Vol. 72/No. 18      May 5, 2008

“I looked down the street and I see all these cop cars in front of the trailers,” the worker, who asked that his name not be printed, said. “I know these people, they’ve never caused any problems, they just worked hard like everybody in this neighborhood—and working for Shipley they don’t make much either. This is completely unjust.”

“That’s just people trying to work, they come into the country to try and feed their family,” Derek Shumake, who also lives across the street, told the Houston Chronicle. “They work hard, and they do jobs most people won’t.”

The raid took place the same day the immigration police arrested 290 workers at Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plants in east Texas, Arkansas, Florida, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

Immigrant rights groups here organized a noon picket line April 16 at the Federal Building to protest the raids. They used the action to publicize the upcoming march and rally in Houston on May 1 demanding legalization for all immigrants. Participants will assemble at 2 p.m. in front of the Mickey Leland Federal Building at 1919 Smith Street. They will then march to Antioch Park for a rally.

“We’re inviting the community to stand up for itself,” said Cesar Espinoza, an organizer with the Central American Resource Center (Crecen) in southwest Houston, in an April 9 press conference announcing the May Day march. “We need to fight laws that damage our communities and our families.”

The Houston march is part of a nationwide call for actions in defense of immigrant rights. Actions are planned in at least 40 cities. In many cases workers are planning to take the day off from work.

Today the gates along the chain link fence around the Shipley warehouse and the company trailer homes are locked and flagged with bright orange stickers left by the local cops. Coverage of the raid has also highlighted the fact that the overwhelmingly immigrant workforce at the company had a history of fighting back against company abuse.

In 2006, 15 Shipley’s workers filed a discrimination lawsuit against the company seeking damages for abusive treatment.

The company settled the lawsuit in February, but the details of the settlement were never made public.

According to the Chronicle, Joel Sixtos, a Shipley worker from Michoacán, Mexico, testified in his deposition that the plant manager threatened him with deportation if he complained.

“He would call me a wetback. He would tell us that killing me was like killing a dog. He told me that I was Mexican, I like to eat a lot of tacos, that I also like chile. He would, well, humiliate me,” Sixtos said.

Workers also claimed that the company evicted those from company housing who complained about their treatment at the warehouse.

The housing was free to workers and their families, company president Lawrence Shipley III told investigators in the civil suit. But workers testified that the plant manager charged them a fee as high as $550 to move in. He also would charge them money to enter a raffle to work overtime on weekends, and $50 to see the company doctor.

Anthony Dutrow contributed to this article
 
 
Related articles:
No work or school on May Day! Legalization for all immigrants!
May Day actions for immigrant rights
‘Skip class and work— Celebrate May Day!’
Chicago picket: ‘Stop the raids and deportations!’  
 
 
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