On this day in labor history, the year was 2008.
That was the day Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents besieged the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.
At the time, it was the largest immigration raid in U.S. history.
Nearly 400 workers, mostly from Guatemala and Mexico were rounded up, detained and arrested on charges of identity fraud and entering the United States illegally.
The raid was part of a nationwide campaign targeting suspected undocumented workers.
The raid essentially killed two birds with one stone.
It quashed the union organizing campaign the UFCW had been waging for over two years.
It also dashed the hopes of Department of Labor investigators looking into allegations of substantial abuses at the plant.
UFCW leaders noted the raid served to eliminate hundreds of witnesses to labor violations at the plant.
The raid did uncover at least 29 cases of child labor violations, with children as young as 13 working on the killing floor.
But Minneapolis UFCW organizers maintained that company agents routinely followed UFCW reps on home visits and threatened workers they spoke with.
They noted that “wages are extraordinarily low, basic worker safety and protection is miserable.
It’s intensified by the fact that this employer was able to come up with a more vulnerable workforce and abuse it over the long haul.”
These workers were quickly convicted, jailed and then deported.
They were soon replaced by a fresh wave of Somali refugees, who complained of the same low wages and poor working conditions.
The company was eventually fined for countless violations and its CEO arrested. It emerged from bankruptcy under new ownership and has yet to be organized.
September 24 - The Build of the Supreme Court
September 23 - The Nixon Plan in Philadelphia
September 22 - A Pepperoni Pizza and a Union
September 21 - The March of Mother Jones
September 20 - Upton Sinclair is Born
September 19 - The Solidarity March
September 18 - The Horse Race
September 17 - The Southern Differential
September 16 - Oil Workers Demand 52 for 40
September 15 - GM Rocked by Strike Wave of 350,000
September 14 - The Springfield General Strike
September 13 - Shoot to Kill Orders in Rhode Island
September 12 - The United Rubber Workers is Founded
September 11 - The World Trade Center Health Program
September 10 - Chicago Teachers Say, Enough!
September 9 - Deadly Anti-Union Violence at Gastonia
September 8 - The Delano Grape Strike Begins
September 7 - ILWU Wins at Longwood
September 6 - Thursday, Bloody Thursday
September 6 - Thursday, Bloody Thursday
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