Nearly twice as many meat-processing plants employ short-term foreign workers than in 2015, “a small but growing trend” in the industry, said an Investigate Midwest report. Seaboard Foods, one of the companies using H-2B guestworkers, said it pays the workers the same wage and provides the same benefits that it gives domestic employees, although the comparatively small number of guestworkers wear a hard hat with an identifying color.
Labor Department records indicate that guestworkers are employed at 11 meat plants nationwide. Companies can turn to foreign workers when they are unable to fill jobs with Americans.
A civil rights attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center said guestworkers are a way to replace U.S. labor. Other critics say foreign workers can be exploited because they know they might be fired and deported if they complain about working conditions. In other cases, differences in languages makes it difficult to communicate.