Posted 12:28 am Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Employers Say They Have Trouble Filling Tough Jobs
By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor
Local employers say they have jobs available; they just cannot find enough people to fill them. And to cut the numbers of guest workers would only hurt business.
Company representatives on Tuesday discussed the difficulty in finding employees, ways to ferret out undocumented workers and actions by which to comply with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has taken a tough stance toward employers who hire undocumented workers. They and government representatives met during the Texas Employers for Immigration Reform's East Texas Business Leaders Immigration Reform Summit in the Tyler Area Senior Citizens Association facilities.
Business representatives and federal government officials discussed ways to implement immigration reform, including maintaining a guest worker program. The summit drew about 175 attendees, according to a count at the registration desk.
TEIR was created to bring businesses together in support of a comprehensive solution to immigration reform, said Bill Hammond, Texas Association of Business president. It supports securing of the borders and allowing enough legal immigration to meet employers' needs. It also supports allowing people the opportunity to achieve legal status and establishing a fail-safe checking system to confirm documentation.
If guest workers go, Hammond said, every business in East Texas that provides goods and services will suffer.
"The future of the economy of Texas is at stake, and they (federal government) need to deal with this problem as soon as possible," he said.
Some of the business representatives indicated available jobs are outpacing the work force, and that workers are hard to keep.
With the employment rate holding at around 95 percent, "I'd call it full employment," said Mark Hannan, operator of a Ben Wheeler dairy farm and a guest worker employer. "I don't think it's a factor of money at all."
Rather, so many jobs are available that people would take other jobs rather than one that requires them to get up at 4:30 a.m. to milk cows, said Hannan, who was on one of two employer panels.
Hannan was responding to an audience question if more U.S. citizens would do the jobs if the employers paid more.
Jane Brookshire, Pilgrim's Pride executive vice president of human relations, said jobs at her company generally pay more than fast food jobs or retail jobs. Starting pay is about $8 per hour, and workers can make $15 or $16 per hour as they progress.
"The issue often is whether people will want to do this work," Ms. Brookshire said.
Many processes at the chicken plants require intensive labor, she said. One solution is to bring in automation, but machines cannot do the job as well as employees can.
Pierre de Wet, cultural manager of KE Cellars and Kiepersol Estates Vineyard, said workers during a previous harvest were paid $23.90 per hour on average, but the vineyard is finding it more and more difficult to find enough workers.
Gene Shull, president of A.E. Shull & Co., a construction company whose work is predominantly underground utilities and street construction, said the construction industry as a whole is very shorthanded.
"I think that anything that reduces the labor work force is going to put a bigger strain on all industries, and especially the construction industry," he said in the TASCA lobby during a break in the summit.
John Soules Jr., of John Soules Foods, said his company has an extremely high turnover rate, and admitted the job is cold and sometimes wet.
"We cannot find enough people to do our jobs," Soules said.
Jake Monty, an immigration attorney and enforcement specialist from Monty & Associates of Houston, said ICE was not just capturing illegal aliens; it was dealing severe blows to companies that employ them.
An ICE raid resulted in Swift & Co. losing $50 million, he said. And, a few years ago, Wal-Mart was ordered to pay $11 million after an ICE investigation found contractors that provided cleaning services to the retailer were hiring illegal aliens.
Last year, ICE conducted about 4,000 administrative arrests and seized many assets, Monty said.
"Folks, they are using the same forfeiture laws that are used (against) drug dealers," he said.
Employers should check all potential employees with the program E-Verify or a similar program, which can confirm if the person is documented, he said. If an applicant is checked with E-Verify, an employer can receive civil and criminal immunity if the person is later determined to be undocumented.
But illegitimate Social Security numbers abound, Monty said, adding counterfeiters are obtaining and using the numbers of infants, retired people and the deceased. Document fraud can fool programs that are supposed to check for it.
"Just because you run someone through E-Verify, it doesn't mean they're a documented worker," he said.
Ms. Brookshire said comprehensive immigration reform will likely require employers to use a program such as E-Verify, but the programs need enhancement.
"We believe that the E-Verify system ought to be able to pick that (document fraud) up," she said.
Speakers on Tuesday also included Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall; and Karl Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff.
The Tyler summit was TEIR's first meeting, and Hammond said it went well. More will follow, with the next possibly in West Texas, he said, although a date had not been set.
Business Editor
Local employers say they have jobs available; they just cannot find enough people to fill them. And to cut the numbers of guest workers would only hurt business.
Company representatives on Tuesday discussed the difficulty in finding employees, ways to ferret out undocumented workers and actions by which to comply with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has taken a tough stance toward employers who hire undocumented workers. They and government representatives met during the Texas Employers for Immigration Reform's East Texas Business Leaders Immigration Reform Summit in the Tyler Area Senior Citizens Association facilities.
Business representatives and federal government officials discussed ways to implement immigration reform, including maintaining a guest worker program. The summit drew about 175 attendees, according to a count at the registration desk.
TEIR was created to bring businesses together in support of a comprehensive solution to immigration reform, said Bill Hammond, Texas Association of Business president. It supports securing of the borders and allowing enough legal immigration to meet employers' needs. It also supports allowing people the opportunity to achieve legal status and establishing a fail-safe checking system to confirm documentation.
If guest workers go, Hammond said, every business in East Texas that provides goods and services will suffer.
"The future of the economy of Texas is at stake, and they (federal government) need to deal with this problem as soon as possible," he said.
Some of the business representatives indicated available jobs are outpacing the work force, and that workers are hard to keep.
With the employment rate holding at around 95 percent, "I'd call it full employment," said Mark Hannan, operator of a Ben Wheeler dairy farm and a guest worker employer. "I don't think it's a factor of money at all."
Rather, so many jobs are available that people would take other jobs rather than one that requires them to get up at 4:30 a.m. to milk cows, said Hannan, who was on one of two employer panels.
Hannan was responding to an audience question if more U.S. citizens would do the jobs if the employers paid more.
Jane Brookshire, Pilgrim's Pride executive vice president of human relations, said jobs at her company generally pay more than fast food jobs or retail jobs. Starting pay is about $8 per hour, and workers can make $15 or $16 per hour as they progress.
"The issue often is whether people will want to do this work," Ms. Brookshire said.
Many processes at the chicken plants require intensive labor, she said. One solution is to bring in automation, but machines cannot do the job as well as employees can.
Pierre de Wet, cultural manager of KE Cellars and Kiepersol Estates Vineyard, said workers during a previous harvest were paid $23.90 per hour on average, but the vineyard is finding it more and more difficult to find enough workers.
Gene Shull, president of A.E. Shull & Co., a construction company whose work is predominantly underground utilities and street construction, said the construction industry as a whole is very shorthanded.
"I think that anything that reduces the labor work force is going to put a bigger strain on all industries, and especially the construction industry," he said in the TASCA lobby during a break in the summit.
John Soules Jr., of John Soules Foods, said his company has an extremely high turnover rate, and admitted the job is cold and sometimes wet.
"We cannot find enough people to do our jobs," Soules said.
Jake Monty, an immigration attorney and enforcement specialist from Monty & Associates of Houston, said ICE was not just capturing illegal aliens; it was dealing severe blows to companies that employ them.
An ICE raid resulted in Swift & Co. losing $50 million, he said. And, a few years ago, Wal-Mart was ordered to pay $11 million after an ICE investigation found contractors that provided cleaning services to the retailer were hiring illegal aliens.
Last year, ICE conducted about 4,000 administrative arrests and seized many assets, Monty said.
"Folks, they are using the same forfeiture laws that are used (against) drug dealers," he said.
Employers should check all potential employees with the program E-Verify or a similar program, which can confirm if the person is documented, he said. If an applicant is checked with E-Verify, an employer can receive civil and criminal immunity if the person is later determined to be undocumented.
But illegitimate Social Security numbers abound, Monty said, adding counterfeiters are obtaining and using the numbers of infants, retired people and the deceased. Document fraud can fool programs that are supposed to check for it.
"Just because you run someone through E-Verify, it doesn't mean they're a documented worker," he said.
Ms. Brookshire said comprehensive immigration reform will likely require employers to use a program such as E-Verify, but the programs need enhancement.
"We believe that the E-Verify system ought to be able to pick that (document fraud) up," she said.
Speakers on Tuesday also included Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall; and Karl Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff.
The Tyler summit was TEIR's first meeting, and Hammond said it went well. More will follow, with the next possibly in West Texas, he said, although a date had not been set.
