BREAKING! Forward Exposes Widespread Abuses At Agriprocessors' Brooklyn Distribution Center

The very bad boys of the Rubashkin family just keep giving.

Agriprocessors has refused to recognize its employees' vote to unionize. It has appealed the National Labor Relations Board decisions ordering Agriprocessors to recognize the union, losing each appeal, as reported here 8 months ago. Agriprocessors is now appealing to the Supreme Court in what is clearly a delaying tactic – the Supreme Court is unlikely to hear Agriprocessors' appeal because it clearly has no merit.

Meanwhile, read all about the men who ship your "glatt kosher" meat:

…The brown-brick meat market in Brooklyn also houses two other kosher meat distributors, Eastern Meats and International Glatt Kosher Meats. Both of these companies have a unionized work force that has health care benefits, paid sick time and a starting salary above the minimum wage.

“Every job has its downside,” said Dave Young, regional organizing director for United Food and Commercial Workers. “But for the most part, International is a decent place to work. The workers have been there for years. It doesn’t have to be like it is at Agri.”

A clearer picture of life inside the plant arises from conversations with people who know the company and from documents surrounding the court case. The basic grievances were summed up in a flier handed out during the strike.…

Pay stub information compiled by the union suggest that in late 2005, workers were being paid $6.50 or $7 an hour with no benefits. At the time, the minimum wage in New York State was $6 an hour. It is now $7.15.

Organizers for the UFCW, showed up in 2005 and began talking to the workers. Employees from that time told the Forward that managers quickly tried to stop them from interacting with the union representatives.

“I heard that whoever would sign the papers would get fired; that’s when I moved to get another job,”…

A few weeks after the election, the union filed a complaint that the company had fired the employee who had been the union’s election observer.…

The above quotes are a small piece of the much larger Forward exposé written by news editor Nathaniel Popper.

Read it all:
In Rubashkins’ Backyard, Another Tale of Labor Strife

In Rubashkins Backyard, Another Tale of Labor Strife.pdf

Decision Against Agriprocessors by the US Court of Appeals.

Comments

[Yankel der Ganiv]

Shmarya,

You need to chill. Maybe your mole at Agri can help you score some of that Meth they make in Postville.

Whereas the stuff your write is often true, and I think you are doing holy work, Your hatred for all things Lubavitch and Frum permeates your writing and casts aspersions on most of your claims.

You expect us to believe that every Lubavitcher is corrupt and lying. Every Orthodox/Frum Jew is corrupt or has ulterior motives. Every journalist is on Chabad's doll (Sue Fishoff is of course the exception). Even the editor of the Yated (who went on the Lubinsky/Agri funded trip to Postville) is now a shill for Lubavitch.

(Yudel krinsky is probably a big fan of your site. Where else will he read that Lubavitch runs the media and wields such control)

Simultaneously, you want us to believe that none of your unnamed sources have axes to grind. You expect us to never questions your motives despite your obvious contempt to all things frum/lubavitch.

In the constant appeals to authority that appear in your writing, you expect us to accept that every Conservative/Reform institution is a paragon of righteousness and every Conservative/Reform/non-practicing Jew is an honest and ethical person. Please ... Its tiring. When you get a moment, read the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. We don't say every Reform Jew is a philanderer, despite Eliot Spitzer. JTS has been trying to displace poor people in Washington Heights as part of its planned expansion. We don't say not to trust any Conservative rabbi being ordained by an organization that wants to toss old ladies onto the streets. Milken's name is still on the Largest Jewish high school in America (and affiliated with the Reform Movement). A student at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles (conservative) was tossed out of school for accusing a former dean of sexually harassing her.

Still don't stop doing what you are doing. You are doing holy work, despite all the baggage that comes along with it.

[rebitzman]

++you expect us to accept that every Conservative/Reform institution is a paragon of righteousness and every Conservative/Reform/non-practicing Jew is an honest and ethical person.{++

Who the hell has said anything close to this?

I am one of the fiercest Conservatives who participates here, and I regularly take my movement to task - and have referenced specific Conservative rabbis in the context of sexual malfeasance discussions in an effort to make sure that people know - abuse is not limited to Orthodoxy - neither is the covering up of said abuse.

Keep reading, Yankel - keep reading.

[rebitzman]

++You need to chill. Maybe your mole at Agri can help you score some of that Meth they make in Postville.++

"Chill" and "Meth" really don't belong in the same conversation.

[Rachel Batya]

Yankel,

I'm not sure whether you're responding to the article at hand or have been reaching the boiling point for some time. Given that the article in question mentions International Glatt Kosher Meats as a company with a unionized work force, health care benefits, paid sick time, and and good wages, I can't see how Shmarya is casting aspersions on all of Orthodoxy here.

As for Shmarya believing that all non-Orthodox Jews are peaceful and ethical beings--I've not seen any evidence of that idea. Shmarya is writing about the world that he knows and that pains him, just as I write about the non-O world that I know, which is hardly a paradise.

[uncle joe mccarthy]

Yankel der Ganiv,

please...all shmarya is doing is pointing out that the rubashkins are corrupt and greedy.

[sage]

How many more Agri Distribution Centers are there in the US?

How many of these are abusing their workers?

My guess: ALL.

[State of Postville]

There is an Agri distribution center in Miami, Florida and Brooklyn, NY.

[Archie Bunker]

Rubashkin seems to have knocked off the color scheme & font type of the Brunckhorst's company's trucks for the "Boar's Head" brand. Agri should go one step further and rename themselves PigheadedProcessors.

[Kelly]

Yankel - If Shmarya only covered the good points of any denomination, or the kindness and compassion shown in slaughterhouses..(is there any?) his blog would not be read so widely, be so popular and provide a place in which to comment without restraints. If Shmarya Chills - what would we do? Rock on Shmarya, Your'e "hot"!

[Carol Ann Varley]

{you need to chill}

He does chill! Shmarya on ICE!

(he covered that well)

[Private]

I am a ba'al tshuva for 8 years and three years in I saw so many disgusting things, so many horrible things from Jewish people in power, specifically Rabbis, that I hate being Jewish. You wonder way Kla'l Yisrael is headed in the direction that it is .... look at our leaders, they're a mess.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Dear Private: I am BT gone bad, to some extent. I still observe many things, because I believe in the ideals of the torah, and I like the lifestyle. I have also met many wonderful people. Stay with us and fight the good fight. I have my own horror stories, some of which I've posted here. But I still remain. Remember the reasons why you fell in love with Judaism. They are still valid. Surround yourself with good people- and not only good frum people- who can support you. And fight the creeps who are undermining our religion with their mendacity.