Union members at the JBS Foods meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado, said hundreds of Haitian immigrants were lured to work at the plant on false promises.
"[They were told,] 'You can come here. You are going to have a very good job. And you don't have to worry about where you're going to sleep because the company is going to take care of that for you,'" alleges plant worker Tchelly Moise.
Moise, who is also a representative of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, claims those workers were trafficked through the social media app TikTok.
And since arriving in Greeley, workers say they've dealt with everything from poor living conditions to abuse inside the plant.
"We are talking about eight or 10 people inside of one motel room, a small room with just one bed inside of it and one bathroom," said Moise.
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The union alleges that as many as 40 people lived in one hotel room. And once they went to work, the union claims production lines were staffed with half as many people as OSHA requires.'
If the allegations are true, civil rights attorney Tyrone Glover said they have criminal, regulatory, and civil implications.
"There's allegations of human trafficking here. That could implicate criminal liability. This triggers all sorts of Department of Labor issues stuff through OSHA. This could implicate individual plaintiffs," said Glover.
In response to the allegations, a spokesperson for JBS said, "We have put new HR leaders in place at the facility and added new recruitment training programs to ensure our teams follow JBS’ strict hiring compliance policies. Any allegations of poor living conditions are unacceptable and upsetting."
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While Moise said, those with jobs at the plant are thankful for the opportunity to work.
"All they're asking for is better treatment. All they want is better treatment," said Moise.
This article was originally published by Claire Lavezzorio for Scripps News Denver.
