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Immigration
protest takes to the streets nationwide
Absenteeism
hard to find locally during day of boycott
May
2, 2006
By MEGAN
VARNER and JOANIE BAKER
Index-Journal
staff writers
There
were plans for boycotts from shopping. There were plans to
stay home from work and school. There were plans to take to
the streets with signs. There were plans for candlelight
vigils and church services.
But on Monday in Greenwood,
evidence of Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes — A Day Without Immigrants
— was hard to find.
The protest, organized nationwide as an
effort to demonstrate the solidarity of the nation’s immigrant
population, and the economic power that segment holds, created
a media sensation throughout the United States. Hundreds of
thousands of mostly Hispanic immigrants skipped work and took
to the streets in cities across the nation.
The movement
began after the U.S. House passed bills in December dealing
with illegal immigrants, though the U.S. Senate, which is
still working out details of the bill, later made the wording
of the proposed legislation less harsh.
Demonstrations and
boycotts were not prominent in South Carolina, as employers
cautioned employees about skipping work to take part in the
movement.
In Greenwood, employers and others who work with
the immigrant population said boycotts, absenteeism and
protests were at a minimum.
Carolina Pride Foods Human
Resources representative David Bradberry said the company did
not experience unusual absenteeism and those who were absent
did not mention anything about the boycott.
Bradberry said
the company was not sure what to expect with all the media
attention the boycott was receiving and planned to work a
longer day if enough employees calling in about missing work
because of the protest were to affect production.
“We
appreciate all our employees who obviously thought more of
working today than they did of supporting those involved in
the boycotts,” Bradberry said. “We regard them highly, just
like we do with all of our employees.”
Likewise, Park Seed
Public Relations Director Claire Kuhl said that Human
Resources and the director of operations did not report any
absenteeism. Kuhl said the number of Hispanic employees at the
seed and grower supplier north of Greenwood fluctuates from
week to week depending on the season.
“We value them very
highly in terms of working directly with the live plants and
in the packing and shipping departments,” she said.
Though
other schools in the country were affected by the boycott,
much like the businesses, local schools did not seem to have
any protesters.
Greenwood School District 50 Superintendent
Bill Steed said that aside from a transportation supervisor
who drives one of the school buses reporting some absences on
the route, he was not aware of the boycott being widespread
across the school district.
In Beaufort County, where the
school district has on average a 15 percent Hispanic
population, officials said 41 percent of the district’s
Hispanic students — about 1,150 students — were absent from
school Monday, a 35 percent increase over a normal day,
spokeswoman Jill Weinberger said.
Educators talked with
students before the boycott, urging them to not take the day
off because PACT testing starts next week, Weinberger
said.
Greenwood Police Chief Gerald Brooks said he was not
aware of any disturbances or demonstrations in the city
related to the protest. Elsewhere in the state, organized
protests were staged.
“There has been a lot of abuse in
wages,” Charleston boycott organizer Diana Salazer said. “This
boycott is a way to say immigrants, both legal and
undocumented, contribute to the economy, and we should have
rights.”
In Charleston, at least two Hispanic grocery
stores and a Hispanic restaurant, Vallarta Grill, closed,
Salazer said, while in Anderson at least one Latino grocery
store, Tienda Tomas, was closed.
The Columbia Farms poultry
processing plant in West Columbia was closed Monday. The
company has about 600 Hispanic workers.
“We have a small
staff so we’re not affected so much by it,” said Bill Allawos,
president of J & G Food Products, a meat processing plant
in Columbia which remained open Monday. “We do business with
several Latino restaurants, but we haven’t seen the same
affect as with the march when a lot of their businesses
closed.”
Jeff Fowler, CEO of the Greenwood Partnership
Alliance, the economic development agency for Greenwood
County, said the immigrant work force — legal and illegal
workers — has a significant impact on the local and national
economy. He said immigrant workers, who tend to arrive in the
U.S. from poorer, less developed countries, are sometimes more
willing to perform jobs that higher-skilled laborers will not
do.
“People that come from an area of devastation, or are
in want, tend to have a different perspective,” Fowler said.
“A lot of times, because of fear of returning to that state of
poverty, they tend to have a higher work ethic ... It
increases productivity, not only in the U.S. economy, but in
the local economy, too.”
Fowler said studies have shown the
Hispanic immigrant population in the Lakelands area is growing
at a faster rate than other populations, adding that the 2000
U.S. Census reported the documented Hispanic population of
Greenwood County to be more than 1,900 people. But because the
census does not record undocumented — or illegal — immigrants,
the actual figure is likely significantly higher, he
said.
Fowler added that the Hispanic population tends to be
higher in rural, agriculturally-driven counties, such as
Saluda County, where he said the Hispanic population stands at
7.3 percent. Census figures indicate the Hispanic population
in South Carolina grew by 273 percent from 1990 to 2003,
reaching 131,000 in 2004.
Though the immigrant work force
can have some negative factors, such as language barriers,
Fowler said the work force also has many attractive economic
factors. He said companies looking to open or expand in an
area often want to know about a community’s immigrant
population, how the community views the segment and the
services available for the population.
“We’ve had companies
ask about our immigrant population,” Fowler said, “and all in
a positive light.”
The Associated Press contributed
this report.
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