Workers Take Heat from ICE
By Marty Ryan, Legislative Director of the ACLU of Iowa.

"They didn't get me for robbing or murdering.  They got me for working"
Irma Hernandes, Postville resident and Agriprocessors employee

Subcommittee meetings on bills during the session of Iowa’s General Assembly can result in the emergence of some very fascinating information, and a bit of entertainment now and then. During a subcommittee meeting on Senate Study Bill 3286, a bill relating to wage payment collection and  employment classification,  an interesting exchange took place between John Gilliland, lobbyist and senior vice president of the Iowa Association of Business and  Industry (ABI), and Senator Joe Bolkcom (D-Iowa City).

John:  Uh, yeah, I have this problem with Section 11 of the bill; the part that  holds the top ten largest shareholders personally liable for wages.

Joe, rubbing his chin:  [after pausing  for a while to read the section] Yeah, I see what you mean, John.  Ten is probably too many.  What do you suggest?  Five?

John:  No, no, that’s not what I meant.

Joe:  Well, then, what are you saying, John?  No one individual should be  responsible for paying wages due to an  employee?

SSB 3286 passed out of subcommittee and out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and became Senate File 2416.  It was never brought up for consideration (debate) in the Senate and died when the Legislature adjourned for the session.

The bill had flaws, but it’s too bad that some provisions were not enacted prior to May 12 when federal agents stormed a meat packing plant in Postville to eventually take away over 300 of its employees in handcuffs.  Why?  The employees didn’t have proper documentation.  

The owner and corporate shareholders shrugged their shoulders.  They had no idea (wink, wink) that some of their  employees were undocumented workers.   

Well, now that that federal government has whisked them away from the area,  the problem is all over.  Or, is it? Were these workers paid?  Were they paid fairly? Legally? Slavery is a constitutional violation. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. That’s the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  It brings to mind words rarely used anymore: peonage, serfdom, Russian chattel, military draftee.  

Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil has confirmed that, prior to the May 12 show of intimidation in northeast Iowa, a state investigation was underway, possibly leading to labor law violations against the Agriprocessors plant in Postville.  Speculation has it that many of the potential allegations include violations of child labor laws.

‘It is an ongoing investigation, and I can’t really get into the specifi cs,’ Neil said.  As many as eighteen juveniles were detained in the raid. The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union had been conducting an effort to organize the workers within the plant.  Mark Lauritzen, UFCW international vice president, had urged Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in a May 2 letter to delay a raid at the plant so that possible OSHA investigations could be completed.  It’s almost as if reporting problems to the right hand of the government gets the left hand of the government involved.

Yin and Yang, so to speak. All of this came down as though Agriprocessors requested the raid.  The UFCW has to start almost from scratch;  witnesses in workplace violations may  have vanished, either on their own accord, or by governmental intervention; and workers who were hauled away in handcuffs - over 300 of them most likely will not see what would be their last paychecks, accrued vacation pay (if it even exists), and any other benefits, that at a minimum, might be owed to the former loyal employees.

So much for business ethics.  With employers like Agriprocessors, why are unions often considered the bad guys?  

I doubt very much that Agriprocessors is a member of ABI, but sitting in that subcommittee meeting last spring I couldn’t help but wonder what businesses John Gilliland was representing when he fought to keep top executives and shareholders from being personally liable for paying employees the just wages they deserve.

As always, it’s the worker who takes the heat.  If the law put the corporate board of directors in jail for a day or two the ‘problem’ would cease to exist.  The rich always live by different rules, mainly because they pay to make the rules, or in this case, the laws.  SF 2416 should have been given some consideration. I’m looking forward to the day when photojournalists take snapshots of the CEO and nine other shareholders being led from a plant in handcuffs.  Or, I’ll compromise, John.  Five is a nice number.  But don’t tell me that individual shareholders are oblivious to the conduct of the corporation, or that they shouldn’t be held responsible.  If wealthy shareholders call the shots, they should take the shots.