On Sept. 10, 2007 Best Brands Corp. a bakery in Eagan, MN began laying off around 60-80 workers with good wages and benefits, including affordable health care. The bakery promptly replaced the workers through temporary agencies, with new workers earning a fraction of the wage with no benefits whatsoever.

The lay-offs took place in the context of a controversial new proposal from the White House regarding No Match letters sent by Social Administration. The letters, sent to workers whose names and numbers do not match in their database, are used for informational purposes only. Employers are not allowed to use them to enforce immigration law under current policy. They would have been required to do so under new proposals. Though the company did not receive any No Match letters, Best Brands Corp. instituted their own form of No Match, taking advantage of the climate of fear within the immigrant community to slash wages and benefits.

The workers approached WIN, and soon several other serious violations of labor rights became apparent. Together, the workers and WIN wrote a letter to Best Brands Corp. demanding a meeting to resolve these issues. Having heard no response, the workers and WIN organized a press conference on Monday, Nov. 5. The message of the press conference was clear – the Best Brands Corp. needs to meet with the workers and WIN to resolve past and current human rights violations taking place in their Eagan Bakery. The longer they wait to meet, the more they expose themselves to public scrutiny.

The response from Best Brands Corp. representatives? Hypocrisy:

In a Pioneer Press article dated November 5 Joe Porto, vice president of human resources, claims that the reason employees were laid off was that “They had not provided the necessary documentation to, in essence, prove their eligibility to work within the United States of America.” Yet the same day that the workers were laid off, managers and supervisors told many of the workers to re-apply for work at Best Brands through a temporary agency. In fact, some of the laid off workers were rehired through temporary agencies. If Best Brands Corp. is truly so concerned about the workers’ documentation status, why did they fire the workers and immediately rehire some of the same workers through temporary agencies?

In the same article, Mr. Porto claims that, “The reason for laying of these individuals has nothing to do with wages and benefits.” Yet a company newsletter dated Summer 2007 points out that in 2006, 17 cents out of every $1.00 Best Brands receives from their clients went towards salaries, benefits and investments in their employees. In 2007, the company plans on spending 16 cents out of every $1.00 on their employees. What better way to cut labor costs than to lay off 60-70 workers and replace them with workers earning a fraction of the wages with no benefits?

In December workers sent a letter to Wal-Mart, the single largest buyer of Best Brands products, to inform the company about labor violations taking place in their supply chain. On December 17th, UFCW Local 789 featured Best Brands Corp. workers in their annual “Wake up Wal-Mart” vigil in St. Paul. Leaders from WIN’s Interfaith Center for Worker Justice and local congregations participated in the vigil standing in solidarity with these workers.