Union seeks injunction against feds
Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News
Published December 13, 2006 at midnight
The union representing Swift & Co. workers went to federal court to seek an immediate injunction against agents raiding the company's processing plants in Greeley and five other states.
"Essentially, the agents stormed the plants, many of them in riot gear, in an effort designed to terrorize the work force," said Mark Lauritsen, director of a division of Washington-based United Food and Commercial Workers International.
The union represents 1.3 million workers, including those at most of the Swift plants and at other meat packing facilities around the country. All of Swift's plants are unionized except for the beef facility in Hyrum, Utah.
Lauritsen, in a statement, described Swift workers as "innocent victims in an immigration system that has been hijacked by corporations for the purpose of importing an exploitable work force."
Swift said in a statement that the raids "raise serious questions as to the government's possible violation of individual workers' civil rights."
The union said it has advised all the detained workers to exercise their right to have an attorney and to remain silent until they confer with legal counsel.
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