|
|
|
|
By: Anita M. Grabowski
Based on ground breaking research among immigrant poultry processing workers, La Pollera examines the heterogeneity of the Latin American immigrants living in Morton, Mississippi and working at the Koch Foods Poultry Processing Plant. In this study, written as her Master’s thesis at the University of Texas at Austin, Institute of Latin American Studies, Grabowski investigated (a) how Latin Americans are divided from and/or bound to one another, (b) how they view conditions at the plant compared to the rights discourse of social justice and labor advocates, and (c) what types of action, if any, are they willing to take in order to resolve these issues. Her research project was conceived as an activist anthropology project in which she developed her research questions and agenda in collaboration with other individuals and organizations committed to pursuing justice for poultry workers, and it is part of an ongoing process of forming new relationships between scholars and social advocates. Grabowski’s study analyzes what the Latin American immigrants working at the Koch Foods Poultry Plant in Morton identify as the major problems in the workplace, their views on current organizing efforts by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and their possible role in seeking changes in plant conditions. She argues that first, it is necessary to examine the heterogeneity within the Latin American population in Morton as a precursor to understanding their reactions to plant conditions and organizing efforts, and second that although Latin Americans do not necessarily think about their legal rights in the same way as poultry worker advocates in the U.S., their responses (or lack of response) to plant conditions and organizing efforts are not arbitrary, but rather are informed by their previous experience and future plans. Mississippi, as one of the new destinations for Latin American immigrants, has attracted some of the newest populations of economic refugees—Argentines, Peruvians and Uruguayans. It also lures an immigrant workforce from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and other Central American countries that originally came to the U.S. to work in agriculture. These two groups represent two distinct sets of immigrants—the South Americans have no extended history of immigrating into the low-wage sector of the U.S. economy while the Central Americans have been longstanding participants in it. Jobs in the rapidly growing poultry industry have now brought these groups together. However, they have widely varying expectations and reactions to their work conditions. Understanding their cultural and social differences as well as the distinct ways in which they experience race provides valuable insight for organizers, advocates, and workers into the different attitudes held by Latin American workers in the poultry plants. The theoretical and practical lessons of La Pollera come together in a number of important findings including: (1) many Latin American workers lack even a basic understanding of the role a labor union can play in protecting their rights, especially those who are undocumented; (2) Latin American workers have stereotypes and prejudices against African American workers as well as against Latin Americans from countries other than their own, which create barriers to collective action; (3) despite the racial and linguistic fragmentation of the workforce, Latin American workers in Morton recognized the importance of bridging these differences and they readily supported the idea of creating a poultry workers’ center that would use community-based organizing to build relationships among plant workers in order to combat common problems. Grabowski now works as the coordinator of the Poultry Worker Justice Project at the Equal Justice center, and she along with the partners with whom she collaborated on this research project are now actively working to establish this workers’ center. Such a center could serve as a model for other Southern communities dominated by the poultry industry and experiencing new challenges as Latin American immigrants are increasingly settling in their communities. For more information or for a copy of “La Pollera: Latin American Immigrant Workers at the Koch Foods Poultry Processing Plant in Morton, MS,” contact Anita Grabowski at: anita@equaljusticecenter.org (512) 474-0007 ext 103 |
|
|