ICE RAID UPDATE: Another Exploitive Employer Finally Faces the Music! But No Relief for Workers!

In March, 2007, one of the largest and most non-humane ICE Raids occurred at the Michael Bianco Inc. plant in New Bedford, MA. Federal authorities arrested 361 workers, most of whom were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. These raids were particularly cruel as ICE Raiders stormtrooped into this small factory and arrested the majority, 361 of their workers. These workers were shackled. Many were rushed away into the night and flown to a Detention Center in Texas. Families and the townsfolk were in shock especially since there was no mention of where the workers were being sent or how their children or families could contact them. Immigrant advocates criticized the raid for separating families and leaving children without proper care. Somehow, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said the raid was properly handled although leaders in the State of Massachusetts disagreed.

It was reported that Francesco Insolia, the owner of the plant, had solicited, hired and exploited these 300+ workers, most of whom were from war torn, hurricane ravaged Guatemala. He said he did this so he could fulfill his contract with the Government of producing backpacks for the soldiers in Iraq. Initially, no charges were filed against Insolia although the government did say they were investigating. Now, 19 months later, news reports indicate Insolia is FINALLY being held accountable for his crimes.

AP Reports:

Michael Bianco Inc., a manufacturer that was awarded almost $230 million in (Government) contracts, also pleaded guilty Monday to 18 specific counts of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants between early 2004 and late 2006. The company has agreed to pay a fine of about $1.5 million and pay around $460,000 in restitution for overtime owed to employees. Insolia faces a year to 18 months in prison for his guilty plea and has agreed to pay a fine of $30,000. "The defendants' conduct in this case undermines our nation's principles of freedom and the integrity of our immigration system, oftentimes placing legally operating businesses at a competitive disadvantage," said U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. In addition, Sullivan announced that two managers of Michael Bianco Inc. have agreed to plead guilty in connection to the March 2007 raid. Dilia Costa, the company's production manager, pleaded guilty to hiring and harboring illegal immigrants. Gloria Melo, the company's contracts administrator, pleaded guilty to continuing to employ illegal immigrants even after the company had reason to know their legal status. All will be sentenced in mid-January.

I have reported and commented about Insolia for some time. His was the first of the largest ICE Raids with the most inhumane treatment to their workers. He has gone unpunished for his exploitation for far too long. It is about time he has been brought to justice given the danger he imposed on his workers and on the New Bedford community. That said, it should also be reported that his business, Michael Bianco Inc., went OUT of Business. He sold his company to Eagle Industries of Fenton, Mo., his largest competitor. The latest information I found on Eagle Industries in New Bedford was this report.

from the MA AFL-CIO:

Description:
When workers at Eagle Industries in New Bedford tried to organize with UNITE HERE, management told more than four dozen workers that they were being terminated and their jobs shifted to Puerto Rico.
Eagle Industries is under contract to produce backpacks for the U.S. military. Join us in letting them know that companies under contract with the federal government should respect the right to join a union, and not send jobs offshore as a form of retaliation.

This exploitive employer is abusing American workers! Why aren´t these types of threats illegal?

Postville Update: Human Resourced Indicted!

As I have said from the beginning, Agriprocessors employers sought, recruited, hired and exploited numerous illegal immigrants, primarily from Guatemala, into their meatpacking plant in Postville. Even the initial Arrest Warrant contained documents proving the Human Resources department was involved.
As I reported on Sept 9, the Iowa Attorney General filed charges against the employer and managers for hiring underage children.
Now the Feds are indicting two Human Resources employees for harboring, aiding and abetting document fraud and identity theft. These are significant charges which should have been implemented with the intial warrant. Hopefully soon, the Employer were also be indicted for these charges.
Agriprocessors human resources employees indicted
The Gazette CEDAR RAPIDS — The two Agriprocessors, Inc. human resources employees charged last week were indicted Wednesday by a grand jury in U.S. District Court.Laura Althouse, 38 of Postville, was charged with aiding and abetting document fraud and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft. Laura Freund, 29, of Fayette, was charged with harboring and aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented aliens. Both will be arraigned Sept. 24. Althouse works in the human resources department and has payroll duties, and Freund also works in human resources at the kosher meatpacking plant in Postville. The complaint alleges a plant supervisor was in the human resources department assisting employees with the completion of new applications, in new names and using newly acquired false identification documents on May 11, a day before a immigration raid. Althouse was assisting in the process and knew some of the applicants were current employees. Freund was implicated in helping undocumented alien employees obtain false identification documents, according to the complaint.If convicted, Althouse faces up to 12 years in federal prison and Freund faces up to five years.

Postville Update: Owners Continue to go Scot Free While Underling Latino Supervisors Plea Bargains Prove Owners´ Guilt!

The Rubashkins are happy they continue to go unpunished as their Latino flunkies are forced to take the rap!

The Des Moines Register Reports:

Agriprocessors supervisor faces additional charge
GRANT SCHULTE gschulte@dmreg.com • August 19, 2008
A manager who allegedly helped hide illegal workers at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville will plead guilty Wednesday to charges tied to his role in the secret operation that employed nearly 700 illegal immigrants, according to a court docket published Tuesday. Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza will appear at a change-of-plea hearing at a temporary federal court in Cedar Rapids, according to the online court docket. The news came as U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth announced the 35-year-old plant supervisor will face charges that he conspired with his employer to hire the illegal workers. The plea bargain comes three months after federal agents raided the plant at detained 389 immigrant workers. Teig said the investigation remains open, but declined to say whether authorities would charge any other managers.

Two lawyers for Guerrero-Espinoza did not return phone calls seeking comment.Guerrero-Espinoza, who supervised the plant’s beef kill department, allegedly told a group of employees a few days before the raid that they needed new identification papers and Social Security numbers to stay employed. The supervisor allegedly asked workers for photographs and $200 to $220 for new documents.Later, according to the complaint, Guerrero-Espinoza told the employees that they could return to work.

Postville Update: Severed Limbs Common at Agriprocessor´s Medieval Plant!

Medieval! The Des Moines Register, the warrant and the OSHA reports tell us the Conditions at the Agriprocessors plant have been medieval for some time! They have a long history of amputations including severed hands, feet, crushed body parts. Workers were made to work long hours (up to and over 80 hours in a week with no overtime) in unsafe conditions and no safety equipment.

The DesMoines Register reports:

Plant has long history of safety violations
Three months ago, state officials cited Agriprocessors for 39 workplace safety violations - an unusually large number.Federal and state records give conflicting information on fines against the company, but for the past few years Agriprocessors appears to have compiled one of the worst safety records of any meatpacking plant in Iowa. Although detailed worker-injury reports since 2006 are not publicly available, the Register has reviewed Agriprocessors' reports for the three previous years.

In 2003, the company reported 83 employee injuries, including smashed ankles, lacerated tendons in hands, smashed arms, and amputated fingers.

In 2004, the number of injuries jumped 45 percent, to 120, with workers being treated for chemical burns to their eyes and feet, third-degree burns, hand lacerations and broken ribs.

In 2005, the number of injuries dropped to 103. They included hearing losses, smashed fingers and severed fingers. The 2005 reports include the three amputations that began with Carlos Torrez's loss of a finger.

State records indicate that four weeks after that accident, Adolfo Lopez, 26, was working on a machine called "the foot masher."Witnesses said they heard Lopez screaming about 5:30 a.m. He had been clearing debris from inside the machine when a supervisor unwittingly turned on the device, crushing Lopez's left hand."I saw (Lopez) caught up in the gears, the teeth of the foot masher," maintenance worker Deon Branish told officials. "His left hand was stuck all the way to the wrist." Ten days after that incident, plant sanitation manager Jeff Bohr was at home when a co-worker called to tell him Eduardo Santos, 25, was in the laundry room with a severe hand injury. Bohr went to the plant, examined Santos' right hand, and called an ambulance. Then he looked into the machine Santos had been working on and saw pieces of two work gloves."There were also pieces of skin and bone," Bohr wrote in his report.Company records indicate Santos lost two fingers and a thumb. The remainder of his hand was crushed.

Workers must pay for safety equipment:

Company records indicate that workers had long been forced to either do without the protective gear or purchase it themselves from the company. And because some workers allegedly had no lockers at the plant, they often took their chemical-soaked rain suits home with them at the end of their shift. Company Vice President Sholom Rubashkin, in a September 2000 memo to all employees, included an "equipment price list" that identifies rain pants and jackets, as well as "wrist wraps" and "back support," as "personal clothing-type equipment," rather than mandatory, company-issued safety equipment. For at least six years, workers were being charged $30 for the pants and $30 for the jackets. Boots were $20.85. At those prices, 100 rain suits would have generated $8,000 in revenue for the company. By comparison, the state fine for this serious safety violation was $1,000.
In December 2006, a commission appointed by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism found significant health and safety concerns at the Postville plant, including unsafe chemical use and "inadequate or nonexistent safety training."OSHA cited the company for more violations, and federal investigators launched a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of people in the United States illegally who were hired there, of child-labor law violations and of workplace safety issues.
Court records show that in January 2008, federal authorities equipped an informant with a hidden device to record a safety briefing for new employees. During the briefing, employees were allegedly told that their pay would be docked $2 per week to pay for gowns and gloves that they were required to wear. That informant, and another, made broader allegations, too. One told authorities a plant supervisor had put duct tape over the eyes of a Guatemalan worker and then beat the worker with a meat hook. Another told authorities that some workers were paid less than minimum wage and were paid in cash. Several informants alleged that the Postville work force was rife with illegal immigrants.

Cronyism:

In April, Eric Frumin of the Change To Win labor organization testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee that was investigating workplace safety. He told senators that Agriprocessors had just been cited for 39 additional violations of health and safety regulations that carried potential fines totaling $182,000. "For perspective," he testified, "in 2007, Iowa OSHA issued 19 violations for all meatpacking plants in Iowa, with fines totaling over $120,000."What Frumin didn't realize was that the Iowa OSHA office had already agreed to cut Agriprocessors' fines. The agreement would not be made public for several weeks, but when it was, it showed the state had cut the proposed $182,000 fine to $42,750.

The company has had annual revenue of $250 million.

Postville Latest Update: Low Level Hispanic Supervisors Arrested, Warrant Out for Jewish Manager who Fled to Israel! Feds said Plant "Medieval!"

Congratulations to the Union and to the Blogosphere for keeping the pressure on the Justice Department. They arrested two Agriprocessor Supervisors.
Special Kudos to FailedMessiah.com and to the Latino PRO Blogosphere for keeping this topic HOT!
The bad news is, only two low level Latino supervisors have been indicted so far. Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza was a supervisor in the Beef Kill dept. Officials are saying he was an American citizen. They are keeping mum on the citizenship status of Martin De La Rosa-Loera, the supervisor of the Poultry kill department. There is an arrest warrant out for Jewish Plant Manager Amara, however as we previously reported, Agriprocessors quickly whisked him off to Israel one step ahead of the authorities. Rubashkin also replaced his son Sholom as Chief Executive attempting to save him from being charged. News reports indicate, however, that due to the continued pressure from the Unions and the Blogosphere, the Grand Jury investigation of Agriprocessors is continuing, especially since they found Fake Green Cards in Agriprocessors HR Office and Feds investigating said the Plant Conditions were medieval!
The Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting:
..The supervisors were indicted by a federal grand jury after a former human resources employee and illegal immigrants at Agriprocessors testified last month, according to court records. They told investigators of an effort by the men to update employee documents in the weeks before the raid. The week before the raid, Guerrero-Espinoza told some of his employees to give him $200 for new documentation to continue working at the company, court records state. Some of the workers testified that he asked them for an extra $20 to cover the cost of gasoline or serve as his commission. On the day before the raid, the workers were provided new application packets complete with fake resident alien cards to sign and return...Both men face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the charges. Guerrero-Espinoza is facing an additional charge of aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft, which could get him another sentence of up to 15 years. ICE officials are seeking the public's help in locating Hosam Amara, 43, last known to live in Postville. The criminal complaint against him has been sealed until his arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call ICE at 1-(888) 347-2423.
The New York Times reported:
..Federal authorities called the raid the largest enforcement operation by immigration authorities at a single workplace. Unions and immigrant advocacy groups had criticized immigration officials for focusing arrests on workers while taking no action against top managers. The arrest warrant was issued for Hosam Amara, 43. In interviews after the raid, several workers said Mr. Amara was a floor manager with more authority than line supervisors. They said he was a link between workers on the slaughterhouse floors and meatpacking lines and more senior management. Agriprocessors, which before the raid was the country’s largest producer of kosher meat, is owned by Aaron Rubashkin. Two weeks after the raid, he removed his son Sholom as chief executive. Most of the illegal immigrants arrested at the plant were from rural Guatemala. In expedited proceedings (Cattle Barn justice), 270 workers were sent to federal prison on criminal charges, most for presenting false documents when they were hired...A former human resources employee cited in the complaint said Mr. Guerrero regularly brought in fake green cards for applicants.
A separate complaint says Mr. De la Rosa, a supervisor in Poultry Kill, also told illegal immigrant workers shortly before the raid that they needed new identity documents. The complaints make it clear that a grand jury investigation of Agriprocessors is continuing. Union officials said the new arrests did not go far enough. “The arrest of two low-level supervisors, while a start, barely scratches the surface of this company’s bad behavior,” said Scott Frotman, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has tried to organize the plant. “What about the allegations of worker abuse? Does anyone really believe that these low-level supervisors acted alone without the knowledge, or even the direction, of the Rubashkins and other senior management?”

UPDATE:
Wall St Journal reports:
..The complaint (warrant) also alleges that the May 12 raid resulted in the seizure of dozens of fraudulent permanent alien resident cards in the human-resources department at Agriprocessors. The raid exposed allegations that workers at the sprawling plant, which employed more than 900 people, were underpaid, physically abused, sexually harassed and extorted. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a U.S. government official who has visited the plant described the operation as "medieval." An investigation is still under way, and a court spokesman declined to disclose whether more arrests are likely.

GOP Pal Employer Going Scot Free as Largest Ever ICE Raid Nets over 390 Illegal Immigrants and Sweeps them to Detention!

On the surface the News reports read like any other Immigration Raid. As Drudge reported:
"Federal officials say a raid at a northeastern Iowa meat processing plant this week was the largest in US History. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say 390 people have been arrested on immigration charges after Monday's raid at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville. The facility is the world's largest kosher meatpacking plant. The raid was aimed at seeking evidence of identity theft, stolen Social Security numbers and people who are in the country illegally. Fifty-six of those arrested have been released on humanitarian grounds; many of them have to take care of children. Others arrested in the raid at are being held in county jails and at a converted fairgrounds."
But peel back the onion and a tale of one of the most heinous employers in US History is revealed. Yet, of all the arrests, no arrests were conducted in the Employer ranks. Let´s investigate:
. In 1987, Rabbi Aaron Rubashkin purchased an unused meat-rendering plant in Postville and turned it into a state-of-the-art facility for producing Glatt kosher meat. Today, AgriProcessors provides 60 percent of the kosher retail meat and 40 percent of the kosher poultry nationally, and most retail chains depend on it for supply. The company was also the sole American packing plant whose products are accepted in Israel.
. Rubashkin Family Members are Large Republican Campaign Contributors.
. The Rubashkins belong to a Hasidic Jewish community called the Lubavitchers, who scrupulously follow the Torah. When the plant initially opened, a few hundred Hasim moved to Postville to help manage and operate the facility. Meanwhile, Postville´s population of 1,300 Lutherans had a mixed relationship with the Hasidim. In 2000, author Bloom detailed the struggles between the Lutherans and the Hassidic Jewish population in a book, "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America." Throughout the book, Bloom describes the power struggles between the two groups and how both groups remained separate.
. Since 2004, the company has twice been sanctioned by PETA for animal abuses.
According to the Des Moines Register:
. Hiring of Illegal Immigrants: 700 complaints of illegal immigration violations
. ICE agents interviewed a former plant supervisor – identified as “Source 1” – in November 2007, who told them that the plant employed foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala and Eastern Europe. Roughly 80 percent of those workers were living illegally in the U.S., the supervisor said.
. A plant employee identified as “Source 11” told authorities that he/she was hired without presenting employment documents or filling out any forms. The worker’s first paycheck had a different person’s name on it, which was then cashed at another part of the plant.
. An Iowa Department of Transportation investigator learned from talking with Des Moines County Treasurer's Office personnel that Source #14 was involved in making applications to title and register cars on behalf of people living in Postville. The source said that, more than 200 times, he or she received application information and money and had the registrations and titles sent to various Burlington/West Burlington addresses. Source #14 then arranged to pick up the documents and sent them to the vehicle owners in Postville.
. The supervisors also described an encounter with the plant’s human resources manager about three separate Social Security cards from different employees with the same number. The human resources manager "laughed when this matter was brought to her attention," the supervisor told federal agents.
. Agriprocessors was notified of more than 1,000 discrepancies between names and Social Security numbers on workers' W-2 forms sent to the IRS between 2002 and 2005.
. “Source 1” told federal agents that some employees were running a methamphetamine lab in the plant, and were bringing weapons to work. The supervisor confronted a higher-level manager about the drugs, and shortly after was fired.
. three-fourths of the company's workers at the end of last year were using fraudulent Social Security numbers.
. Employee Abuse: a supervisor covered the eyes of an employee with duct tape and struck him with a meat hook.
. undocumented workers were paid $5 an hour for their first few months before receiving a pay increase to $6 per hour. The minimum wage in Iowa is $7.25 an hour.
--
ICE RAID: Monday, May 12, 2008
Officials say 314 men and 76 women were initially taken into custody by ICE agents. Of that number, 56 have been released on humanitarian grounds, typically because their arrest would leave a child with no custodian. Those arrested are being held in county jails and at a fairgrounds.
--
So now we get to WHY the Raids:
. RUBASHKIN TARGET OF ONGOING STATE & FEDERAL LABOR PROBE – Rubashkin Alleged to Employ Underage Illegal Workers Paid Under the Table, Fake OSHA Report
. The Des Moines Register is reporting United Food and Commercial Workers Union leadership asked ICE not to raid Agriprocessors.
Why?
Because there is an ongoing Iowa and federal labor law violations investigation of Agriprocessors and the union fears Rubashkin will use the raid to intimidate workers and throw the next unionization vote.
Mark Lauritsen, International Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers, wrote a May 2 letter to ICE: ICE action could result in employees leaving the plant, interfering with a government investigation that would “ultimately uncover unscrupulous employer acts,” he said.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE ICE RAID IS PROTECTING THE EMPLOYER FROM FURTHER LEGAL ACTIONS AGAINST THEM!

Update: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
RUBASHKIN OPEN FOR BUSINESS AS USUAL
The slaughter line is operating this morning at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa. The I.C.E. raid, carried out yesterday in conjunction with 14 other federal and state agencies, only stopped production yesterday.