Tyson lawsuit set for March 2008 trial

Tyson lawsuit set for March 2008 trial

	Published : Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:38 By : Agencies Print this Story

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AFX) - A lawsuit that contends Tyson Foods depressed wages by hiring illegal immigrants and should pay damages to legal workers will go to trial in March 2008, a judge said Monday in a conference with attorneys.

The lawsuit contends Tyson hired illegal immigrants at eight plants since April 1998.

U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier set the March 3, 2008, trial date after agreeing to allow an attorney for the world's largest meat company time to file a motion challenging the makeup of the class of plaintiffs before the court involves a mediator to attempt reaching a settlement.

'My client is not inclined to participate in anything that would lead to a settlement,' said Tyson's lead attorney, Tom Green of Washington, D.C. Green said the legal fight is 'about costing Tyson millions of dollars to be in a case we believe we ought not to be in.'

The lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Howard W. Foster of Chicago, said he believes the total number of legal workers in the class ranges from 50,000 to 100,000. He has asked the court to force Tyson Foods to provide him a listing of all Tyson employees and their Social Security numbers, to be compared with Social Security records.

'I don't think we should be moving forward as a class action,' Green said. 'Unlawful hiring is a very, very individual situation.'

He said businesses are required to examine identification documents that applicants provide and cannot discriminate if those documents appear valid.

'The tests the government sets up does not guarantee that every employer in your plant is a lawful, documented eligible worker,' Green said. 'We are not guarantors.' He said Tyson has also voluntarily participated in the government's 'Basic Pilot' program intended to prevent the hiring of illegal workers and has not knowingly hired any illegal workers.

Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson, has said the claims in the lawsuit are 'largely based on charges our company has already successfully defended.'

Green in 2003 successfully defended Tyson and three former managers accused of conspiring to hire illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America for low-wage production jobs to boost profits. Two former Tyson managers who made plea deals were each sentenced to one year of probation.

Green and other Tyson attorneys had argued that if the company hired illegal workers, it was because of the underground market for phony immigration papers and the government's flawed system of screening immigrants.

Before that case went to trial, four former employees at Tyson's Shelbyville plant sued. The lawsuit by Birda Trollinger, Robert Martinez, Tabetha Edding and Doris Jewell contends the company violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by knowingly hiring illegal immigrants who were willing to work for wages below those acceptable to Americans.

In May 2002, Tyson filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that because its workers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the union -- not individual workers -- would have to pursue claims of damage. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, but an appeals court disagreed and said it could proceed.

The eight Tyson plants named in the lawsuit are at Shelbyville; Corydon, Ind.; Gadsden, Ala.; Blountsville, Ala.; Ashland, Ala.; Sedalia, Mo.; Center, Texas; and Glen Allen, Va.