Posted on 11/25/2006 9:00:16 PM PST by Kimberly GG
Homeless, felons help fill poultry jobs South Georgia plant labors after immigration raid loss
By MARY LOU PICKEL The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 11/26/06
Stillmore — Felons on probation and homeless men have filled some of the poultry jobs left by illegal Mexican laborers deported in raids two months ago.
About 40 convicted felons from the Macon Diversion Center are bused in each day to work at the Crider Poultry plant in Stillmore — the focus of the raids.
Pastor Ariel Rodriguez (from left), talks with Ernesto Gutierrez Ordoñez and Antonio Gutierrez Lopez about the raids.
Stacie Bell pushes chicken onto a conveyor belt at the Crider Poultry plant in Stillmore. More workers have been hired to fill job gaps.
Additionally, 16 men from the Garden City Rescue Mission in Augusta have come to work in the plant. Several from the mission have become shift leaders, said Lavond Reynolds, director of men's housing for the mission.
"Compared to the attrition rate [at the plant] in general, these guys have really stuck so far," Reynolds said. The mission might send another 15 soon.
Still, that's just a drop in the bucket. The Crider plant is operating at about 450 employees — less than half its preraid level of 1,000, company president David Purtle said.
The Mexican population in Stillmore has plummeted since immigration officials first visited the Crider plant in May, town residents said. Immigration agents estimated that 700 workers were using fraudulent IDs. The company began checking documents and confronting employees. Many were fired and hundreds of illegal immigrants left town on their own throughout the summer.
Then, over Labor Day, federal agents rounded up and deported more than 125 illegal immigrants working at the Crider plant or living in Emanuel and surrounding counties.
That left Crider with a big labor gap, and finding workers to fill the jobs has been a challenge. Among the efforts and changes at the plant since the raids:
• The company outsourced 250 jobs in its raw deboning operation to Alabama.
• Some processing has slowed because of the downturn in the work force.
• Crider has turned to an outside company to hire about 100 workers to clean the plant each night.
• The company raised starting wages by about 40 cents and now offers attendance bonuses to new hires. Before, it took a year to be eligible for the extra pay. (Starting base pay is $6 an hour; most workers earn more through bonuses and overtime.)
• The company is spending more on hiring and training as turnover is high among new employees.
For instance, Crider advanced money to house the homeless men from the mission in trailers and to turn on their utilities. The company also pays to bus state probationers from Macon each day and is busing workers from surrounding communities.
Purtle said about 50 percent of applicants since the raids either did not pass the drug test or reference checks. Many of those who did have poor attendance or quit quickly.
"Our challenge is — in hiring unskilled people — their ability to understand what's expected of them," Purtle said. "Attendance is important. No acting up, no mouthing off. They just haven't learned."
The raids not only affected the chicken plant, but the surrounding community.
At least two landlords near Stillmore who rented to immigrants have put their properties up for sale. The Hispanic-run stores in town are operating at reduced hours.
"There's no people anymore," said Liliana Santos, 24, the clerk behind the counter at Salinas Surcusal No. 2 in downtown Stillmore.
"They don't have any jobs," she said in Spanish.
"Before, people would be walking around downtown," said Manuel Mendoza, 22, who stopped to buy tortillas. The store's jukebox played Mariachi music to an empty sideroom pool hall.
Mendoza has been in the United States 10 years and says he has a Social Security card and a job making pallets for $8.50 an hour. His hometown of Oaxaca, Mexico, has descended into anarchy with armed fighting in the streets, and he is in no hurry to return home.
Pastor Ariel Rodriguez drives around Stillmore, explaining what happened to each of the Mexican families that used to live in trailers and apartments.
"The majority of people have gone to Kentucky," he said. They knew a priest who used to live in the area and followed him up there, Rodriguez said. Other residents have gone back to Mexico.
At least one local businessman said his business has gone up since the raids. The churn of new folks applying and working at Crider has brought new customers to Mighty Mike's Hot Stop gas station and convenience store in town.
"They come in here and shop," said manager Willie Gordon. "Our inside sales have gone up $3,000 per week since the raids."
It's been a mixture of new clientele. But Gordon, who is African-American, attributes a good part of the increase to more black workers coming into town. Gordon notes: "You gotta be legal now." Click here to find out more! MOST POPULAR STORIES
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Americans doing the jobs American's wouldn't want to do.
Likewise, I would rather see deboning "outsourced" to Alabama (is that really outsourcing?) than Mexico.
CRIDER, W A MR JR
METTER,GA 30439
CRIDER POULTRY/CHAIRMAN
7/1/2005
$2,500
National Chicken Council
CRIDER, WILLIAM AI MR III
STILLMORE,GA 30464
CRIDER INC./VICE PRESIDENT
7/20/2005
$2,500
National Chicken Council
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 , 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, 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, 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
http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?txtName=CRIDER&NumOfThou=0&txt2006=Y&submit=Go%21
Did you notice that they have 450 employees now, rather than the 1,000 they used to have? And that most of the 450 are ones who are coerced into working?
Where are the Americans who want these jobs?
"Americans doing the jobs American's wouldn't want to do."
Bingo!
"Compared to the attrition rate [at the plant] in general, these guys have really stuck so far," Reynolds said. The mission might send another 15 soon.
Americans doing the jobs Mexicans can't do because the law is finally being enforced.
are not illegals felons of the federal kind? so what's the fuzz here about hiring real U.S.citizen felons?
Doing something other than slave wage agribusiness jobs.
When you have to eat, I guess you will have to have a few chickens in the yard.
I know how to grow and slaughter them, so I am not scared.
Have them call their congressmen and senators they donated money to. It's a national crisis. /sarcasm
D@mn! Why couldn't they do this with all the Tyson plants in Arkansas?
The point I tried to make is that the company has only been able to fill 450 jobs of the 1,000 they used to have. Does that sound like Americans are clamoring for these jobs? I don't think so.
"The point I tried to make is that the company has only been able to fill 450 jobs of the 1,000 they used to have. Does that sound like Americans are clamoring for these jobs? I don't think so."
Now the employer has to pay a legal wage. The pay output is the same. The employer will not pay any more.
You don't think felons work for Tysons in Arkansas? I assure you that many do.
I know where they can get another 435, not make that 535!
Oh, I meant raiding the plants and getting the illegals out. As far as the homeless and criminals, I'd a lot rather THEM have the jobs.
Damm homless men...how dare they attempt to work.
They didn't get into this mess overnight and they won't get out of it over night either.
Alabama plant has probably just not been raided yet, and has a surplus of illegals, maybe some of the same ones who were at the Georgia plant.
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