A conservative-leaning investment fund group has divested itself from Tyson Foods over its practice of hiring asylum-seekers in the United States, cautioning others to avoid investing in the food company as well.
The decision by American Conservative Values ETF stems from a recent report that Tyson partnered with the nonprofit organization Tent Partnership for Refugees in 2022 to create a program to help refugees find employment. Bill Flaig, the CEO and founder of ACVF’s parent company Ridgeline Research LLC, argued that Tyson’s management has “blundered into a political minefield” over this partnership.
The report comes as Tyson announced that it would close its plant in Perry, Iowa, this June, impacting 1,276 employees. While company officials have said the closure is unrelated to its hiring practices, Flaig argues that it reinforces “how inadequate that response is to Americans concerned about the open border.”
Tyson denied the accusations in a statement. “In recent days, there has been a lot of misinformation in the media about our company, and we feel compelled to set the record straight. Any insinuation that we would cut American jobs to hire immigrant workers is completely false.”
In recent days, there has been a lot of misinformation in the media about our company, and we feel compelled to set the record straight. Any insinuation that we would cut American jobs to hire immigrant workers is completely false.
Tyson Foods is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, and we led the way in participating in the two major government programs to help employers combat unlawful employment, E-Verify and the Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program.
Since being founded in 1935 in Arkansas, Tyson Foods has created jobs and employed millions of people in states all across America, the majority of whom are American citizens. Today, Tyson Foods employs 120,000 team members in the United States, all of whom are required to be legally authorized to work in this country. We have a history of strong hiring practices, and anybody who is legally able is welcome to apply to open job listings.
The American Conservative Values ETF, an actively managed exchange-traded fund created by Ridgeline Research LLC to cater to ideologically conservative investors, announced Monday that it divested its holdings of Tyson Foods and placed a “refuse to buy” rating on the food giant’s stock. Ridgeline founder and CEO Bill Flaig told FOX Business, “We believe Tyson’s management has blundered into a political minefield (and should have known better).”
“The risk of alienating a significant percentage of their customers outweighs any potential economic benefit. In a recent Pew Research poll, 80% of U.S. adults say the U.S. government is doing a bad job of handling the migrant influx. We have seen the negative impact of alienating customers recently with Bud Light and Target and by divesting we are protecting our shareholders,” Flaig added.
A report by Bloomberg News indicated that Tyson indicated that Tyson officials met with migrants at Chobani’s offices last month to hire 17 asylum seekers from Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia for jobs at its plant in Tennessee, and that it hired 70 more in early March.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSN | TYSON FOODS INC. | 57.69 | +0.51 | +0.89% |
The outlet reported that Tyson Foods’ Garrett Dolan, who works in the multinational conglomerate’s human resources department, said that migrants are “very, very loyal” and explained, “They’ve been uprooted and what they want is stability — what they want is a sense of belonging.”
“We would like to employ another 42,000 if we could find them,” Dolan added in reference to the roughly 42,000 immigrants in the company’s workforce of 120,000. He explained that the food manufacturing industry at large deals with turnover of about 40% of the workers in factory roles each year — which means Tyson needs to hire about 52,000 workers this year to fill jobs that pay about $16.50 an hour plus benefits.
“Since being founded in 1935 in Arkansas, Tyson Foods has created jobs and employed millions of people in states all across America, the majority of whom are American citizens. Today, Tyson Foods employs 120,000 team members in the United States, all of whom are required to be legally authorized to work in this country,” Tyson said. “We have a history of strong hiring practices, and anybody who is legally able is welcome to apply to open job listings.”
“We believe Tyson’s management has blundered into a political minefield (and should have known better),” Ridgeline founder and CEO Bill Flaig told Fox Business on Monday.
Many Americans are outraged by the ongoing migrant crisis at the southern border and learning Tyson is giving jobs to asylum-seekers could be enough for them to stop buying the company’s products, according to the CEO.
A Tyson human resources rep was quoted in the article, praising the company’s refugee and migrant employees as “very, very loyal.”
“They’ve been uprooted and what they want is stability — what they want is a sense of belonging,” HR official Garrett Dolan said.
Tyson Foods currently employs about 42,000 migrants, who have legal work authorization, as part of its 120,000-strong workforce.
“We would like to employ another 42,000 if we could find them,” Dolan told Bloomberg.
Worker turnover in the food manufacturing industry is high at 40% a year. Dolan said Tyson is constantly looking for new employees to fill the vacancies and does not favor one group over another.
Tyson joined the nonprofit’s mission in 2022 and committed to hiring 2,500 refugees in the US over the course of three years, according to Fox Business.
Between February and March, the meat maker hired nearly 90 asylum seekers to work at its Tennessee-based plant, Bloomberg reported.
A Tyson human resources rep was quoted in the article, praising the company’s refugee and migrant employees as “very, very loyal.”