10 hour days with no bathroom breaks, child labor and verbal abuse at agriprocessors plant, say detainees

from the DES MOINES REGISTER:

Detainees allege abuse by company
BY GRANT SCHULTE • gschulte@dmreg.com • May 16, 2008

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Immigrant workers detained during this week’s Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking raid in Postville allege that the company withheld pay for what it called “immigration fees,” denied compensation for overtime and refused to let employees use the restroom during some 10-hour shifts, according to a lawsuit filed late Thursday.

The federal lawsuit on behalf of three arrested workers includes accounts of verbal abuse by plant supervisors and one anecdote about a floor manager who threw meat at his employees.

Federal agents raided the plant on Monday and arrested 389 workers suspected to be illegal immigrants. The workers were detained at the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, identified and taken to initial court appearances in the largest single-site immigration crackdown in U.S. history.

The lawsuit by Antonin Trinidad Candido, Roman Trinidad Candido and Maria del Refugio Masias alleges that the federal government violated each detainee’s due-process rights.

The lawsuit was filed by Amy L. Peck, an Omaha-based attorney, who requested that a federal district judge allow the case to expand into a class-action lawsuit that would include all the workers. A judge has yet to approve the class-action status.

The lawsuit cites stories heard by Sonia Parras Konrad, a Des Moines immigration lawyer who interviewed more than 50 detainees in Waterloo.

According to the lawsuit:

– Workers told Konrad that Agriprocessors Inc. procured bogus identification and employment papers for them.

– The kosher meatpacking plant withheld $50 per paycheck from employees for what it called “immigration fees.”

– Plant supervisors subjected the immigrant workers to abuse that included derogatory names and physical abuse.

A federal affidavit signed on May 9 and made public the day of the raid states that federal authorities launched their raid in part because of allegations that Agriprocessors Inc. was exploiting its employees.

Eighteen of the workers were minors, ranging in age from 13 to 17. Federal agents have since turned the youths over to adult guardians or the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which cares for displaced refugees.