You Want Fries with That Corporate Greed?
"This trial is about corporate greed."
So sayeth Asst. U.S. Attorney John MacCoon about the case he's making against Tyson Foods' widespread use of illegal immigrants to staff chicken plants in several southern states and Indiana.
Taking a page from Salt of the Earth, MacCoon says Tyson uses illegals because the Arkansas-based food company could more easily exploit them, stopping just short of claiming that the desperate sweat of wetbacks tenderizes birds better than that of unionized wage slaves. (Gotta save something for closing arguments!) Tyson denies any knowledge of using illegals.
Melinda Ammann reported on this situation a while back for reason and presents a very different understanding of the situation, one that takes into account just why illegals were being employed by Tyson--and what's sickeningly wrong with an immigration policy that tries to keep people who are willing to work out of the land of opportunity. Check her piece out here.
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"They want to come here and do it, and I support that" and "the industry prefers illegals because they can't really make worker's comp claims" are not incompatible statements.