Former Child Workers Describe Dangerous Work Conditions, Lack Of Training, No Age Checks

As you read this, remember that 24 underage workers – at least one 13 years old – were arrested in the May 12 raid that shook Agriprocessors to its core.

The raid was held during the day shift – many child workers worked the night shift and were not immediately arrested.

Iowa's Department of Labor now says at least 57 underage workers were working for Agriprocessors – most in horrible conditions – on the day of the raid.

Former child workers describe perilous environment
By HENRY C. JACKSON

POSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Luisa Lopez says no one asked about her age when she started working at the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant. She was 17, and within days she was on a fast-moving poultry production line, wielding a long, sharp pair of scissors.

"They never told me how to use them," Lopez said in Spanish. "Things moved so fast and I was always worried I would cut myself."

Yesenia Cordero, whose round baby face makes her look even younger than her 16 years, also said age was never an issue at the Agriprocessors plant, which state officials allege employed dozens of underage workers in an "egregious" violation of labor laws.

"I never think about how young I am," Cordero said. "I never think I shouldn't be here. I just think I need to work."

Former underage workers at the northeast Iowa plant describe a perilous environment where teenagers were asked to perform the tasks of grown men and women, often with little guidance.

They said that although their age and lack of skills were common knowledge inside the plant, they were subjected to the same conditions as everyone else and were quickly immersed in an aggressive, fast-paced operation. Under Iowa law, no one under the age of 18 can work on a meatpacking plant floor.

Cordero said she quickly grew to loathe coming to work inside the dank, cold walls of the plant. But she had no choice.

"I was providing for my family," she said. "It was the only way."

She and Lopez were among 389 undocumented workers arrested May 12 in an immigration raid at the plant that set a record for most arrests in a single-site enforcement effort. Their cases are being processed, but they are among those illegal immigrants who have been released for reasons such as caring for relatives.

Cordero's 18-year-old boyfriend, Henry Lopez, remains in custody. She said he was 14 and not even a high school freshman when he first picked up a long, razor-sharp knife and went to work on the slaughter line.

Cordero said Henry Lopez learned on the fly how to manage the dangerous blade and make the series of cuts required on the chickens that came whipping by him.

"He was brave," she said. "He did his work. He never was told what to do, but he never hurt himself with the knife." She said he never let on if he was scared.

Agriprocessors has emphatically denied state allegations that it knowingly allowed underage workers into its plant. On Wednesday, Menachem Lubinsky, a spokesman for Agriprocessors, said the company has cooperated with state officials and "protests the issuance of a press release that has patently been motivated by a desire to ride the crest of the wave of current public opinion adverse to Agri(processors)."

Company officials have said no further comment is forthcoming.

Cordero said Henry Lopez hadn't wanted her to work at the plant, but when she became pregnant he agreed that she could work there after the baby was born.

Cordero began in February, working in the plant's quality control department. A typical work week was six days, with long hours — sometimes more than 12 a day, with only intermittent overtime pay.

"We were always tired," she said.

Cordero cleaned up messes on the floor and made sure departments had enough ice to cool their products. She did not like the work, but she was content, she said, because she was helping to eke out a living for her burgeoning family.

She and her boyfriend were working when the plant was raided. They haven't seen each other since but have talked on the phone, she said.

Luisa Lopez said she hadn't wanted to work at the plant, but quit school to do so because her family needed the money. She said she never quite grew used to blood and gore she walked past on the floor, or to a verbally abusive boss she had complained about to no avail.

Luisa Lopez and Cordero both describe working at the plant as depressing, particularly in the summer. Cordero said she would long for outdoor work, like an agricultural job in Iowa's vast cornfields.

"When you work many hours, many days in the cold and it is warm outside it is very hard," she said. "You get so sad and tired."

In Postville, where the May immigration raid has deeply rattled residents, some said that new revelations and openness about the working conditions inside of Agriprocessors were an unexpected benefit.

"Maybe the closest thing to a good that I've seen out of this has been that it revealed how badly people were treated at Agriprocessors," said the Rev. Lloyd Paul Ouderkirk of St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church. "... It's like out of a ghost story, but it's true."

Comments

[Archie Bunker]

Maybe someone can explain to Lubinsky that even if Rubashkin is on his best behavior now, it doesn't absolve him of all his earlier crimes.

Keep protesting, you imbecile.

[jewinmyheart]

Another Jew dead!

http://hamercaz.com/hamercaz/site/news_item.php?id=668

Why do these stories keep getting swept under the rug? The frum community has a substance abuse problem. Wake up and address it!

Or is everyone waiting until it happens to MY child?

Hey Jewinmyheart -

As I mentioned in the other place I saw you posted this, obviously it is not being swept under the rug by the Orthodox - Hamercaz.com IS an ORTHODOX news site and they are reporting it.

What more do you want? People like you love accusing the Orthodox establishment of cover-ups and conspiracies even when there is none going on.

[moss]

So where is Getzl with his inciteful comments?

[Getzel Rubashkin]

*laughing* My inciteful comments?

Well, some of the information in that report is obviously incorrect to any reader, such as

"picked up a long, razor-sharp knife and went to work on the slaughter line.

Cordero said Henry Lopez learned on the fly how to manage the dangerous blade and make the series of cuts required on the chickens that came whipping by him."

No non-Jewish worker would be given a knife and put to work on the slaughter line.

I would also point out the "inciteful" sentence "She said he never let on if he was scared." Basically, there is no reason to believe he was scared, but let's make it sound like he may have been bravely hiding his fear.

Apart from that, this article is full of inaccuracies, one of which is the fact that Henry Lopez's job did not entail using a knife. He worked in Quality Control and he handled a clipboard and thermometer.

I believe the reporter was contacted. Look for a corrected AP story.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Takin' Care of Agribusiness (apologies to BTO)

You get up every morning
From your alarm clock's warning
Take the 8:15 into the Postville
There's a whistle up above
And people pushin', people shovin'
And the girls who work in that landfill

And if your One Force van's on time
You can get to work by nine
And start your slaving job to get no pay
If you ever get annoyed
No one cares, 'cause you're a Goy
They close their ears when you schrei "Oy vey!"

And they'll be...
[Refrain]
Taking care of Rubbishcan every day
Taking care of troublemakers every way
I've been taking care of business, like a coal mine
Taking care of kids' work and working overtime
Work out!

If it were easy as nature
You could be a kosher butcher
If you could schect the cows as they bellow
Get a second-hand knife
Chances are you'll get a life
If you get in with the right bunch of fellows

People come from Long Island
While you're lying in heartland
Tell them that kids like it this way
But the press that we avoid
Ask us things, we get annoyed
We love to work at slaving all day

And we be...
[Refrain]

[Spoken] Take good care of bad publicity
Five-double-yea, every day whoo!

[Repeat first 2 verses]

[Refrain]

Takin' care of Rubbishcan [4x]

[Refrain]

Takin' care of Agriproc [repeat, fade]

[steve]

I wouldn't call his comments "inciteful", but they're not "insightful" either.

[Getzel Rubashkin]

ohhh, that's what he meant.

[rebitzman]

++She said he was 14 and not even a high school freshman when he first picked up a long, razor-sharp knife and went to work on the slaughter line. ++

Say what?

Agri has been accused of a lot of things - as far as I can recall, having the hired help engage in the process of kosher killing was not one of them.

[Shmarya]

That knife, not a halaf, is used to dismember the animal.

[rebitzman]

++That knife, not a halaf, is used to dismember the animal.++

Read it again "went to work on the slaughter line".

[Shmarya]

The slaughter line includes post slaughter dismemberment, at least the early stages of it.