Posted on 02/11/2009 6:36:13 PM PST by radu
As an organizer from Nashville searched for housing and services for about 50 Egyptian men and their families who want to move to Shelbyville to be close to their new jobs at Tyson Foods, the county mayor said that the food giant should hire Bedford County residents first. But personnel at the state employment office say they must accept job applications from everyone who shows up, no matter where they are from.
Concerns have once again risen in Shelbyville about immigrants and refugees coming to Bedford County to apply for jobs at the Tyson Foods poultry plant.
Law enforcement were called out early Monday to quell a disturbance at the state unemployment office downtown after about 150 people, including a large number of refugees and others brought from Nashville by various charitable organizations, began cutting in line for the coveted jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at t-g.com ...
"Kinser attributed the negative reaction by local residents to the refugees as "miseducation and misunderstanding" about the refugees, whom he described as legal immigrants who are just like everybody else looking for a job."
Nooooooooo. With so many in this small town already out of work due to recent plants closings, the last thing they need is people brought in from other, larger, cities to apply for the limited number of job openings. THAT'S why the negative reaction by local residents.
Let me guess...the Mayor of Shelbyville is a DEMOCRAT?
If not that, then WTF is up?
Oops! Looks like the Mayor IS on their side. Sorry! Typical Conservative Knee-Jerk on my part. :(
I suspect you’re right. Legally there is no leg to stand on but any rational person would realize that this would breed resentment.
If factories were begging for employees there wouldn’t be an issue.
Easy to have a knee-jerk. :-)
This has been going on with Tyson for years. The current mess is just a continuation of an ongoing situation.
The recent plant closings in the town just make matters worse.
How to stop this, I haven’t a clue. Apparently the city gov’t. doesn’t have a clue either.
There was a time when companies would actively recruit employees from the local community. I once had a girlfriend who’s father worked only one job in his whole life. Our power company sent representatives to his high school graduation and handed out job applications.
I have a BIL that works for Tyson in WI. He manages the feed lots for all of those force-fed, rapidly raised and then butter-injected roasters that end up on our dinner plates.
I’ve been buying local roasters from the Amish for years. $10 will get you a roaster the size of a Thanksgiving Turkey and you’ll eat off of it for a week or more. And then soup! (It’s the breed, not the feed).
I guess I could pay $6 for a wimpy Tyson bird; I choose not to. :)
However, I’d love nothing MORE than to see Americans get these jobs over illegals. But then, do they KNOW what raising and processing chickens entails? Not sure I’d want to do it for a living, LOL!
They’ve had problems with immigrants moving into town to work at Tyson over the years, no doubt. Illegal Mexicans, then the Somalian refugees that who were a nightmare for the locals.
Things are a bit more heated now with the recent closings and very little in the way of jobs to apply for. It’s a small town with limited opportunities to begin with.
Tyson’s hiring practices don’t help. Even with all these people being bussed in, they could still hire locals first and fill any left over spots with others. But they don’t most of the time.
Things have been simmering for a while now. I’m afraid the pot’s going to boil over soon under the current conditions.
It’s been a while since I was in school but I have the feeling companies don’t bother to send representatives with job applications any more. They just go the lazy route and hire through state employment agencies.
The last factory I worked at moved a temp service right into some front office space.
Temps aren’t really cheap but there is the advantage of them being easy to get rid of, the hassle of paperwork, and insurance issues.
The Shelbyville plant is processing and packaging. Nasty work and I can understand why some folks wouldn’t want to do it. But when you have bills to pay and mouths to feed, you’ll do what’s necessary.
When locals are passed over for anyone out of town, no matter if they’re immigrants or other Americans, it’s going to upset the locals.
It’s an ugly state of affairs right now.
We have a friend who’s been raising chickens for Tyson for years. She’s made a decent living at it but I don’t know how she stands it. Chicken houses can get mighty rank! PEEEUUUU!!
A lot of businesses seem to like hiring temps. They don’t have to pay insurance benefits or any other benefits that way. And like you said, it’s easy to get rid of some of the employees.
On the flip side, there are people who only work through temp agencies. They don’t want careers; they get bored working at one place for very long. So they’re temps and work one place for a few weeks, then get sent to another job for a few months.
I don’t know what the temp situation is at Tyson. I imagine with it being nasty work, they use a lot of temps because the turnover rate is high.
Ping!
Tennessee? Who’d a thunk it... /sarc
Hey there HiJinx!
Some fun we’ve been havin’ here in TN. This is just the most recent chapter in a long book.
I know - Tyson being one of the major draws for them...
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