[quote=SK in CV][quote=bearishgurl]
I understand everything you’re saying here, NSR. I’m not even sure Americans would take these jobs if they paid $15 or $18 hr. These employees can rent old farmhouses cheaply and easily get 12 people in there for <<$400 mo. Americans don't want those either because they are all situated out on Weld County Roads (WCR-#), most of them dirt or gravel and within smelling distance of the plant. With 1-3 workers per hsld and their assorted other relatives and children living with them and getting EBT, Medicaid and indigent health coverage, and other social services, these families are making out okay. Really .... they ARE! My friend in Eaton works for a social service agency in Greeley that serves a good portion of this population. They even have "free" dental care available at their clinic. I personally toured the clinic and was amazed at the (very expensive and state-of-the-art) medical and dental equipment they had - all paid for by well-heeled longtime locals' donations. The Weld and Morgan County school districts have been serving this particular population for more than 50 years. The wheel has been invented. It's all good ... I guess :=][/quote]
BG, do you think maybe the possibility exists that living in an old farmhouse with 11 other people isn't their first choice in how to live? Maybe, if their employer paid them 25% more, there would be much less turnover, they'd save recruiting and training costs, and their employees wouldn't have to live 12 people to a house. They might even have enough income so that don't need SNAP or Medicaid. And the employer would probably decrease their costs.
The short-sightedness of some business operators is truly mind-numbing.[/quote]
SK, it probably isn't their first choice, but these (rural) farmhouses, for the most part, are 75+ yo 1500-2500 sf homes which have long dirt driveways and may or may not have a detached garage. Due to the roads they sit on, they can be very dusty inside. Many of these workers also live in Greeley (abt 7.5 mi west of the plant). Greeley has many 90+ yr old largish houses in wildly varying states of condition on its east side which have full (finished) basements. I'm sure the rent is higher there (than Kersey) but these renters would live in close proximity to more public services, including public transportation.
I think these (agricultural employers') mindset is just a permanent cramdown in wages because they can get away with it with this particular population! A dollar or two an hour here and there leads to future raises based upon percentages and also higher payroll taxes.
The exact same thing has been happening over the years with Tyson (pork processing plants) in the states of AR and IA.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/usa0105/7.htm
In 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 146,400 workers employed in the meat packing industry, of which 128,100 were production workers. In the food industry as a whole, meat packing and processing is the largest employer.
As a result of the need to keep expenses low, the meat packing industry has been a longtime opponent of workers’ unions and paid well below the national average. Employing recent immigrants has become standard practice. According to David Bacon in The American Prospect, “Today, Spanish is the language on the floor of almost every plant. Most workers come from Mexico, with smaller numbers from Central America. Refugees from Bosnia, Vietnam, and even the Sudan are a growing presence in some areas, but the vast majority of meatpacking workers are Latinos.” During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the meat packing industry received negative publicity for its employment of illegal aliens, as well as its dangerous and low-paying working conditions.
Meat packing also is a highly labor-intensive industry, and a large majority of the total employees (84 percent) were production workers, compared to 72 percent in all food preparation sectors and 67 percent in all manufacturing industries. Because of the industry’s low wages and demanding working conditions, employee turnover remains high…
And the 1300 undocumented workers found in the 2006 INS raid in the OP were actually based in six states:
In 2002, Swift & Company was purchased by Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, a leading, Dallas-based private equity firm, and Booth Creek Management.
In December 2006, six of the company’s meat-packing facilities in Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Iowa, and Minnesota were raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, resulting in the apprehension of 1,282 illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Laos, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and nearly 200 of them criminally charged after a ten month investigation into identity theft…
FYI, in 1993, the INS “set up shop” along with the DEA and NTF in a group of nondescript permanently-skirted trailers just west of Brush, CO (Morgan Co). At that time, this (I-76) corridor was discovered to be a BIG illegal drug-trafficking artery.
SK, if you are a meat-eater, would you be willing to pay $35-$40 (as opposed to $20-$28) for your steak dinner out in order to subsidize better wages for US meat processing/packing-industry employees?
