Six Factory Workers Feared Dead in Tennessee After Being Swept Away During Hurricane Helene

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We look now at the impact of Hurricane Helene. Power outages and water shortages continue across six southeastern states. The death toll from the storm is nearing 200, with hundreds more still missing and presumed dead. This includes six plastic factory workers in Erwin, Tennessee, who were swept away as floodwaters swelled around their workplace after their boss reportedly threatened to fire anyone who left during the storm. This is the family of an Impact Plastics worker named Lidia Verdugo.

FERNANDO RUIZ: [translated] She was still working when she called me, and she told me that it was really raining. And I told her to leave. But she told me they weren’t telling her anything.

COMMUNITY TRANSLATOR: If they would have told them to leave earlier, maybe we would be here — they would still be here today, and we wouldn’t be looking for them. But when they tried to leave, it was too late.

AMY GOODMAN: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating how some workers said Impact Plastics threatened to fire anyone who left ahead of the storm. This is Robert Jarvis, one of the survivors.

WCYB REPORTER: What would you say to the company?

ROBERT JARVIS: Why did you make us work that day? Why? We shouldn’t have worked. We shouldn’t have been there. None of us should have been there. And that’s what I should have said to them.

AMY GOODMAN: Impact Plastics said Monday in a statement it had monitored weather conditions during the storm and that managers had dismissed workers, quote, “when water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power,” unquote.

For more, we’re joined by Cesar Bautista, campaign director at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, has been working in Erwin, Tennessee, to assist with relief efforts after Hurricane Helene.

Cesar, welcome to Democracy Now! We only have a few minutes. Can you explain what happened? This plastics factory is right next to a river. What were they told? Why were they so afraid they’d be fired if they didn’t come to work?

CESAR BAUTISTA SANCHEZ: Yes. Hi. Good morning. Thank you so much for having me on.

Yes. So, a lot of the family members, you know, expressed, just like on the clip that you showed, that they were told, like, not to leave yet, that they were still asking questions, like, you know, “Should we leave or not so far?” They kept going back and forth, I believe, with one of the secretaries at the office. But as they were trying to get answers, they were noticing that the water was getting higher and higher, like in the parking lot area. And, you know, once, like, the factory did make the decision of telling people, “OK, you can go,” it was just too late. And the water had rised too high, to the point that they couldn’t move their cars anymore and try to get to safety.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And so, what are you calling for, Cesar? You’re obviously advocating on the rights of these workers. What are you calling for?

CESAR BAUTISTA SANCHEZ: Well, you know, in these moments right now, it’s very difficult, you know, and we are standing in solidarity with all the families that they lost a loved one. And like most importantly, what we’re calling is just to be sure that there’s equitable access to the recovery plan that the city and the state have initiated, so just making sure, you know, that there’s no language barriers, that everybody has the equal amount of access to any kind of resources that are being provided, just to be sure that the families have what they need in order to rebuild their lives after this hurricane.

AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about how typical this was. Now, again, to emphasize, Impact Plastics said, “At no time were employees told that they would be fired if they left the facility.” But if you can, overall, talk about the fear of migrant workers? And also, we’re talking about a vast area of six states right now. You work with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. We don’t really know how many people have died, close to 200 at this point quantified, but hundreds more missing. And where are people going for refuge?

CESAR BAUTISTA SANCHEZ: You know, so, here in Erwin, Tennessee, a lot of people right now have been going to the county high school for any kind of refuge or resources that they’re looking for. That has been a great source also. The local church, one of the local churches, St. Michael, has been just a great supporter for the community to gather, to mourn, to just really process everything that has been happening. And so, that has been, you know, where people have been going mainly just to try to find some comfort and support with the community. I would say, too, you know, that the community, overall, has shown a very great — they’ve come up as a unified forum, you know, just, like, to really support each other and just to keep each other together throughout this tough process right now.

AMY GOODMAN: And the understanding about climate change — for many immigrants, one of the reasons they came to this country, fleeing the devastation of climate change in their country, and then dealing with it today here. All the reports are saying the intensification, the rapidity with which this storm intensified, due to climate change.

CESAR BAUTISTA SANCHEZ: Right. And so, you know, with climate change, as we see this — you know, this is starting to be more of a pattern now here in Tennessee. You know, we had the hurricane just a couple days ago. Last December, we had a tornado go through Nashville, Tennessee. And then, two years before that, there was another tornado. And so, we’ve noticed that this is starting to become a pattern.

And so, what really we’re urging, you know, our municipalities and, like, in the state, not just in Tennessee, but across the country, is that they have to have, like, you know, those evacuation plans for each city, but also now for each company that has, like, all these workers there, in order to be sure that people are safe, but also to set up an infrastructure where everybody has —

AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds.

CESAR BAUTISTA SANCHEZ: — equitable access. Where everybody has equitable access, you know, for their recovery.

AMY GOODMAN: Cesar Bautista, we’re going to have to leave it there, campaign director at the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition in Erwin, Tennessee. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.