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Thursday, April 4, 2002
Permit lets 40 workers return to Sam Kane

By Naomi Snyder
Caller-Times
U.S. Department of Labor renews company's foreign labor permit
   Sam Kane Beef Processors brought 40 Mexican workers back to Corpus Christi on a bus Wednesday morning after the Corpus Christi company learned earlier this week that the U.S. Department of Labor renewed the company's controversial foreign labor permit.
   The United Steelworkers of America, along with the Texas AFL-CIO, had lobbied against the permit with the labor department, saying that the company mistreated Mexican workers and needed to hire Americans at better wages instead.
   Sam Kane's president and chief operating officer, Jerry Kane, said the workers were well-treated, wanted the work and helped reduce overtime for American workers.
   "Their role is to help us in the peak supply season,'' Kane said.
   The permit allows the slaughterhouse to hire as many as 300 temporary workers from Mexico. Kane said he didn't know if that many would be needed.
   He still is hiring U.S. workers. About 800 people work at the plant.
   Sam Kane Beef applied for a renewal of its temporary foreign work permit but didn't hear back on the approval before having to send about 100 Mexican workers back home in March.
   The company has had trouble finding enough employees locally.
   Sam Kane's U.S. workers start at $5.75 per hour with a chance for a 30 percent bonus if their department reaches production goals. Employees often must work six days per week in refrigerator temperatures.
   Kane said workers who stay with the company longer make more, with wages for hourly workers rising to $15 per hour.
   Mark Pitt, an organizer for the Pittsburgh-based Steelworkers, said Sam Kane could find more U.S. workers if it paid better.
   "You're not going to find workers in Corpus Christi when you put an ad in the paper and say you need people for substandard working conditions and substandard wages and then act shocked when nobody applies,'' he said.
   Pitt has said he has no plans to organize the slaughterhouse.
   He is helping to organize city employees. Pitt alleges that, earlier this year, Jerry Kane lobbied against the city union. Kane says it's not true.


Contact Naomi Snyder at _886-4316 or snydern@caller.com

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