Agriprocessors' Compliance Officer Told Rabbis Of Pre-Raid Compliance And Safety Problems

By now most of you know the Jewish Press, Yated Neeman's editor, and the Five Towns Jewish Times (owned by a Chabad follower) have all printed articles (in the case of the 5TJT, several articles) "clearing" Agriprocessors based on the one-day Agriprocessors-paid junket to Postville these "journalists" participated in.

These "journalists" have deemed the charges against Agriprocessors lashon hara, the same lashon hara, they say, spun against another successful non-union company which does good and is good –WalMart.

And haredi blogs like…

But there is far more to this…

…VIN parrot these "journalists" and Lerner.

Like Rabbi Pesach Lerner and other rabbis shilling for Rubashkin, these journalists are liars.

Jim Martin, Agriprocessors' compliance officer brought in after the raid, and the new safety officer he brought in, both told the rabbis and "journalists" that there were numerous problems at Agriprocessors before each was hired, and both told the rabbis and "journalists" they were working hard to fix them.

Yet Yated Ne'eman, the Jewish Press, and the Five Towns Jewish Times ignore that fact, "reporting" the story as if nothing had ever been amiss at Agriprocessors.

The sin of these "journalists" is compounded because they did not meet with any displaced Agriprocessors workers. They did not meet with any of the local clergy involved in feeding, housing, clothing and treating them.

The minister they did meet with, Gary Catterson of the Presbyterian church, is closely connected with Postville's monied elite and has been close to the Rubashkins for years. Pesach Lerner refused to set up meetings with the other clergy or with displaced workers, or with current workers off-site.

When he, at last minute, finally agreed to a meting with other clergy only – no unions, no workers, Lerner said, despite his later claim denying this – Lerner scheduled that meeting at the end of the tour, and then made it perfectly clear to all the other rabbis that attending that meeting would probably cause them to miss their planes, and Lerner would not be able to help them get new flights – or pay for them, if need be.

Of the 24 other participants, only 3 joined Lerner for that meeting.

One, Rabbi David Eiezrie, is a Chabad spokesman and shaliach who has been helping the Rubashkin family with the media. He knew about the meeting earlier and, with Lerner, planned the group's response to it.

The third rabbi was Daniel Moscowitz, another Chabad shaliach who is close to the Rubashkin family and to Eliezrie.

The fourth rabbi is a Minneapolis community rabbi who drove to Postville and who did not need to worry about missing a flight.

So, even though Yated Neeman, the Jewish Press and the 5TJT did not speak to any advocates for displaced workers, each paper printed stories smearing those advocates and "exonerating" Agriprocessors.

Luke Ford has already noted the similarity between this company-paid junket to Postville and the Red Cross' exoneration of the Nazis during WW2.

As for Jim Martin, he now has multiple examples of Agriprocessors misusing his work. A truly honest man would not allow this to stand. But Jim Martin does.

[Hat Tip for the 5TJT lashon hara article: DK.]

Comments

[Archie Bunker]

How do you know what Jim Martin told them? Do you have a mole that was there?

[Archie Bunker]

There hasn't been much hoopla about the new safety officer. Who is he and what are his credentials?

[Shmarya]

How do you know what Jim Martin told them? Do you have a mole that was there?

I have a reliable source.

There hasn't been much hoopla about the new safety officer. Who is he and what are his credentials?

He's a former OSHA guy, I think. I don't remember his name off hand.

[Archie Bunker]

I'm not saying it couldn't have happened this way, but WE don't know who the source is.

Also, for Jim Martin to be candid with Pesach Lerner's bunch, he would have to have the green light from Sholom Rubashkin. I just don't see Rubashkin allowing his chief troubleshooter to spill the beans about all kinds of problems.

[Shmarya]

I'm not saying it couldn't have happened this way, but WE don't know who the source is.

And you won't know, at least for awhile.

Also, for Jim Martin to be candid with Pesach Lerner's bunch, he would have to have the green light from Sholom Rubashkin. I just don't see Rubashkin allowing his chief troubleshooter to spill the beans about all kinds of problems.

I don't think Martin went into any great detail.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

The safety guy is Trent Gorton, hired before the raid, although Shmarya would never disclose that because that would indicate that Agriprocessors has an interest in addressing safety concerns that predates the raid. So much for full disclosure.

You know that four-letter word you like to mockingly attribute to Agri's defenders? Spin?

Well you seem to be quite practiced at it yourself.

When a story is dismissed as being out of context or inaccurate, you mock the plausibility and portray AgriP as being unwilling to accept that there are issues that need to be addressed.

When company officials discuss issues of concern and how they are being addressed, that is somehow a strike against the company too, and should have been noted as such in reporting.

Spinnn

[Shmarya]

I love the way Getzel is so sure I'm lying.

He was hired before the raid – true, I erred. But he was hired in response to the largest fines ever leveled on an employer in Iowa due to workplace safety issues.

How convenient Getzel RUBASHKIN – even quick to accuse me of lying – forgets to mention that.

[Shmarya]

*** ever quick

[Getzel Rubashkin]

He was hired in response to safety concerns. His hiring was a commitment by the company to address those concerns. His hiring was not in response to the fines and was not associated with them. If you have anything that indicates that, please share.

At what point did I say you are lying?

[Archie Bunker]

Trent Gorton used to be the compliance officer at Schweigert Foods in Freeborn, Minnesota.

Lubinsky has a puff piece on the Rubashkin junket in which he quotes Gorton as saying Agri is "99% in compliance with OSHA requirements".

Yeah sure.

[Shmarya]

Please.

He was hired during IOW OSHA's crackdown on Agriprocessors.

As for me, you accused me of intentionally writing that he was hired after the raid, and doing so to make Agriprocessors look bad.

If someone intentionally makes a false statement, he has lied – you know, like your cousin did.

[Archie Bunker]

Shmarya should check this out.

Lubinsky also claims among other things that:

- Rubashkin is now giving workers medical, dental & vacation benefits.

- Church leaders refuse to meet with Rubashkin

- provides this preposterous quote from Weissmandel: “The kashrus at Agriprocessors is the soul of kashrus in America,”

- implies Rubashkin is the environmental goodwill ambassador (with no mention of Agri's crimes in that regard)

[Shmarya]

Link?

[Archie Bunker]

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:c9Qg1tMbVbAJ:www.koshertoday.com/news.asp+%22Trent+Gorton%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

[Getzel Rubashkin]

Hit the Staw Man!

++The safety guy is Trent Gorton, hired before the raid, although Shmarya would never disclose that++

I pointed out an omission. Not a lie.
Does that make your statement that I said you lied, a lie? I'll let you figure it out.

Nor did you address the main point of my comment.

[steve]

“The kashrus at Agriprocessors is the soul of kashrus in America,”

The soul of kashrus is rotten to the core in America. In that respect, I totally agree with Lubinsky. Rubashkin is the poster boy for all that's wrong with kasrus today. It's also befitting that Shill Lubinsky's magazine is entitled "Kosher Today".

[Shmarya]

Hit the Staw Man!

++The safety guy is Trent Gorton, hired before the raid, although Shmarya would never disclose that++

I pointed out an omission. Not a lie.
Does that make your statement that I said you lied, a lie? I'll let you figure it out.

Here is what Getzel Rubashkin originally wrote. You can see he does not point out an "omission" – he points out an intentional omission of fact allegedly done to mislead raders:The safety guy is Trent Gorton, hired before the raid, although Shmarya would never disclose that because that would indicate that Agriprocessors has an interest in addressing safety concerns that predates the raid. So much for full disclosure.

You know that four-letter word you like to mockingly attribute to Agri's defenders? Spin?

Well you seem to be quite practiced at it yourself.Now Getzel tries to lie by parsing his words by taking a small portion of his quote out of its context.

What a dishonest little creep you are.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

I pointed out an omission which reflects your bias. Call it an intentional omission. That is not a lie, although it is hardly honest, as you're so eager to point out when Mr. Lubinsky fails to mention that he is a consultant for Agri.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

I took a part of the quote for the sake of brevity. The quote in its entirety does not change anything.

[Shmarya]

I pointed out an omission which reflects your bias. Call it an intentional omission. That is not a lie, although it is hardly honest, as you're so eager to point out when Mr. Lubinsky fails to mention that he is a consultant for Agri.

Please.

You're dishonest Getzel. You lied.

As for Lubinsky, he is a paid consultant for Agriprocessors who pretended to be an impartial industry observer and then shilled for Agriprocessors.

He got caught. Your family and Agriprocessors never apologized for Lubinsky's misbehavior, just as it continues to refuse to apologize for so much else wrong done by %WPR.

[Shmarya]

I took a part of the quote for the sake of brevity. The quote in its entirety does not change anything.

Doesn't change anything?

Really?

Honesty is not a Rubashkin character trait.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

There it is again. Repetition to make Lenin proud.

I explained myself clearly. The full quote does no more than the clipped version I used to make what I said an accusation that you lied.

In response to that explanation you repeated your accusation. Very convincing, man.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

You are also avoiding my main point which was that you have been critical of statements that you took to mean there are no issues. Now that you hear someone discussing issues and how they are being addressed you portray that also as a negative.

[Shmarya]

No, Getzel.

The issue is just as Temple Grandin said. We need third party unannounced inspections. Without that, your family and company has proved they cannot be trusted.

And none of this changes your lie.

[Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie]

I am not interested in entering into a long he said she said with Shmaya however I feel it is important to clear up the facts about the meeting with members of St. Bridget.

1. Less than 24 hours before the trip we received a fax letter from the Archbishop and then shortly afterward a second request from St. Bridget asking the group to meet with them. We could of easily ignored the request, said we got it too late etc.
2. Rabbi Lerner felt strongly this should be done. I agreed as did others. I called the church and finally reached the lay minister Paul and said we would be glad to meet him and we would attempt to modify the schedule. I told him our only conditions was that there be no press at the meeting. I did not tell him no workers. I was concerned that instead of real conversation it would be a public spectacle if the press was present.
3. We set up the meeting for 2 PM. There had been a thundershower that created a power outage delaying our entering the plant and things had shlepped. I called the Church to tell them we would be late. Rabbi Lerner announced to the group that whoever wanted should stay and they would need to change their tickets. This would have been at the expense of Rubashkin. I and Lerner called the travel agents to change our flights to stay. Two other rabbis, one of whom was driving also stayed.
4. We were surprised when we came to the meeting and there was no workers. Our conditions had been no press. They had misunderstood us.
5. We listened to the concerns of Mr. Rael and his associate and later communicated them to them management. We also suggested that there be a system of regular meetings between management and the Paul Rael and his associate. We left our our cards and numbers and remain committed to continue this process of exploring in depth specific cases of alleged abuse and seek solutions.

I am sure that Shmaya will question our efforts motives etc. However anyone of the group could have stayed and no one is being prevented in returning and meeting with the people from St. Bridgets. One of the great tragedies is the lack of communication between them and the church leaders. With a bit of conversation many some real issues could be resolved and if some people are truly deserving of assistance that could be facilitated.

I think the plant management is open and I am hopeful that Mr. Rael and friends will also be.

On a personal note the flight that night was canceled, the one also the next morning from Dubuque. I had to drive 3 hours to Chicago and finally flew to LA at 2 PM arriving home an hour before Shabbos after fighting rush hour traffic in LA.

Some junket.

[Isa]

Mr. Rubashkin:
You and your enterprise are in a deep dark hole. Want to get out of it?
Hire Temple Grandin to come tell what changes that you need to implement and implement them. It will not cost you much.
And give her a free round trip air ticket to come any time unannounced.
You will get a load of people off your back.
Isa

[Shmarya]

Rabbi Eliezrie –

1. The junket was originally planned with no meeting with St. Bridget's or any other critics of Agriprocessors.

2. It was those critics who forced that meeting to happen.

3. St. Bridget's meeting was eft for last when it should have been first.

4. Telling rabbis at 2 pm that, well there's this other meeting but you'll probably miss your planes, is not exactly encouraging people to participate.

5. The condition from day one was no union, no workers. Rabbi Lerner himself publicly said no union, and claimed that workers were left off by error.

6. What you did, Rabbi, is take a free trip from your friend and use that trip to kasher his crimes.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

++Shmarya said: And none of this changes your lie.++

Which you have still failed to point out. Again, I pointed out an omission. Did you, or did you not, omit the fact that Trent was hired before the raid? What did I say that was a lie?

As a matter of fact, rereading your post you actually said "Jim Martin, Agriprocessors' compliance officer brought in after the raid, and the new safety officer he brought in," clearly and falsely implying that the safety officer was brought in by Jim Martin, who himself was hired after the raid.

I guess it was more than an omission. It was an inaccuracy, or what you would call a lie.

You should have left well enough alone.

++Isa said: Hire Temple Grandin to come tell what changes that you need to implement and implement them. It will not cost you much.++

That was done, and her suggestions implemented.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

Incidentally, Isa, wouldn't paying her ticket render her incapable of critical thought, reducing her trip to a farce during which she will doubtlessly give Agri a clean bill of health?

[Shmarya]

++Shmarya said: And none of this changes your lie.++

Which you have still failed to point out. Again, I pointed out an omission. Did you, or did you not, omit the fact that Trent was hired before the raid? What did I say that was a lie?

As a matter of fact, rereading your post you actually said "Jim Martin, Agriprocessors' compliance officer brought in after the raid, and the new safety officer he brought in," clearly and falsely implying that the safety officer was brought in by Jim Martin, who himself was hired after the raid.

I guess it was more than an omission. It was an inaccuracy, or what you would call a lie.

You should have left well enough alone.

Perhaps it's your lack of a good secular education. But you either do not understand simple English or you are lying.

Again, you wrote:The safety guy is Trent Gorton, hired before the raid, although Shmarya would never disclose that because that would indicate that Agriprocessors has an interest in addressing safety concerns that predates the raid. So much for full disclosure.
You know that four-letter word you like to mockingly attribute to Agri's defenders? Spin?

Well you seem to be quite practiced at it yourself.What you wrote means:

1. I chose to leave out the correct information, that Gorton was hire before the raid.

2. That I would not correctly report this because UI want to skew coverage.

3. That I do what I accuse Agri PR people of doing – lying.At the same time, Getzel, you failed to tell readers that Gorton was hired as IOWA OSHA cracked down, leveling the largest fines in state history against Agriprocessors.

In other words, state enforcement, not federal enforcement, forced that change.

Yet you falsely try to leave the impression that Agriprocessors was working on its own, without outside pressure, to make these changes.

And you accuse me of lying about that to skew coverage.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

Ohhh, now I get it. Every time you say spin you mean "lie" and you thought I was saying you lied. Well then, allow me to educate.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Definition 7: to present (as information) with a particular spin .

The only way in which the OSHA fines would have relevance to Trent's hiring would be if it was part of negotiations with OSHA that he, or someone like him, be hired. That is not the case, to my knowledge.

The fact that there were safety issues which were not in compliance with OSHA standards perhaps brought home the fact that Agri needed a pro, but to imply that leaving out that fact is lack of disclosure of an important factor in his hire... well, you simply do not have any evidence that suggests that it was, and neither do I.

[Shmarya]

You really are foolish, Gertzel. You accused me of omitting information to make Agriprocessors look bad because I would never show that "Agriprocessors has an interest in addressing safety concerns that predates the raid."

But, along with accusing me of INTENTIONALLY distorting what I wrote, you made this statement:
"The safety guy is Trent Gorton, hired before the raid, although Shmarya would never disclose that because that would indicate that Agriprocessors has an interest in addressing safety concerns that predates the raid.…"But you, Getzel Rubashkin, did not tell readers that Gorton was hired in the middle of IOWA OSHA slamming Agriprocessors with the largest safety-related fines ever handed down to a Iowa business.

Agriprocessors "interest" in addressing safety concerns predated the raid because those fines predated the raid, not because Agriprocessors decided on its own to improve the lives of its workforce.

So you, Getzel Rubashkin, did exactly what you wrongly accused me of doing.

[sparky]

There is talk around Postville that Agri "let go" around 130 people last week due to "work performance." 130??!! WTF!! Why?! We heard it was because Agri had to pay this group of workers more than the "minimum wage" they are used to paying workers. These Rubashkins are a real piece of work- I can't wait for this place to dry up and crumble!! AGRI- leave our town!!
You've worn out your welcome!! Go screw someone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bilo]

Sparky says - "Go screw someone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

If Agriprocessors left "your town", the ones that would get screwed the hardest is YOUR TOWN.

- DooWayne -

[sparky]

We were just fine before Rubbishcan came here- we'll be fine again. Some peace and quiet would be welcomed!! Maybe some "decent, respectable businesses" would finally decide to come here!! Postville does not depend on Agri to survive!!!!

[Getzel Rubashkin]

First of all, Shmarya, we have since established that your sin was not omission, as I originally pointed out, but inaccuracy, or "a lie," as you like to call it.

You then accused me of lying when I pointed out an omission and your bias.

The connection between the OSHA fines and the hiring of Trent Gorton is a connection you have baselessly made, without backing up.

In fact, although most news stories made it sound like it the fines had been reduced after the raid, they were actually reduced in April, I believe, and Trent was not on board at the time nor was he involved in that process in any way.

In addition, he has been authorized to hire additional qualified staff for his department, another indication that Agri is committed to safety, which also refutes your claim that the fines were a major factor in hiring Trent, because there are no OSHA issues right now on which to blame the additional safety pros.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

Sparky - work performance means they were not doing a good job.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

And Shmarya, allow me to add that you have still not addressed my point which was that for a guy who is critical of what you see as Agri's inability to admit that there are issues, you take quite a negative view of the fact that pros were brought in to address the issues.

"As I waited patiently for my flight which kept on being delayed, my attention switched to the TV screen broadcasting to the spaced-out people at the airport gate. I thought I heard someone say the name Postville, so I looked up. It was CNN. "

So Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, editor of Yated Neemnan, calls everyone ELSE spaced out because they are watching TV, but when HE does it, it is okay.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Sparky: If Agri closes the plant, I'm sure someone will buy it, and hopefully operate it more ethically. Agri fulfills a need (for kosher meat), and the market will respond if they're not there anymore.