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Liane Hansen
Businesses battle back in Terrebonne Parish
Just southwest of New Orleans, Terrebonne Parish stretches into the Louisiana bayou. Against the horizon in the night sky, lights twinkle atop oil derricks far off over the marshes and lakes that form the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. Oil and natural gas dominate the local economy, but as we learned on a visit in late September, fishing, for sport or to make a living, is the heart and soul of bayou country. In Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish, we found the conveyor belts and machinery of Motivatit Seafoods standing silent, mute testimony to the vast destruction and disruption brought weeks earlier by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
(Soundbite of processing plant activity)
HANSEN: We returned to Terrebonne Parish this past week. At Motivatit Seafoods, the clatter and chatter of machines and people processing tens of thousands of oysters a day provide new testimony of an industry and community coming back to life. CEO Mike Voisin showed us around the plant. Forklifts weighed down with piles of hundred-pound burlap sacks carried a new day's harvest to conveyor belts, where dozens of workers sorted oysters for markets across America.
Mr. MIKE VOISIN (CEO, Motivatit Seafoods): We're back in business. It really feels good. It was--the first day was like Christmas morning. It was an exciting moment to go back and see people working and oysters in the plant and to see the docks and the boats coming in. And what we do is fun. It's part of who we are. It's part of our culture. People were smiling during that week because they were back to work, you know, and people want to work. I believe that work is a big part of what we're doing here on this Earth.
HANSEN: The room is now filled with stacks of cartons that go up to the ceiling. I mean, we're standing next to some, and you're over six feet tall and they go up a few more feet. Is this capacity for you?
Mr. VOISIN: Well, we're back in terms of processing at the plant. Harvesting, we're not even close to being back. The eastern shore of the state is the one that really took the hardest hit, and that's where we lost 70 to 80 percent of the product in the water. The reefs east of the Mississippi River will open Monday. It's a 12-day window for the shellfish community to go out there and see what the damage is. It could be worse than we thought; it could be better than we thought. And it's a great time because it's right before Christmas when people east oysters. So there'll be plenty of oysters on the market starting, if the weather isn't too bad, Monday. A lot of the boats are going to shift their efforts into that area.
HANSEN: Have you had to deal with insurance companies to get your business back up and running?
Mr. VOISIN: Personally, no. We had, you know, very little damage. We were blessed. It's almost a survivor's guilt blessed. You know, why did the Lord bless us to save what we have and to see so many people being so challenged? There's just a lot of devastation.
HANSEN: Thousands of families in Terrebonne Parish lost their homes, and like so many others from New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, they fled inland and across the country to shelters and temporary homes and for some to make new lives far from the threat of hurricanes. The mass evacuation stole away much of the area's work force from local businesses. Many other workers have been preoccupied repairing their homes and rebuilding their personal lives. To fill gaps along the conveyor belts, Motivatit Seafoods looked toward Mexico.
(Soundbite of workers chatting)
HANSEN: Immigrant workers now learn new jobs as they stand side by side with a handful of longtime employees.
Mr. VOISIN: We brought in 13 Mexican women and we're bringing in seven more. So it's a total of 20 that'll be here as a result of Katrina. After the storm, McDonald's was offering $8 an hour and Burger King a $6,000 signing bonus, and it's hard to compete with our product at those--a $6,000 signing bonus for a person that's making just not high a rate of pay, but in the six to $7 an hour range. So it's been amazing. You'll see more Hispanics around here, but that's been an interesting thing. It's just getting labor. It's getting a little bit better now because the food stamps that were very available for a period of time have now been cut off and that's going to impact some people, but it will also move people back to work. The rental assistance that was there is now being slowed down and it's moving people back to being productive citizens.
HANSEN: We're in the shucking room of Motivatit Seafood with Greg Voisin and seven women who are standing here shucking oysters about as fast as I can speak. Greg, you're going to act as translator for us.
Mr. GREG VOISIN (Motivatit Seafoods): Yes, ma'am.
HANSEN: Tell us your name and where you're from.
Mr. VOISIN: (Spanish spoken)
Ms. FORTUNATA GONZALEZ GARCIA(ph): (Spanish spoken)
Mr. VOISIN: Veracruz, Mexico.
HANSEN: From Veracruz.
Mr. VOISIN: Veracruz.
HANSEN: How long have you been working at Motivatit Seafoods?
Mr. VOISIN: (Spanish spoken)
Ms. GARCIA: (Spanish spoken)
Mr. VOISIN: (Spanish spoken)
One week she's been working here.
HANSEN: How do you like working here? How do you like your job?
Mr. VOISIN: (Spanish spoken)
Ms. GARCIA: (Spanish spoken)
Mr. VOISIN: She's liking it here. She's only been here one week, but she's trying to learn fast and enjoy herself is basically what she's saying.
HANSEN: Do you have family back home?
Mr. VOISIN: (Spanish spoken)
Ms. GARCIA: Si.
HANSEN: How has your life been here? I know it's only one week, but how is it going for you?
Mr. VOISIN: (Spanish spoken)
Ms. GARCIA: (Spanish spoken)
Mr. VOISIN: She said the food is way different and that she's not used to the American food.
(Soundbite of laughter)
HANSEN: Would you like to bring your family here?
Mr. VOISIN: (Spanish spoken)
Ms. GARCIA: (Spanish spoken)
Mr. VOISIN: She said, yes, she would love to bring her family here. There's much more work here for her family.
HANSEN: Southern Louisiana food may take some getting used to for the new workers at Motivatit Seafoods, but the oysters they sort and pack are welcomed at restaurants throughout the region, long-starved of a local delicacy.
HANSEN: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita washed away homes and cars and dreams and countless lives. Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated the Gulf Coast, altering the demographics of communities and workplaces across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, remaking the complexion of neighborhoods and placing longtime employees beside newly arrived laborers. Inevitably, some like P.T. will love their jobs and others, like Fortunata Gonzalez Garcia at Motivatit Seafoods, will love simply having jobs and dream of bringing their families to stand beside them and their newfound co-workers.
The story of our visit to Terrebonne Parish was written by Stu Seidel and produced by Ned Wharton with help from Jesse Baker. Our sound engineer was Marty Kurcias.
