US meat major Tyson Foods is said to have denied allegations over discriminatory hiring practices at its slaughterhouses and packaging sites.
The Arkansas-headquartered group is being accused of hiring more migrant workers than US national employees, sometimes illegally.
It has also been accused of having used child labour.
Speaking to news agency Reuters, a Tyson spokesperson strongly denied the claims. They said: “Any insinuation that we would discriminate against Americans to hire immigrant workers is completely false. Today Tyson Foods employs 120,000 team members in the United States, all of whom are required to be legally authorized to work in this country”.
Tyson had not responded to requests for additional comment from Just Food at the time of writing.
The claims have been made by the centre-right non-profit group America First Legal (AFL), which filed complaints over the beef, pork and poultry processor’s hiring practices on Wednesday (29 May).
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The complaints have been sent to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigrant and Employee Rights Section and the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.
AFL is headed up by Donald Trump’s former senior adviser Stephen Miller.
The NGO has also issued a cease and desist letter to Tyson executives, in which it demands the group adheres to the country’s “federal employment, immigration, and securities laws”.
According to the non-profit, the company’s ties to the Tent Partnership for Refugees programme, which works to help immigrant workers find jobs in the US, is an example of the “special services” it offers “foreign employees”.
AFL added that the meatpacker’s actions “unlawfully alter the national origin of the company’s workforce and discriminate against Americans”.
Concerns arose last September over Tyson Foods’ alleged use of child labour via cleaning contractors that are used by the company.
An investigation was launched into the meat processor, alongside its poultry peer Perdue Farms, by the US Labour Department following a report published by The New York Times.
