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Chipotle's "Integrity" Challenged Over Treatment of Workers
Ten blocks north of IATP's office in Minneapolis, a boisterous crowd braved 5-degree temperatures to march in front of Chipotle. The restaurant chain, who touts "food with integrity," was under fire over its mistreatment of workers. A few weeks before Christmas, Chipotle fired-without notice-nearly 700 immigrant workers in Minnesota, and at least some were fired without paying back wages.
"We're seeking the truth and to get the company to sit down and engage in dialogue with us because they have refused to do so," said Maria Cortes, a former Chipotle employee who had been fired along with 13 co-workers at the restaurant where she worked. "We're here because we are seeking that our rights be respected."
Chipotle has been national leader in sourcing environmentally friendly food from family farms, often within regional food networks. The company has told the media that it is simply following the law after it was subjected to a 1-9 audit by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). But it is standard practice for employers to give employees 90 days to clear up any problems with their immigration documents, according to the Service Employees Interational Union (SEIU). Instead, Chipotle fired employees in question immediately. SEIU also believes Chipotle has potentially violated a number of Minnesota state employment laws.
Minnesota's local food leaders, including IATP, have sent a letter to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells, calling for the company to pay back wages to workers, and to stand up for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Signs at today's protest stated, "Chipotle Treats their Chickens and Produce Better than they Treat their Employees" and "Chipocrisy: Selling Mexican Culture and then Selling Out Mexican Workers." A website, Chipocrisy, has more details.
"I worked at Chipotle for over nine years and always treated my job as if I owned the restaurant, wanting to do my best for my managers and for my customers," explained Jaunita Cruz, a Chipotle employee fired in December. "But getting fired so abruptly was a disrespect to my nine years of service."
While the rapidly growing local and healthy foods movement has made many gains over the last several years, food and farm workers are often left out of the equation. But there can be no "food with integrity" without fair treatment of workers.
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30 Comments so far
Show AllThe people should CERTAINLY be paid their wages - and an equal amount as penalty for the delay.
Ninety days grace is "standard practice"? I wonder whether la Migra agrees. I wonder, too, why, if they can "clean up any problems", why there were problems to begin with. Is it just a way to get another 90 days?
The one "fast food" restaurant I was willing to eat at. Now I won't go there, either.
Here's a webpage allowing you to send feedback directly to Chipotle, http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/fan-antics/talk_to_us/talk_to_us.aspx
Apparantly, Chipotle's been afoul of numerous labor rights activists since 2009. 'But there can be no "food with integrity" without fair treatment of workers,' sums it up nicely.
Thank you for this link. I am sorry to learn this about Chipotle; I had thought it was the one fast food place that was okay. But even though I liked the food when I was there, I won't be back until they treat their workers fairlyl
So they fired a bunch of illegal immigrant? I'd rather have Americans working American jobs. They should give them their back pay before they deport them though.
"a bunch of illegal immigrant (sic)"? And you would know their status???? Jeeze...how pathetic a comment.
Didn't you read the article? I did.
The employees did not meet I-9 standards that are a legal requirement for work (it is pretty simple to meet or not meet these standards). If you did not meet this standard you would be fired as well or to put it another way they should never have been hired in the first place. This is probably at-will employment and there are few protections, a company can fire you without cause.
No Kidding! Of course SEIU is gonna use my dues to defend these illegal scabs all the way, Enjoy it, We just lost another 10% in CA if this keeps up either the sheeple will wise up or will go bankrupt.
SEIU is so full of compassion, just not for it's members. Tell you what, why not orginize the illegals and suck their paychecks for dues? then you can ignore them and their problems like the rest the membership.
>^^<
1) I doubt very much that you are a member of the SEIU.
2) If you are a union member (i.e. a member of that very small minority of the US working class) you write as might one of those egocentric cowboys that suck on the union when they need it and spit on it when they don't.
3) The purpose of real labor unions (not trade unions) is to provide support for all working people, not just white, card carrying members of your particular union.
4) Most employers would have to be pretty naive to believe that the people they are hiring with s**t for wages and work and they have never checked for a valid SS# are in fact legal. Do you really believe that the taxes and union dues being withheld from pay checks of obvious illegals by the run of the mill employer here in the good'ol USofA are actually being remitted to US Treasury?
And you've never been in union. The guy who you are replying to obviously is. He's echoing the frustrations that normal union guys have when their bosses let the power go to their heads and sell out. They sell out by no longer representing the interests of the guys in the union, getting too cozy with management or political hacks.
The purpose of a union is to get as high wages as possible and as fair treatment as possible for MEMBERS ONLY. You know, the people who pay union dues.
Most employers don't ask questions when they pay below minimum wage under the table. They also don't question people who keep their noses clean who work for minimum wage. Employers HATE unions. Because the job of a company is to squeeze money from stones, and unions point out that when the CEO makes 400 times an average worker, that's just not fair. Unions point out sometimes money is not the most important thing, and pure capitalists don't want to hear it.
Actually, I was a member of the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) when I joined AT&T as a translator and before I moved to Bell Labs as a systems engineer, and served as a shop steward during the that union time. It was a thankless position. I was also a member of the SIU (seamen union) and an on and off member of other unions, including a couple in Germany and Italy.
Employers who withhold Fed taxes, Social, and Medicare payments from employees who they damn well know are illegals don't pay those withholdings to the Treasury, they steal the money from those "illegals" and the US government.
"Normal union guys" don't have "bosses" in the unions (if they are lucky enough to be in one - and I don't mean trade unions), they have elected officials who are in fact elected, even if the internal process may be corrupted. They work for "bosses", at whatever layer of the kleptocapitalist entity those bosses work for, who here in the good ol' USofA are out to screw them as George Carlin so passionately explained in one of his rants:
"The American Dream"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q&feature=related
And it seems that you didn't understand a word I wrote.
You are a former shop steward and you think that union dues are supposed to be "remitted to [the] US Treasury?" That's pretty lame.
We don't know if they're "illegal immigrants" or not. But instead of jumping on the anti-illegal-immigrant bandwagon, maybe you should inform yourself about the role U.S. corporations and the U.S. government have had in making life in Mexico so impossible for so many Mexicans that they have been forced to come to the U.S. in order to survive.
Unemployment in the U.S. is not a result of immigration, legal or not, from Mexico. It is the result of the same "free trade" policies and elite control of government that have forced peasants all over the world, including Mexico, off their land.
The "immigrants" aren't the enemy, and they are not "stealing" our jobs. Our government and the corporations that control it have been tightening the economic screws on those of us at the bottom for at least 30 years, and one of their most successful tactics has been distraction: convincing us to focus our anger at those groups who are even less powerful than we are (blacks, gays, browns, Arabs, non-Christians, union members, etc.).
If only we could wake up and see who our enemies really are, instead of being so willing, time after time, to be fooled into blaming the victims, maybe we could save ourselves before it's too late.
Read the dammed article! They were cleared out because the Resturant Corp was gonna get caught! with undocumented workers,(Happy?) I bet that was a long weekend in HR losing those personel records!
@31+ million unemployed! yes some American Citizen would have wanted those jobs! Scabs is the kindest thing I could call call them.
>^^<
Bloody, ignorant fool. Go back to the Rez! Normaly I simply blame U.S.Grant for not properly dealing with the rebelous first tribes.
It was war, they lost. Get over it. My people didn't come here till the 1920s. It was over by then.
But I get so tired of explining the sky is blue and water is wet to inbred, racist, peleo-caveman wannbes. With their heads full of 70s revisionist history! If you hate america so much, GO BACK to the RESERVATION! that's why I pay (Unwillingly) for them to continue 10 generations later!.
>^^<
flag that!
You are a liar: "My people didn't come here till the 1920s. "... that's why I pay (Unwillingly) for them to continue 10 generations later!."
It would be good for your extremely hateful, lying comment to disappear.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...
How does that poem go again?
Gawd bless AmeriKKKa!
It was written by the French, placed on their statue. Probably as a joke, They learned how stupid it is to let just anyone into your country and expect the civilisation not to be destroyed.
I bet their still laughing :)
>^^<
Actually it was written in New York City by a Sephardic Jew, Emma Lazarus.
I want to say something insightful, analytical and intelligent, but the only word that comes to mind is Chipbullshit. Just another example of capitalism's shining moments.
700 U.S. citizens just got hired. They now have money for rent and food, and won't have to endure the Minnesota winter outdoors. They don't have the option of going home to Mexico or Central America where they can spend their U.S. dollars on food and shelter that costs 1/10th as much as it does in the U.S.
The real outrage is that Chipotle received no fine or other penalty. The company will continue illegally hiring migrants in their restaurants across the U.S. as long as it is profitable to do so.
From http://www.wehirealiens.com/index.asp:
Tucson — "I worked as a supervisor at the Chipotle in Tucson, AZ on University Boulevarde in 2002. They employed cooks who went home to Mexico for Christmas and were unable to return to work until they eluded the Border Patrol. They employed an almost exclusively Spanish speaking workforce and did not ever question their residency status. One employee from Honduras admitted to having overstayed her visa and not having work papers. The employees routinely talked about fake Social Security Cards. In the official corporate supervisor manual there was a section on what to do if immigration came to the store (lock the door, call corporate legal department)."
St. Louis — "My beautiful, talented, 21-year old niece, Nicole Allen, was killed by a drunk illegal alien employed by this place of business. He hit the car she was riding in and killed her instantly then ran away. Two of her friends were hospitalized and the future ramifications of their injuries are currently unknown. 3 hours later he was caught, by police using helicopters and search dogs, hiding in the woods nearby. When I contacted the store manager he stated this person showed all the correct forms of ID. I feel that if employers were required to be financially responsible for the actions of illegals that they employ there would be more stringent hiring practices. We will be doing all we can to see legislation is passed."
Irving, TX — "I worked there for 6 months and all the employees there talked about living in the mexico 'area' and buying birth certificates to come to the US. one guy bought one that made him a few years older for insurance purposes. the manager at the time (he no longer works there, but the empoyees are still there) knew this about them and was trying to teach them english."
Why does everyone get mad at the big corporate restaurants for hiring illegal immigrants and not paying proper wages? Go to nearly any Mexican food restaurant, Thai, Vietnamese, U.S., what have you and I guarantee you most of the workers there are being paid under the table and not receiving minimum wages, etc. The same criticisms should be leveled at the small restaurants as well. Capitalism is a mo-fo!
Your correct, I boycott them all! I do what i can to not support the system of exploitation,
If you go too far you end up walking around naked. But I see no reason to pay $100+ for a pair of nikes (made in China) when I can pay $12 for as good, At least I'm not supporting all the people making big bucks on the other $80+ in profits!
>^^<
I wrote a scathing letter to them in the "talk to us" section of their site, explaining why I will no longer be eating there, and this is the reply I received via e-mail:
Morgan,
Thanks for writing. It is an unfortunate situation all the way around. Chipotle is proud to have such a dedicated and diverse workforce and we are saddened to be losing some excellent employees – many of whom have been with us for several years. But, while the laws in this area put employers in an untenable position—having to strike the difficult balance between enforcing immigration laws while not discriminating against any applicant—all of our policies and practices are, and must be in full compliance with federal and state law.
It is also important to note that we are paying all employees any and all wages they are owed, including bonuses earned and any unused vacation time, and all employees whose status has been questioned by ICE are being provided with the opportunity to provide documentation to correct any administrative errors that have been made. Beyond this, we are exploring opportunities to work with outside community groups to provide additional assistance to our displaced workers.
Again though, we appreciate your support and your understanding on this and we hope we'll see you again soon.
Sincerely,
Ashley
Ashley Warren | Marketing Consultant
Chipotle Mexican Grill
This "marketing consultant" is full of it when she says the company must comply with laws prohibiting "discriminating against any applicant." What a ridiculous canard. There are no such laws in regard to hiring illegal migrants. The law is quite the opposite, and clearly so: it is strictly illegal to hire illegal migrants.
"Outside community groups [providing] additional assistance" no doubt refers to charity, and likely also refers to defrauding the social safety net system (food stamps, housing, medical care, etc.).
Rather than complying with the law, Chipotle knowingly hires illegals as a matter of policy, obtains a competitive advantage over restaurants which comply with U.S. law, manipulates charities and governments into subsidizing their labor costs, and then hires marketing specialists to mollify the public.
"Our displaced workers" is code for "we're going to hire these same people in our restaurants in other states." Of course, they'll need to lay off some U.S. citizens first.
Chipotle (and all illegal employers) should receive fines large enough to change their scoff-law hiring practices.
Then, Chipotle can fire their marketing consultants and other contractors (who provide their illegal migrants) and apply the savings to higher wages for restaurant employees. That would be real "integrity."