Swift Raid: Many hires quit because they can't cut it

HYRUM - There are rumors whispered among the Swift plant workers here that immigration agents will return for a second raid - the night shift might be next.
    But employees rarely speak openly about the Dec. 12 roundup at the Swift & Co. meat processing plant, where 158 undocumented workers were arrested. The plant hasn't been the same since the raid, employees say. Some workers never returned after the roundup. And there's a lot of work, but many new people can't cut it.
    "They've been hiring right and left," said Maria, a Swift employee who asked that her last name not be published because she is not authorized to speak about the company. "They're not staying because it's hard."
    It's been three months since the raid and Swift is still struggling to get the plant here up and running with a full staff.
    Before the roundup, the plant employed some 1,100 workers with an estimated 70 percent of them Latino. Now, the plant is working with a staff of roughly 800 workers - about 70 percent to 75 percent of "normal capacity," said Sean McHugh, a Swift spokesman based in Greeley, Colo.
    The Utah plant has gone from processing some 2,200 cattle a day before the raid to roughly 1,600 today, he said. The number of cattle that the plant processes has to do with the number of employees as well as their experience, McHugh said.
    "We still have staffing needs in the plant, and we're still hiring," he said.
    Jill Cashen, a spokeswoman for the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union based in Washington, D.C., said working in a meat-packing plant is a "cold, nasty and dangerous job." It shouldn't be a low paying job, so company leaders should consider higher wages to entice the work force it needs.
    "When wages were higher, there were no staffing issues," said Cashen, referring to 20 years ago in the business.
    Swift, with more than $9 billion in annual sales, is the world's second-largest processor of fresh beef and pork.
    To recruit new employees, Swift has radio and print ads and billboards around Cache County, home to dairy farms, small towns and the growing city of Logan. Latinos make up an estimated 8 percent of the county's population, according to county data.
    At the Swift plant, applications are up some 75 percent. Not as many Latinos are applying since before the raid, but they're still the ones turning in the most applications for jobs, McHugh said.
    Swift has about a 40 percent employee turnover rate. To help retain employees, the company is offering $1,500 bonuses for new workers and workers who refer potential hires.
    Several employees said the plant is hiring a lot more "gringos," referring to white people, but they often quit within a few days on the job.
    "They don't last," Maria said.
    On Dec. 12, some 1,300 undocumented workers were arrested in six Swift plant raids nationwide. None of the company's officials have been arrested. Of the about 158 arrested in Hyrum, some 124 are facing state and federal charges for allegedly using the identifications of U.S. citizens to work. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman said the investigation is ongoing.
    McHugh said Swift cooperated with the investigation and wanted to help find a resolution between the company and the government that "wouldn't disrupt the community or the company . . . but we couldn't find common ground."
    By garnering media attention, ICE made an example of the Swift investigation, he said.
    Swift has been using the federal program to verify applicants' identification for 10 years, but the process is flawed and needs to be fixed, McHugh said. The program can't tell companies whether an applicant's identification is being used by others, he said.
    Cashen said the group strongly opposes such raids. The group represents unions in five out of the six Swift meat-packing plants that were raided. The Hyrum plant does not have a union.
    "That is not an effective way to enforce immigration policy" Cashen said. "This kind of thoughtless immigration enforcement is unacceptable."
    Anti-illegal immigration activists say they support the raids and hope to see more company leaders arrested for hiring undocumented workers.
    jsanchez@sltrib.com