Workers for Marubeni-owned North Pacific Seafoods in Alaska have filed a class action lawsuit, citing untenable working conditions and wage theft.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs allege the company shorts workers' wages on a daily basis at the plants by requiring workers to "clock in only after donning raingear, multiple sets of gloves, hairnets, earplugs, boots, and other safety gear and protective equipment, and clock out before removing the gear."
"This practice deprives those at the bottom of the wage scale of hundreds of dollars each month," the lawsuit, filed Monday with the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, states.
Zwerling, Schachter & Zwerling as well as the Arns Law Firm are representing the plaintiffs.
In July the Arns Law Firm represented Alaska season workers who won a settlement from the company related to their being held in a Los Angeles hotel without pay as part of a coronavirus quarantine. As part of that settlement,165 workers were eligible to receive $2,685 (€2,310) each.
The suit alleges "free" lodging provided to seasonal workers is in fact rodent-infested, with "mold blooms" throughout buildings and tap water making workers ill.
The lawyers also say the company has not kept workers safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
"It fails to provide protective equipment, including protective fillet gloves, resulting in numerous injuries," the lawsuit says.
"Rubber aprons, soiled with blood and entrails by the end of a worker’s shift, are left uncleaned and unsanitary for the next shift."
Each summer North Pacific Seafoods recruits over 800 workers from the Western United States and other locales to its Alaska processing plants, according to the lawsuit.
"It promises workers large paychecks and 'safety for all,'" the lawyers state. "Benefits include habitable lodging, three meals per day, and transportation to 'beautiful Alaska,' all for free. This is a deception."
Officials from North Pacific could not be reached for comment by IntraFish on the pending lawsuit.
