Zirkle Fruit reaches labor settlement

by Leah Beth Ward
Yakima Herald-Republic

Posted by Nick at 07/22/08 08:18AM        Post ID#: #124

It is a shame, when an employer, especially a large one, tries to do what is right, follows the law, then gets sued for it. When illegal immigrants can sue a company for following a lawful Federal Program designed to protect the owners and workers alike from prosecution and win, there is something wrong. Clearly, illegal workers should be summarily rounded up and deported. The employer is SUPPOSED to fire them when he discovers they are illegal. This was a hold-up by a few unscrupulous attorneys of a large company that they knew would be forced to pay rather than fight, in my opinion. And the ACLU, is right among the fray it seems, doing their best to undermine the intent and effectiveness of our legal system. Of course, there is way more to this story as I have followed it since the beginning. In essence, H2A loses, illegal farm workers and the ACLU win, and truly, NOBODY wins but the greedy lawyers for the case, that, oddly enough, seem to be representing all three sides of this case, the workers, the employment contractor, and the State of Washington. IN the meantime, Zirkle gets the bill for obeying the law. Something is wrong with that.

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