Union Protests ?Atmosphere of Fear? at FreshDirect
UFCW members protested outside the Queens headquarters of FreshDirect Thursday, accusing the company of attempting to head off a unionization vote by firing scores of immigrant workers. FreshDirect officials say the workers were let go in response to a letter from a division of the Department of Homeland Security, warning the company to review its employment records to verify the legality of its immigrant workers. Union officials counter that the company actually sought out the government review in order to disrupt a union vote scheduled for this weekend, and that the workers left now find themselves in an "atmosphere of fear and terror", afraid for their jobs.
See "Union Protests ?Atmosphere of Fear? at FreshDirect", Sewell Chan, The New York Times, December 20, 2007