Immigration is at the center of this Wisconsin cheesemaking facility’s strike
The Dairy Farmers of America recently acquired W&W Dairy in Monroe and is set to implement immigration changes. Here’s what you need to know.
In Monroe, 43 employees are currently on strike at W&W Dairy, a cheesemaking facility that was recently acquired by the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative. The transition prompted new changes at the dairy facility—namely that an employee’s immigration status, in addition to other official details, will now be checked through the E-Verify online system. The workers have been on strike for about a week now, as they say that this sudden change in internal policy “will put immigrants out of work.”
The secondary fear here is that these workers, some of whom have been with the company for decades, may not receive severance if they’re forced out of the company because of their immigration status. On Tuesday, the 43 striking W&W Dairy employees were joined by Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights group based in Milwaukee, as well as by organizers from local labor unions. An organizer from Voces, Luis Velazquez, spoke on behalf of a striking worker who was fearful of giving out their name, as they didn’t want to risk being terminated from their current position.
A letter the employee wrote that was then read by Velazquez said, in part, “We are on strike because we demand that the company respect our rights as workers, that it recognize our seniority, provide us with fair compensation for the years we have worked, and not resort to threats or retaliation.” The Dairy Farmers of America released a statement through a designated spokesperson that stated it was complying with both federal and state labor laws, and that it was “committed to complying with federal employment eligibility requirements.”
However, Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) points out that, while E-Verify is required in other states, it’s not required for all employers in Wisconsin. The Dairy Farmers of America addressed this through its spokesperson, saying that “it uses the program because it holds federal contracts.” The overarching issue here is that it’s not immediately clear whether those specific contracts are currently being fulfilled by facilities in Wisconsin, like W&W Dairy.
What’s next for the W&W Dairy strikers?
Some workers at the facility are not currently participating in the strike, though one who is spoke anonymously to WPR about his personal experience with the company. He said he has worked there for almost 20 years and considers the workforce to be a family-like environment. Now, though, he said he feels “really sad,” and that the E-Verify change has “divided us.”
According to WPR, the workforce transition at W&W Dairy Workers isn’t scheduled to take place until September 1. The executive director of Voces de la Frontera, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, stated that all impacted workers “are requesting three weeks of severance for every year worked, plus all accrued paid time off to be paid out.” Whether that comes to fruition is something that will likely become more evident closer to that transition date.
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