgrim's Pride plant--the nation's fifth--largest poultry company. Injuries were commonplace, they told him--everything from minor falls to severed limbs to deaths. His female patients, who were mostly undocumented workers, told him they were being physically and sexually abused by male supervisors. In order to get proper equipment, they said, they had to let the supervisors touch them. "They call us wetbacks," said Blanca Garcia, who was injured at the plant. Garcia reported being pushed around and sexually abused. "They tell us we should be grateful because we get paid more here in an hour than we do for a full day's work in Mexico."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_n8_v58/ai_15667728