The Truth About Rubashkin, The Conservative Rabbis and OSHA

Kosher Today, the mouthpiece of the kosher food industry, has a misleading piece on the Conservative Movement's new tzedek hechsher, Rubashkin and the allegations of worker abuse at Agriprocessors Postville, Iowa plant. First, the Kosher Today article in full:

Friendship of Orthodox and Conservative Rabbi in Tatters Over Kashrus Issues

St. Paul: It all began almost a year ago when a local glatt kosher butcher closed its doors leaving many kosher consumers without a source for glatt kosher meat. Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, spiritual leader of the Adath Israel Synagogue, head of United Mehadrin and a respected authority on kashrus, persuaded Cooper's Supermarket to carry glatt kosher meats from Agriprocessors. Celebrating his accomplishments, Rabbi Zeilingold next reached out to his long-time friend Rabbi Morris Allen, the rabbi of the Conservative temple Beth Jacob in Mendota Heights, a suburb of St. Paul. Rabbi Zeilingold had hoped that Rabbi Allen would help him assure that as many Jews as possible patronize the Cooper's special section on glatt kosher meats. But Rabbi Allen insisted that the store not carry regular kosher meats from Agri, which had been the subject of attack by PETA, the extremist animal rights organization. The Conservative Rabbi also made sure to send out to his membership copies of a scathing article by the Forward which accused Agri of abusing its workers. He also refused to accept regular kosher meat from Agri, preferring instead kosher meat from Green Bay. In the process of settling on a supplier of the kosher meats, the American Jewish World in Minneapolis launched a vicious tirade against Twin-City Poultry, accusing the large kosher meat distributor of refusing to sell non-glatt products. The irony of it all is that kosher meat in many markets is more expensive than "glatt kosher" meat.

Within days of the Forward article, Zeilingold and a Spanish speaking congregant, Dr. Carlos Carbonera, visited the Postville, Iowa plant of Agriprocessors. They freely spoke to many of the Agri employees and found the Forward piece to be patently false. The Orthodox rabbi invited his friend Allen to see for himself. He and a group of Conservative rabbis turned up in Postville, only to take part in the latest efforts by the Union to unionize Agri employees. The Union had in fact advertised the rabbi's appearance. Said Rabbi Zeilingold: "From the Forward article, and from Rabbi Allen's deceptive behavior, it was obvious to me that Rabbi Allen, Victor Rosenthal, and the other members of the Conservative commission did NOT visit Agriprocessors in order to evaluate the validity of the Forward's May 26 attack on Agri.  They were delighted to accept all the lies and slander of the Forward article as absolute truth because it gave them a pretext by which they could gain entry into Agriprocessors and other plants posing as the champions of "kashrut" and the rights of workers.  The lies of the Forward article gave them fertile ground to plant the seeds of the "tzedek hechsher," a new Conservative certification that includes social concerns.

To put the entire matter to rest, Rabbi Zeilingold arranged for a high ranking official of the United States Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) to visit the Agri plant. After two-full days at the plant, the OSHA official reported having "no issues of concern."  According to OSHA records, Agriprocessors has a far better safety record than the plant named by the commission of Conservative rabbis, with approximately sixty percent fewer citations.  The OSHA official further stated that, “a program addressing each and every one of the hazards recognized by OSHA inspectors "was working strongly at the plant" and further, that "Agriprocessors inspection history stands within normal parameters compared to other companies within this industry."  He ends his report by stating definitively: "Agriprocessors is committed to providing a safe work environment to their employees. They have the tools that allow them to improve the safety of their working environment." With the record straight, Zeilingold still hopes that a fair-minded Allen will take his hand in friendship once again.

The friendship issue. To call Asher Zeilingold and Morris Allen "friends" is a stretch. They worked together on to get kosher meat for their community. They didn't party together, vacation together or study together. They didn't see each other socially. They didn't visit each others synagogues, give drashot there, or pray together. Their "friendship" was conditional, based on a achieving a specific, limited goal. When worker abuse allegations against Rubashkin surfaced, Allen's attempts to clean up Rubashkin put him at odds with Zeilingold.

Further, Zeilingold has a business interest with Rubashkin. His supervision mark is on Rubashkin's non-glatt product. He has a vested interest in freeing Rubashkin from the cloud that hangs over him. Kosher Today does not mention this business relationship, even though ethically it should have.

OSHA. I spoke with OSHA officials in  Washington, in the regional office that covers Iowa, and the officials in Iowa who administer the state's OSHA-approved program. This is what I learned:

1. No Federal or State OSHA inspection took place at Agriprocessors during the time frame set out in the Kosher Today article.
2. Federal OSHA does not have jurisdiction over Agriprocessors, because Iowa is a State Plan state, and all OSHA work is handled locally.
3. Mary Bryant, the woman who administers OSHA enforcement for the State of Iowa, told me no inspections or enforcement actions took place during that time. This is current through yesterday, the day of publication of the Kosher Today article.

So what could have happened? Perhaps this. OSHA has a consultancy program. A company can confidentially call OSHA (in this case, Iowa-administered OSHA) and get a consult. OSHA will look at a plant's operations as it is on that day (not how it was the day before, not how it will be the day after) and give the company a report to help them get into compliance. But any plant can prepare for one of these consults, get into perfect working order, then have OSHA look, and then publicize this consult. Rubashkin did just this with Dr. Temple Grandin's consult. Did Rubashkin do this with OSHA, too?

Maybe. Steve Slater, the man who  runs this program for the State of Iowa, can't say, because he is bound by the consult program's pledge of confidentiality. He did say that he, the most senior OSHA-related person in Iowa, did not make the statements quoted in Kosher Today and he is unaware of any other senior staff making them, as well.

For their part, Federal OSHA is clear. Charles "Chuck" Atkins, the head of OSHA for the region that includes Iowa, told me no Federal OSHA people had been in Iowa for the past year. "We have to be very careful about going in there, because Iowa is a State Plan state," Atkins said. Keven Ropp, OSHA's spokesman in Washington, DC, could find no record of any Federal OSHA presence in Iowa or at Agriprocessors.

Who has more violations? On this, Kosher Today has a point, although it is very weak. Empire has more violations over the past two years than Rubashkin. But Empire's violations are largely related to specific equipment. Rubashkin's violations are fewer in number but more holistic. For example, Empire is often cited for a violation involving "powered industrial trucks." Rubashkin is cited for "respiratory protection," "hazard protection," "general requirements," and "general requirements for all machines." (Rubashkin also has a "powered industrial truck" violation.)

Additionally, State and Federal enforcement are not equal. While State Plan states must meet Federal requirements, enforcement of those requirements vary from state to state. Pennsylvania is not a State Plan state, and Empire's enforcement comes from Federal OSHA, which is considered stricter than some State Plan enforcement.

The price of non-glatt meat. Kosher today wrote: "The irony of it all is that kosher meat in many markets is more expensive than "glatt kosher" meat." This is part of the Justice Department's investigation into price-fixing in the kosher meat industry. Rubashkin is said to be a target of that investigation.

Rabbi Asher Zeilingold. Much of Rubashkin's defense comes down to the trustworthiness and veracity of Rabbi Asher Zeilingold. For details on him, please read this.

[I should also note that Rabbi Zeilingold is the rabbi who excommunicated me.]

UPDATE: 2-8-07– I have now confirmed the "OSHA inspection" was done by an employee of Federal OSHA on his own time. It was not a full inspection, was not sanctioned or approved by OSHA, and was arranged by Carlos Carbonera (this "inspector" is a friend of Carbonera's). OSHA's regional head Chuck Adkins told me again today that he will "bring the hammer down" on anyone, this inspector included, who uses OSHA's name without permission. He also pointed out that what this inspector did was a violation of OSHA's "internal rules and regulations." 

More here.

Comments

Also, the Forward article:

The articles in question that have caused the C's to vent so much spleen on the worker abuse issue did not cite any evidence about wages being the "lowest" in the industry, abusive management practices or worker intimidation. The best the Forward could do was one individual repeating an anonymous piece of hearsay opinion, again, without supporting citation. It was this flimsily constructed polemic that the C's have been hammering with great frequency to their congregations almost to the point of hysteria; a latter day instance of the "big lie".

Left unanswered in all of this is the question of whether individuals affiliated with the Forward were, in fact, organizing on behalf of labor unions against AP. That would tend to skew the objectivity of their reporting, would it not? Likewise, were C leaders, like Rabbi Allen, also involved in the unionization effort (that has failed, BTW)? Might that also factor into their attempt to foment a crisis among their congregants?

[Mike]

Kosher today is not a real journalistic outfit. They have no credibility at all regarding any of their stories. In fact they are the ones that produce and make allot of money from "kosherfest" in which (surprise) Rubashkin is one of their biggest clients.

All they do is pump up "kosher" so they can sell the "kosher today" product, and "consulting" so people hire them for their "services". Much of it is them just taking peoples money so they can realocate the "kosher" consumer to the person that is their client.

[D]

"Kosher today is not a real journalistic outfit."

No question about that. It is Menachem Lubinsky's forum for publishing the opinions of Menachem Lubinsky and advocating his business interests. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

/Jerry_Seinfeld

[Isa]

I read that piece on R. Zeilingold
They will probably excommincate Symarya a couple more times har har

[Ear to the Sidewalk.....]

Kosher Today is the mouth pice of Menchem Lubinsky, not the kosher food industry.

It runs 'stories' based on who pays and how much.

Although he sold KFest a few years back and Kosher Today was part of that sale, he writes pretty much all of KT himself, and the folks over at Diversified, that own KFest, don't know much about the kosher industry, so they just let him run what he wants.

I can't wait for the day they get suied for liable. It'll happen soon, all they need is the wrong person/company, to NOT be paying Lubinsky.

(BTW-- Wasn't it Lubinsky that was being paid to help with PR for Agri back in May? Who placed that full page ad for Agri in Forward........?)

[Anna]

I Live in Jerusalem, and I don't understand a lot of American matters.
But one thing. How St. Paul, rahmana l’tslan, could be a good name for Kosher food emporium? Even a smallest shop? Dovke St. Paul among all of them? :-))

Az mi reit fun malekh, kumt der galekh.

[D]

"How St. Paul, rahmana l’tslan, could be a good name for Kosher food emporium?"

Well, Satu Mare (lit. Saint Mary. pthaah!) is the name for a community of a quarter-million chassidim. Why begrudge a small store?

[Isa]

The store isn't named 'St. Paul' it has another name, forgot what it was though, but people will refer to it by naming the city it is in. The other Kosher outlet is in Minneapolis, but really is in St. Louis Park, for short people will refer to it as 'Park' or perhaps 'Minneapols'

[Yosef]

Stick to the facts. Read the record below. Empire had repeated serious violations. Agri none. Most of Agri's inspections are caused by Union member's complaints

By the way, it is a myth that state programs are less strict than the Federal program. Indeed the opposite is true.

http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.violation_detail?id=308476332&citation_id=02001

*************** EMPIRE
____Activity__Opened_____number of violations
1 116208190_07/28/2006__4 violations
2 308476332_02/07/2006__5 violations
3 112668835_04/16/2004__8 violations
4 305841132_04/16/2004__11 violations

*************** AGRIPROCESSOR
___Activity__Opened______number of violations
1 308263789_02/07/2006__2 .
2 308263797_02/07/2006__1
3 308263128_01/09/2006__3
4 309642155_12/07/2005__1
5 308262294_11/21/2005__0
6 308260702_08/25/2005__2
7 115098394_04/22/2004__1
8 115098972_11/12/2002__1
9 115098915_09/17/2002__1

[Shmarya]

I did stick to the facts. In fact, Agri DID have violations as noted. You wrote Agri had "none." Second, state plan states are often easier than Federal OSHA. Iowa is certainly in the easier group. It is a state known for lack enforcement against its only major industy – Ag Business.

[Elliot]

Stick to the facts. I am not interested in your interpretations of facts that do not vouch for your ideologies.

Why don't you mention the fact that the violations committed by Empire are as serious or worse than those by Agri? How is it possible for a group of rabbis to claim that they have no concerns with Empire given its historical record with OSHA? What about your theory of companies playing clean when the "inspectors" come? Doesn't that theory applies when the "inspectors" are Conservative Rabbis? (I bet it was not so easy for Empire to fool the OSHA inspectors.)

I do respect your concern for employees in general, but question the validity of your arguments when it comes to this one case against Agri. Your opinions against Agri are biased.

[Shmarya]

I am sticking to the facts. I researched this, spoke with OSHA, Stae Plan OSHA, independent experts, etc. Empire's violations – if they were based in Iowa rather than Pennsylvania – would be similar to Agri's, but with one difference. Agri's violations are GENERAL. They lacked OVERALL training, etc. This is NOT true with Empire. This backs up the original Forward report and the findings of the Conservative rabbis.

[Shmarya]

"Yosef" and "Elliot" share the same IP address and appear to be the same person. You've got to work pretty hard to get banned here, but you've done it.

[Elliot and Yosef]

Work pretty hard to be banned? Did we curse, use profane language, mention any type of offensive language? I believe not. The only thing we did is to disagree with you and give sound facts against your conspiracy theories.

By the way, you should learn one thing from OSHA. Repeated violations are those that are found in subsequent inspections. (That is they were warned in the first inspection, and found to be repeated on a second inspection.) Agri has no repeated violations. Empire does. Hence, Empire got big time penalties.

Your research on OSHA is flawed.

[Elliot and Yosef]

Work pretty hard to be banned? Did we curse, use profane language, mention any type of offensive language? I believe not. The only thing we did is to disagree with you and give sound facts against your conspiracy theories.

By the way, you should learn one thing from OSHA. Repeated violations are those that are found in subsequent inspections. (That is they were warned in the first inspection, and found to be repeated on a second inspection.) Agri has no repeated violations. Empire does. Hence, Empire got big time penalties.

Your research on OSHA is flawed.

[Shmarya]

1. Elliot and Yosef are the same person. That gets you banned.

2. I think you need to study what I wrote. Again, and why this is so difficult to catch I don't know, Iowa is noted for having WEAK enforcement against agribusiness. Also, the violations against Rubashkin are GENERAL. Again, that means LACKING PROPER SAFETY TRAINING and similar things, just what the Forward accurately reported.