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Undocumented workers protest their firings from Pacific Steel Casting

on February 18, 2012

Late last year, Pacific Steel Casting, the country’s fourth largest steel foundry, fired 200 workers. The reason: Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a workplace audit on the company, and could not verify that they could legally work in the US. The factory, located in Berkeley, employs workers from throughout the East Bay, including some from Oakland and Richmond.

Ignacio De La Fuente, Oakland City Councilmember and union representative for the foundry employees, said the fired workers would have a tough time finding employment that could match Pacific Steel’s high wages and good benefits.

On Friday, hundreds of fired workers and their supporters marched to Pacific Steel to protest the layoffs.

1 Comments

  1. tony suggs on February 18, 2012 at 10:48 am

    The company must have known that these people or at least the majority of them were not in the U.S. legally. So they have just as much blame as the workers that came here illegally.

    Everyone is trying to provide for their families. But, if we are to have an orderly process of immigration, LEGAL immigration, then everyone should follow the law.

    Otherwise, we should just erase all immgration laws and open the borders and let any and everyone in. That way we can do away with citizenship and be a nation of the world with no national identity.



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