At Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, new employees are being hired and trained, as the company climbs back on its feet in the wake of an immigration enforcement.

Nearly half its production workers were apprehended on June 10, charged with immigration violations.

More than 60 of those employees were transported to the Lincoln County jail in North Platte, where interpreters and attorneys worked overtime to talk to them, Sheriff Jerome Kramer said.

Meanwhile, work continued at the plant in Omaha, but at a minimal pace, with just 27 people on the production line.

Chad Hartmann, President Glenn Valley Foods

Glenn Valley President Chad Hartmann said the plant normally runs 3-5 production lines a day, processing meat into Gary’s Quick Steaks, which is sold at 5,000 stores nationally, including Fresh Foods (formerly Gary’s) grocery in North Platte.

Nearly two weeks after the raid, Hartmann said 2-3 production lines were operating at Glenn Valley. He said there were enough job applicants but it takes time to get them on board and trained.

“We started nine (new employees) today,” Hartmann said on June 23, nearly two weeks after federal officers made the arrests. “That’s a big day. And, we plan to start four tomorrow and four the next day.”

They will be fully staffed with 140 production workers. The target was July 4.

“It is getting better,” Hartmann told the Bulletin. “The more people we have working, the more we can on-board, because those who are working can help the new hires learn.”

It’s much more difficult to predict when the company will be back to maximum efficiency. The company didn’t have a playbook for losing that many workers. Experienced employees knew how to anticipate things that might go wrong and prepare to deal with them. New employees don’t.

Hartmann said the company is tracking its financial losses. After the loss of employees, they took stock of their assets too — “the equipment, the raw material, the logistics and the infrastructure.” They still had those. That was the good news; something solid to build on.

Glenn Valley’s sales team was quick to reach out to inform customers. They found their buyers to be flexible and understanding. One of their largest customers contacted Glenn Valley upon hearing the news and asked what they could do to help.

The new job applicants come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are experienced in meat processing and some are not. Some are applying because they are looking for work and learned the Glenn Valley has openings, Hartmann said.

He said the lost workers were like family.

“I think the thing that hurts the most is to lose people you care about,” Hartmann said. “You never replace a family member.”

“The only way we know how to get back to full efficiency is to look at the problems and how to solve them,” he added. “Success is nothing more than problem solving.”

E-verify

The employees filled out I-9 forms when they were hired, providing names, addresses, birth dates and social security numbers. The information was “e-verified” with federal records. For all the company could tell, the workers were in the U.S. legally. They were shocked when 70 or so ICE agents arrived with a warrant for the arrests.

Glenn Valley Owner Jerry Rohwer talks to News Nation.

“I could not believe it,” owner Jerry Rohwer told a News Nation reporter. “I was dumbfounded.” It turned out that most if not all the social security numbers were counterfeit, stolen from U.S. citizens, ICE said.

Rohwer told News Nation that apparently ICE and Homeland Security Investigations can approve work visas if companies are certain that employees have legitimate identities and backgrounds. He said he didn’t know that before.

However, such work visas can be approved for seasonal work, but it appears to be much more difficult to obtain a work visa for meat processing because it is year-round work.

Hartmann feels bad for the former workers. “Imagine if you’re 25 years old from Venezuela with two kids at home,” he said.

He also feels bad for the victims of stolen identities. He said ICE agents shared heartbreaking stories of victims of identity theft.

In one case, a Pennsylvania resident was denied prescriptions after his identity was stolen, News Nation reported.  

Hartmann said when interviewing applicants, it is not a simple matter of asking more questions than are on the I-9 forms and the E-Verify process. An employer has to be careful because it is illegal to deny a person a job based on their race or nationality. Too many of those questions can spark a lawsuit, accusing the employer of bias and turning away applicants because of race or nationality.

He said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has recommended some ways to detect fraudulent identities since the crack-down, and he’s also reached out to other companies in the meat packing business for suggestions.

Meanwhile, the company has had to deal with fake news from the left.

A pro-worker blog, Style on Main, erroneously reported on June 16 that Glenn Valley shut its doors after the bust. The article was nationally distributed through MSN.

The false information caused more upheaval. The sales team jumped on their phones to tell customers it was not true. The company’s attorney sent a cease-and-desist letter to the author, Katarina Sakoschek, and demanded a retraction, Hartmann said. However, it was not an easy thing to counter. As of June 24, Sakoschek’s story had not been changed or retracted. At least it was no longer the the forefront of news but it was there, far down on the list of opinion pieces on the blog site.

Hartman said Glenn Valley has the same aims as always — to be honest, forthright and friendly in their dealings, and to provide a good product and pay good wages. He said the average wage is just under $20 an hour. Plus, a $2/hour bonus is commonly paid when the company is operating efficiently.

He said one of the recent employees hired said she likes working there.

“It’s so nice here,” she said. “The people are so nice.”

Encouraging words.

“We’ll get there,” Hartmann said. “It just takes time.”

This report was first published in the Bulletin’s June 23 print edition.

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