| Disposable worker conditions Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2003/09/11/news/regional/bf058ecaf35250ce86256d9e0012c6b7.txthttp://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2003/09/11/news/regional/bf058ecaf35250ce86256d9e0012c6b7.txt
Illegal immigrants in Iowa, Nebraska complain of abuses
DES MOINES (AP) -- Undocumented workers in Iowa and Nebraska complain of employers who may shortchange them on wages, harass them or even keep them on the job with threats of deportation or physical abuse, federal officials were told Wednesday.
"Employers bring in a crew from Mexico with a promise to pay them after the third project, then accuse them of stealing tools or something and send them away without paying them," said Bernard Ortiz, with the Laborers' District Council of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.
"If you complain about not getting paid, or not getting a break, your name is put on a list and that list is circulated to other (meatpacking) plants in a two- or three-state area, and that person won't ever get another job in that industry again," Ortiz said.
A litany of similar complaints led the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other federal agencies to meet with advocacy groups about improving conditions for illegal immigrants in the region. Recommendations included better coordination among agencies, a push to educate employers and quarterly meetings to help monitor the problem.
Jose Luis Cuevas, the Mexican consul in Omaha, Neb., said companies frequently fire workers when they're injured on the job.
"They're using undocumented workers as disposable workers," he said.
Sandra Sanchez, of the Immigration Rights Network of Iowa and Nebraska, said some workers have been physically assaulted by a supervisor but don't report it.
"Workers are afraid to report those things to police because they fear police will believe the supervisors," Sanchez said.
Sexual harassment also is prevalent. In some jobs, such as the meatpacking industry, pregnant women are forced to work late into their pregnancy, Sanchez said.
"There have been cases of women losing their babies," she said.
Sanchez some companies try to pay their workers by giving them whatever product they make, such as meat.
"You can't pay rent with meat," she said.
Last month, Austin Jack DeCoster, one of the most prominent egg producers in northern Iowa, pleaded guilty to federal charges that he knowingly and repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants.
A year ago, DeCoster Farms and a company that recruited workers for DeCoster's egg farms reached a $1.53 million settlement in an EEOC lawsuit alleging that women working at one of the farms were raped and sexually harassed by supervisors.
"I'd never seen anything like it," said Jean Kamp, the EEOC regional attorney who prosecuted the case.
Federal officials said they realize there isn't one agency that can resolve all the complaints. Quarterly meetings were proposed involving officials from the EEOC, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the departments of Labor, Justice and Housing.
"We need to get together and talk about this and see how we can cooperate and work with each other," said Chester Bailey, director of the Milwaukee, Wis., district office of the EEOC.
Agency officials said they plan to coordinate on bilingual educational materials for workers, advocacy groups and employers.
"Education is good, but we're short on enforcement," said Alfonzo Whitaker, executive director of the Nebraska Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The agencies also plan training sessions for officials who visit work sites, so they can refer violations outside of their jurisdiction to other federal agencies, officials said.
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