A more than a year-long investigation into Mountaire Farms poultry plant in Siler City, NC found a common hiring practice is making an already dangerous job worse for undocumented workers.
Scalawag reporter Tina Vasquez spoke with BPR's Cass Herrington about staffing agencies that are contracted to recruit undocumented immigrants. The company NIPCAM Services of North Carolina provides staffing for Mountaire.
"These workers often don't know who their employer is, it's just a really confusing set up," Vasquez said. "They don't get benefits, they didn't get hazard pay during the pandemic, there are all of these ways in which they are treated fundamentally differently than direct hires."
It's a common practice found in meat processing and agriculture, allowing companies to outsource the liability of hiring undocumented workers directly.
"Everywhere that there are migrant workers, there are these staffing agencies," Vasquez said.
Read the full Scalawag investigation here.
