Conservative investment group slams Tyson Foods with ‘reject buy’ rating over hiring of immigrant workers, says ‘I should have known more’

usa news

by Allie Griffin

A conservative investment fund group is increasing its holdings in meat and poultry giant Tyson Foods over its employment of immigrant and refugee workers, arguing that the hiring practices alienate customers.

American Conservative Values ​​ETF, an exchange-traded fund managed by Ridgeline Research LLC, has withdrawn from the company and placed a “do not buy” rating on its stock for clients.

“We believe Tyson’s management blundered into a political minefield,” Ridgeline founder and CEO Bill Flaig told FOX Business on Monday. I should have known better.”

The CEO said many Americans are outraged by the continuing immigration crisis at the southern border and are less likely to buy Tyson’s products if they learn that Tyson is giving jobs to asylum seekers. It could be enough to quit.

“The risk of alienating a significant percentage of customers outweighs the potential economic benefit,” Flagg said. “A recent Pew Research poll found that 80% of American adults say the U.S. government is not doing enough to deal with the influx of immigrants.”

He argued that Tyson could be the next victim of angry Americans voting with their wallets.

“We have recently seen the negative impact of customer churn at Bud Light and Target and are protecting shareholders by selling,” he said.

But Tyson is trying to dispel the growing amount of misinformation about its employees online, pointing out that it only employs people who are legally allowed to work in the United States, and that its company Defending employment practices.

“There has been a lot of misinformation in the media about our company in recent days, and we feel we have to set the record straight. The insinuations are completely false,” the food giant said in a statement.

“Tyson Foods strongly opposes illegal immigration and is an active participant in two major government programs that assist employers in combating illegal employment: E-Verify and the Reciprocal Government-Employer Agreement (IMAGE) program. ” the statement continued. .

False allegations about the company began to spread last week after Bloomberg News reported that Mr. Tyson was hiring New York immigrants to do jobs no one else wanted.

This article talks about Tyson Foods and the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a nonprofit founded by the founder and CEO of Chobani Yogurt to connect refugees in need of work with private companies in need of workers. mentions the partnership.

Tyson joined the nonprofit’s mission in 2022 and was instrumental in hiring 2,500 refugees in the United States over three years, according to Fox Business.

The meat maker hired nearly 90 asylum seekers to work at its Tennessee-based plant between February and March, Bloomberg reported.

A Tyson human resources representative was quoted in the article praising the company’s refugee and immigrant employees as “very loyal.”

“They’re uprooted, and what they want is stability, and what they want is a sense of belonging,” said Garrett Dolan, a human resources director.

Tyson Foods currently employs about 42,000 immigrants with legal work authorization among its 120,000 employees.

“We would like to hire 42,000 more people if we can find them,” Dolan told Bloomberg.

The turnover rate in the food manufacturing industry is as high as 40% annually. Dolan said Tyson is always looking for new employees to fill vacancies and does not prioritize one group over another.