Foundation Food Workers Are Fearful of Retaliation Based on Immigration Status and their Cooperation with Federal Investigators
J.Larry Stine
Wimberly Lawson Steckel Schneider & Stine PC
Counsel for Foundation Food Group, Inc.
3400 Peachtree Road, Suite 400
Atlanta, GA 30326
Email: jls@wimlaw.com
Dane Steffenson
Littler Mendelson
Counsel for Foundation Food Group, Inc.
3424 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1200
Atlanta, GA 30326
Email: dsteffenson@littler.com
Bobby L. Christine
Acting U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Georgia
The U.S. Attorney’s Office
Richard B. Russell Federal Building
75 Ted Turner Dr. SW, Suite 600
Atlanta, GA 30303-3309
Antoine Robinson, Area Director
Atlanta East Area Office
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
U.S. Department of Labor
2296 Henderson Mill Road, NE, Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30345
Email: robinson.antoine@dol.gov
Katherine A. Lemos
Chemical Safety Board Chairman and CEO
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
1750 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Suite 910 | Washington, DC 20006
Email: public@csb.gov
Thomas Giles, Atlanta Field Director
Office of Enforcement & Removal Operations
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
180 Ted Turner Dr. SW, Suite 522
Atlanta, GA 30303
VIA EMAIL
The undersigned represent the Georgia Immigrant Rights Alliance and our allies from worker rights, immigrant rights, and civil rights organizations from across our state and the country. We are heartbroken and deeply concerned as the aftermath of the fatal liquid nitrogen leak unfolds. On Thursday, January 28, 2021, at the Foundation Food Group’s (“Foundation Food”) poultry processing plant (the “Plant”) in Gainesville, Georgia, formerly known as Prime Pak Foods, six workers lost their lives after being poisoned by toxic levels of liquid nitrogen. Our community stands with the families of the victims, the survivors, and their loved ones to seek justice.
We stand ready to assist the agencies involved in conducting a comprehensive investigation to bring safety and justice to the individuals harmed by the deadly and hazardous release of liquid nitrogen gas. To Foundation Food, we urge your timely cooperation and transparency with all investigations and remind you of your statutory and regulatory obligations to create a workplace free from retaliation, harassment, intimidation, and workplace hazards. To the workers, our organizations and allies are monitoring this situation closely and organizing mutual aid and support to the families affected. If you or your family has been impacted by this emergency, please call 678-532-8418.
