Snee voices support for Hormel’s diverse workforce

Published 11:00 am Thursday, February 2, 2017

Snee

Snee

Hormel Foods Corp. is monitoring President Donald Trump’s travel ban and immigration policies and how those could affect the company’s employees.

During the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting Tuesday at Austin High School, CEO and president Jim Snee responded to a question about Trump’s travel ban and immigration rhetoric by showing support for the company’s diverse workforce.

“We are committed to our very diverse workforce, which we celebrate each and every day,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to assist them.”

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The company has been looking for employees directly affected by the travel bans, but Snee said they hadn’t found anyone directly affected as of Tuesday.

Snee said people are working to document and verify worker’s statuses, but he said it’s a difficult and complex process that’s not getting easier.

“I would say that Hormel Foods really has been at the forefront of immigration and immigration reform,” Snee said.

Snee said there’s a need for federal immigration reform, but he didn’t elaborate on specifics.

He referenced the efforts of retired CEO Jeff Ettinger, who in 2013 led a group of business leaders, community advocates and even former undocumented workers that shared their stories with government officials in St. Paul and Washington, D.C., ahead of federal debate on immigration reform.

“This trip provided the opportunity for Hormel Foods and Austin community leaders to come together with policy makers at the forefront of this discussion,” Ettinger said in a statement in 2013.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported earlier this week that Cargill Inc. and 3M Co. were closely monitoring Trump’s travel restrictions for potential effects on employees and the business.

It also reported that the North American Meat Institute, which includes member companies like Hormel Foods and Cargill Meat Solutions, expressed concern over the potential changes to the workforce.

“As the administration pursues changes to the nation’s refugee policies, we hope it will give careful consideration to the ramifications policy changes like these can have on our businesses and on foreign-born workers who are eager to build new lives in America through the jobs our companies can offer,” Barry Carpenter, the organization’s chief executive, said in a statement.