The Wisconsin Union denied two
employees' accusations of mistreating illegal immigrant workers
Wednesday.

According to an opinion column
published in The Badger Herald Wednesday, a former Union employee
identified only as "Jorge" said he was an undocumented worker and
had worked at both Memorial Union and Union South for nearly two
years.

Jorge said he developed asthma and a
hernia while working at the Union as a temporary custodian, and in
both incidents was advised to disregard medical instructions by Chris
Acker, a custodial services supervisor at Memorial Union, who
allegedly said "You're just making stuff up. You just want to
take days off."

Jorge also said there are nearly 25 to
30 illegal employees working temporary custodial third shifts at both
Memorial Union and Union South.

Wisconsin Union Communications Director
Marc Kennedy, however, said in an interview Wednesday that Jorge's
story is "entirely inaccurate," and added the Union always checks
the validity of social security cards and other documents presented
when employing its workers.

"You have to be documented to work
for the university," Kennedy said. "If you don't have a social
security number, you don't get paid."

According to Kennedy, the human
resources department at the Union runs prospective employees'
numbers through the Social Security Administration, and someone using
an illegitimate number — like a dead person's social security
number, for example — would cause human resources officials to be
informed by SSA.

Under Union Human Resources procedures,
new employees are required to present a Social Security card and
driver's license, which can be substituted by birth certificate or
passport.

Kennedy said together Memorial Union
and Union South only employ about 13 third-shift custodians, and only
a few of them are temporary workers.

"The one reason why we won't make
them full-time employees is that Union South is coming down in a year
and a half," Kennedy said.

According to Kennedy, Union staff have
an idea of Jorge's real identity, and added though he could not
legally comment on his work history, there is something suspicious
about the veracity of his testimony.

"Hypothetically, if you look at the
situation at face value, here's someone who's admittedly talking
about having employment issues and worker's compensation issues
making allegations like these," Kennedy said. "It could raise a
red flag."

Despite Jorge's claims to be an
illegal worker, Kennedy said the former employee's documents have
been checked and there has been no indication to believe he was
illegally employed by the Union.

Tomas Garcia, Union human resources
director, was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon. Acker
declined comment when contacted by The Badger Herald Wednesday
evening.