Worker Organization to Investigate INS Raid on Meatpacking Plant
Immigrant Agency Returns to Failed Enforcement Policy that Terrorizes Workers

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) charged that an INS raid on an Omaha meatpacking plant today returned the agency to its former practice of terrorizing workers and disrupting communities in search of undocumented workers.

Under federal law, workers, regardless of their immigration status, are entitled to exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

The UFCW has been organizing meatpacking workers in the Omaha area since last spring.

For more than two years, the INS had greatly cut back workplace raids in which the agency commonly rounded up workers for instant deportation in frightening military-like operations complete with hovering helicopters, agents outfitted in riot gear, and snarling dogs.

"Workers shouldn't be victimized and families disrupted because of a failed immigration policy," said UFCW Vice President and Director of the union's Food Processing, Packing & Manufacturing Division Bill Schmitz. "You can't have an entire industry preying on an immigrant workforce, then turn around and punish the workers, especially when the industry encourages workers to cross borders for employment in packing operations."

The UFCW represents 1.4 million members, including 250,000 meatpacking workers across the country.

• Plant Raided, 100 Held