Rabbi Wiessmandl Denies Agriprocessors' Rabbis Walkout – Just A "Friendly Conversation" With Heshy Rubashkin

As first reported here, Agriprocessors' shochtim and rabbinic supervisors walked off the job yesterday because they have not been paid in a very long time.

Rabbi Menachem Meir Wiessmandl, Agriprocessors' chief supervising rabbi, now denies yesterday's walkout was, in fact, a walkout.

Rabbi Wiessmandl said…

…the rabbis simply had a friendly discussion with Heshy Rubashkin, the brother of Agriprocessors' Postville boss Sholom M. Rubashkin.

But what about stopping the production line? Why did this "friendly discussion" take place during work hours when production would have to stop?

The timing, Rabbi Wiessmandl told The Jewish Star, was “shlemazeldik.” Kind of like an episode of Laverne and Shirley, I suppose.

Weissmandl and Agriprocessors' spokesman, Menachem Lubinsky, both tried to spin issues behind the walkout to be reduced pay caused by fewer shifts, and that caused by the immigration raid.

Lubinsky, however, told the JTA the rabbis may also have been angry over what he called the increased “lag” between when they work and are paid. In English, this means a rabbi works a full week. The following Friday, he asks for his paycheck. The paycheck isn't there. Several weeks pass like this. The rabbi keeps working but doesn't gets paid.

Lubinsky said this problem had been "simmering" for awhile.

According to the Jewish Star,

…[Wiessmandl] admitted that there have been delays in paying the shochtim and mashgichim, as reported, though he wouldn’t say on the record how long those delays have been. He denied that the delays have been as long as nine weeks.

Payroll lags of 2-3 weeks are commonplace in the kosher meat industry, according to Rabbi Weissmandl. He compared routine delays in meeting payroll to those commonly experienced by rebbeim and teachers in financially ailing yeshivas. The delays were the result of the company’s current legal predicament, he said. …

Here is what the facts are, based on several different Postville sources and the media reports quoted above:

1. The delay in payment is longer than 3 weeks – 8 weeks seems plausible.

2. Despite Rabbi Wiessmandl's' claim, the rabbis did walk out.

3. I've been told by several sources that Sholom Rubashkin castigated the rabbis for walking out, telling them that is a "chillul hashem."

4. Sholom Rubashkin promised to pay the rabbis something by the end of yesterday's shift.

5. Complaints about reduced hours do exist, but they are secondary to the larger issue of extremely late pay.

6. Yesterday's "conversation" with Heshy Rubashkin wasn't particularly friendly.

But it is this quote from the Jewish Star that puts the spotlight where it should be:

Rabbi Weissmandl said that the Agriprocessors company has been meeting its financial obligations to him in a timely manner. He confirmed that the mashgichim and shochtim are technically his employees but said that the money to pay them ultimately comes from Agriprocessors. He declined to say whether it is he or the Rubashkins who personally sign the shochtims’ paychecks.

The paychecks are issued by Agriprocessors, not by Rabbi Wiessmandl. This means shochtim and mashgichim in effect work for Agriprocessors.

Even with all of the Rubashkin family's legal and ethical problems, it seems the OU, Supreme Kosher and other kosher supervising agencies see nothing wrong in having their shochtim and mashgichim paid by Agriprocessors.

Many kosher consumers would be shocked to learn this, even though similar arrangements are standard in the kosher industry. That is why Rabbi Menachem Meir Wiessmandl, won't admit the truth.

Comments

[yidandahalf]

MAJOR damage control by McHechsher here. The OU shtempel has to keep going boys, if Rubbishcan can't get it right someone else will step in and do it. Looks like that to ol' yee haw here anyway. But I do go off the deep end from time to time I admit.
In the meantime I guess we won't be seeing many of those shots of smiling rabbis outside Agri with the balmy Iowa breezes lifting their pristine lab coats.

[EndingSuperstition]

ok so now we see even more gory consequences of this ole food superstition.

thats right the whole kosher food thing is technically just a food superstition.

kinda like the saturday superstition or the oral bris superstition or the stone the adulteress/curser of parents superstition.

astrology is also a popular superstition among women and homosexuals.

you can draw the venn diagram urself and see the obvious conclusion here.

[EndingSuperstition]

ok so now we see even more gory consequences of this ole food superstition.

thats right the whole kosher food thing is technically just a food superstition.

kinda like the saturday superstition or the oral bris superstition or the stone the adulteress/curser of parents superstition.

astrology is also a popular superstition among women and homosexuals.

you can draw the venn diagram urself and see the obvious conclusion here.

[State of Postville 2]

Archie - Tear this guy up...he's obviously not carrying a rabbit's foot!

On a more serious note, one of my new OneForce neighbors works in salting (you should see the poor kid's arms) and said the line only stopped yesterday for about 60 seconds. Then some "new rabbi, just a kid I've never seen before" came back and started throwing salt. He had never been back there before and started throwing salt from the "gray barrels", the salt swept up from the floor. My new neighbor kid stopped him pretty quickly, but he wondered out loud last night why some of the rabbis don't seem to know anything about how the kosher production works.

[Archie Bunker]

As seen in Mission Impossible III, people would kill for a rabbit's foot.

Anyway, the guy is too inarticulate to impress people so I'm not going to waste my breath on him.

[state of the Jews]

I'm confused. Sounds to me like mashgichim and shochtim receive two checks: one from Agri and one from Wiessmandl. Two checks for one payday. Hmmm, no wonder the IRS was in on the raid. Heard they took ALL financial records. Of course the poor shnooks who get hurt by this will be the mashgichim and shochtim. Can't imagine why they are still working for Agri and haven't "gotten out of Dodge."

[steve]

The timing, Rabbi Wiessmandl told The Jewish Star, was “shlemazeldik.” Kind of like an episode of Laverne and Shirley, I suppose.

I don't think Laverne and Shirley ever stopped the production line at Shotz Brewery. Waiting for YL's Laverne & Shirley parody: "Give us any chance we'll take it, give us any rule we'll break it, etc."

[Shmarya]

I'm confused. Sounds to me like mashgichim and shochtim receive two checks: one from Agri and one from Wiessmandl. Two checks for one payday

They get one check from Agri.

[state of the Jews]

That depends on when.
I heard differently, but they may have stopped the practice.

[rebitzman]

++the rabbis simply had a friendly discussion with Heshy Rubashkin++

I'm not sure such a thing is even possible, but..........