South Pacific Workers Coming To Agriprocessors – To Postville On Promises Made And Broken Many Times Before

As first reported here 15 days ago, Agriprocessors is about to ship in workers from the South Pacific. So what happens if these South Pacific Islanders don't like working for Agriprocessors? How would they get home when home is 8000 miles away?

The labor recruiter working with Agriprocessors has an answer:

…The Marianas Variety newspaper reported this week that a Palauan senator had warned citizens about controversy at Agriprocessors, including allegations of labor-law violations, which the company has denied. Palauan employment recruiter Webster Franz countered by saying if the workers don't like the Agriprocessors jobs, they could apply for positions at other U.S. employers.…

"The fact that Agriprocessors is being forced to recruit workers from eight thousand miles away from Postville is pretty telling," UFCW spokesman Scott Frotman wrote in an e-mail to the Des Moines Register.

"These men and women are probably the only people left who have not heard about the atrocious treatment of workers at the plant. We are extremely concerned that they will get to Postville, learn about the conditions and false promises and be forced to stay because of travel-related expenses and incurred debt."…

Exactly how many of those "other U.S. employers" are located in or nearby Postville, Iowa?

Very few. Unfortunately, workers from Palau do not know this.

Here's the Des Moines Register report:

Report: Palauans prepare to make trip to Postville
BY TONY LEYS

The prospect of South-Pacific islanders moving to Iowa to work in a meatpacking plant appears to be moving toward reality.

A newspaper in Palau reported this week that at least 25 citizens of the tiny country are preparing to travel to Postville, where they would seek jobs at the Agriprocessors plant. A consultant for the meatpacker acknowledged Thursday that managers have talked with an intermediary trying to broker the deal.

Agriprocessors is rebuilding production in the wake of a May 12 raid in which federal agents arrested nearly 400 workers who were in the United States illegally. The company has denied knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, and it has promised that all its replacement workers will be legal.

Earlier this month, the company said it didn't know anything about reports that an employment recruiting company was seeking workers for Agriprocessors in Palau, which is near the Philippines.

Citizens of Palau and neighboring island countries can work legally in the United States. Unlike people from most foreign countries, they don't need "green card" permits. That's because the countries used to be United Nations territories that were overseen by the United States, and they signed "Compacts of Free Association" with the American government after they became independent in the 1980s and 1990s.

Agriprocessors consultant Menachem Lubinsky said Thursday that no deal has been reached. He said company managers do not know how many workers might be coming from Palau to Postville, or whether those potential employees have the necessary skills.

The Marianas Variety newspaper reported this week that a Palauan senator had warned citizens about controversy at Agriprocessors, including allegations of labor-law violations, which the company has denied. Palauan employment recruiter Webster Franz countered by saying if the workers don't like the Agriprocessors jobs, they could apply for positions at other U.S. employers.

A U.S. union has tried to persuade the Palauan workers not to make the trip. The United Food and Commercial Workers sent a letter to the Palauan government earlier this month outlining alleged problems at the plant. The union, which wants to organize Agriprocessors workers, expressed its disapproval Thursday.

"The fact that Agriprocessors is being forced to recruit workers from eight thousand miles away from Postville is pretty telling," UFCW spokesman Scott Frotman wrote in an e-mail to the Des Moines Register.

"These men and women are probably the only people left who have not heard about the atrocious treatment of workers at the plant. We are extremely concerned that they will get to Postville, learn about the conditions and false promises and be forced to stay because of travel-related expenses and incurred debt."

Agriprocessors leaders say they have increased starting wages to $10 an hour and are trying to make the plant as safe as possible. Lubinsky denied the Palauan newspaper's report that Agriprocessors has agreed to help pay for airline tickets, and he said the Palau connection is just one of several possibilities managers are considering.

Comments

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

It's like knowing the Titanic is going to sink without being able to alert the passengers.

[critical_minyan]

I think eventually Agriprocessors will find workers. Its just a matter of time. If they were smart, they would just hire American workers at a fair wage and pass those expenses onto the consumer.
In the past they were able to save a lot of money by having illegal workers working for much cheaper and they will probably go to jail for this. The government will not let them get away with such a huge violation of tax fraud and identity theft. The management will probably get 50 years in jail, and have to pay millions of dollars in fines. Nat Lewin is a crappy lawyer and his grandstanding is only hurting his clients not helping them. The more he talks the worse his clients will suffer.
However, in the long run, the plant will remain open and the ultra-orthodox jewish community will continue to buy their meat, under different ownership.
The crime that will put the Rubashkin family away, tax fraud, working off then books and playing around with social security numbers is not really considered a crime in the ultra-orthodox community. In fact, these crimes, and the money it generates is one of the financial pillars holding up the Chasidic community.

[Archie Bunker]

"Menachem Lubinsky said Thursday that no deal has been reached. He said company managers do not know how many workers might be coming from Palau to Postville, or whether those potential employees have the necessary skills."

Lubinsky, you stupid moron! Don't you think it makes sense to find out what skills people have before they get in debt to make an 8000 mile trip?

[Archie Bunker]

"Exactly how many of those "other U.S. employers" are located in or nearby Postville, Iowa?"

If it's of any help, Willmark is opening an ethanol production facility right outside Postville that should provide about 60 new jobs.

[shmuel]

Did Guatemalan children have the "necessary skills," Lubinsky? I doubt it, since they were always injuring themselves. But no matter. You'll hire them anyway.
Amazing: 1) the chillul Hashem has gone around the globe, and Phillipinos 8000 miles away are being warned not to work for Orthodox Jews; 2) It appears to be absolutely impossible for the company to recruit Americans at this point, no matter what the wage is.

[state of the Jews]

++If it's of any help, Willmark is opening an ethanol production facility right outside Postville that should provide about 60 new jobs.++

Yeah, but they will want to hire locals with strong ties to the community and there are still alot of folks out of work in the area. I even know some supervisors at Agri who would jump ship for a decent job elsewhere.

[steve]

Check out this latest blog:

http://benandbawbsblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/postville-postscript.html

[Jason]

Skills? Didn't Getzel say a while back that it took no time to train someone to do this work? I mean, if someone already had some skills, would they choose to work in this low paying, dangerous, and probably unsettling work (slicing up animals all day)? There's a reason they hired illegal immigrants to begin with, and that's because no one with other options would choose to do this work. There is no way AgriProcessors will refuse any of the Palauans for lack of skills.

[Archie Bunker]

"Didn't Getzel say a while back that it took no time to train someone to do this work?"

It seems that Lubinsky is giving them an escape hatch in case they have ulterior motives to can new hires, just like they got rid of the Somalis when they realized they want 5 prayer breaks a day. I mean, Rubashkin doesn't even let someone go peepee.

And for the record, Paulauans are not Filipinos, they are Polynesians which the politically correct crowd prefers to call Micronesians or Pacific Islanders.

[Archie Bunker]

There are reports that Rubashkin only paid the shochtim & mashgichim for 2 out of the 9 weeks he is behind and that he is falling behind again.

Anyone know what's happening here?

The question has also been raised why they cannot call Jim Martin's "hotline". Maybe this is proof that it's not really "confidential" as has been touted.

[State of Postville 2]

Archie, et al - From what we have heard here in town, the ethanol plant construction has been put on hold for a while. Construction was to have begun this past Spring, but it did not. We have not been given a firm starting date for construction in the future.

[sage]

It looks like, to me, that it's about 2AM on the "Rubashkin Titanic" and folks are in a panic trying to arrange things on the poop deck to stop the ship from sinking.

They've got just 20 minutes left without a prayer.

[Yoel B]

It looks as though Agriprocessors may be anticipating a major Democrat victory in November and trying to establish a relationship with a powerful politician such as Pelosi who is open to the argument that paying workers too much is bad for the local economy, at least when the argument is made by a large corporation she has close ties to.

BTW ya gotta love the headline. "Pelosi moves to close Samoa wage loophole" that she personally created at the request of a big company in her district.
-------

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/jan/13/20070113-122725-2957r/

Pelosi moves to close Samoa wage loophole

Originally published 12:27 a.m., January 13, 2007, updated 12:00 a.m., January 13, 2007

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday said Democrats will close a loophole in the House-passed minimum wage increase that exempts American Samoa -- an action taken after it was revealed that one of the U.S. territory's main employers is based in her congressional district.

"I have asked the Education and Labor Committee as they go forward with the legislation to make sure that all of the territories have to comply with U.S. law on the minimum wage," Mrs. Pelosi said.

The decision follows criticism over the exemption, reported earlier this week by The Washington Times, to allow tuna canneries in American Samoa to continue paying $3.26 an hour -- nearly $4 less than the $7.25 minimum wage passed by the House Wednesday.

Republicans, after the vote, pointed out that StarKist Tuna, one of two companies that employs about 75 percent of the Samoan work force, is owned by Del Monte, which is headquartered in Mrs. Pelosi's San Francisco district.

"Simply put: It is unethical to provide a special benefit to a company in any member of Congress' hometown," said Rep. John B. Shadegg, Arizona Republican. "For Democrats to act in such a manner so early on in their tenure is hypocritical at best and criminal at worst."

Democrats involved in the legislation say that neither Del Monte nor StarKist has lobbied Mrs. Pelosi or the committee on the matter. And records show that while Del Monte political action committees have given $5,300 in the past five years to Republicans, neither they nor Del Monte executives have given to any Democrats.

The bill, which raises the federal minimum wage $2.10 from $5.15, pointedly extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the Northern Marianas Islands, another U.S. territory in the Pacific with similarly low wages.

Democrats defended the exemption earlier in the week, saying that the Northern Marianas territory has a long history of work-force abuses that require immediate action. But they also acknowledged that the wages in both places are essentially the same and, they said, need to be raised.

One person who is concerned about enforcing the federal minimum wage in American Samoa is non-voting Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, who echoed the arguments of many conservatives against raising the minimum wage in poorer regions of the U.S. mainland.

A "decrease in production or departure of one or both of the two canneries in American Samoa could devastate the local economy, resulting in massive layoffs and insurmountable financial difficulties," he said in a statement provided to The Times.

"The truth is the global tuna industry is so competitive that it is no longer possible for the federal government to demand mainland minimum wage rates for American Samoa without causing the collapse of our economy and making us welfare wards of the federal government."

Melissa Murphy Brown, vice president for Del Monte, warned in a statement yesterday that applying the minimum wage at the tuna packing plants in American Samoa would "severely cripple the local economy."

"For over 50 years, the Federal Department of Labor has provided that wages in U.S. territories, including American Samoa, be set by a federally appointed wage board, following public hearings," she said in a background statement compiled by StarKist and Chicken of the Sea.

"The wage board takes into accounts several factors including standards of living and recognizes that wages cannot increase to a level that substantially curtails employment."

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, said on the House floor yesterday that the decision to exempt American Samoa "was not an oversight."

"The minimum wage in America Samoa, unlike the Marianas or Guam, is set by the Department of Labor and Industry Committee so that it is determined in a different way than the others, including our states," he said.

Wages paid in American Samoa are often lower than the $3.05 minimum wage in effect in the Northern Marianas. Wages in American Samoa for manual labor range from $2.70 up to about $3.60, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

[Archie Bunker]

That article on Del Monte is very old and now a moot point as they have sold Starkist to a Korean company, Dongwon.

Incidentally, RJ Reynolds split up Del Monte into two distinct companies, the Food and Produce units. The produce unit is now owned by a bunch of offshore Arabs led by a Mohammed Abu Ghazaleh who may have ties to terrorism.

[Jason]

Pelosi is awful, even if you're a Democrat, but how does Yoel draw an inference that AgriProcessors is looking to establish a relationship with Pelosi and the Democrats? By extrapolating from Pelosi's giveaway to another corporation? We can unfortunately give multiple examples of such behavior from Washington politicians on both sides of the aisle. None of them have the moral high ground on any of these issues, especially in the House of Reps.

So Yoel, next time please try to post "news" from that great bastion of journalism "The Washington Times" within one year of its publication and please, PLEASE, post it as a link, not the full article.

[Yoel B]

OK, sorry about the full article (Shmarya, please cut all but the lede) but I'm still really curious about what's behind Agri's seeking workers in a plantation beholden to the Democrats.

[Rachel Batya]

--but I'm still really curious about what's behind Agri's seeking workers in a plantation beholden to the Democrats.--

It's 8000 miles away.

[Yoel B]

Maybe, but I doubt that it's that simple; I live near Pelosi's district and she is one tricky character. She seems to be a feudal baron for the Pacific territories.

[Jason]

Every politician loves those US Pacific territories because they are not part of the US but they get to put "Made in the USA" on the labels of clothes they produce and it's easy to import workers from there for minimal pay and without going through immigration. Just look at Jack Abramoff's relationship with them on behalf of the Republican Party. Anyone remember him?

Abramoff, Rubashkin, Shereshevsky, oh my. Corruption, thievery, lying, child sexual abuse, inciting violence. Things haven't been going very well for the tribe the last few years, especially the so-called Orthodox branch.

[Ben]

I have an idea for staffing agencies - instead of Palau look for workers in Borough Park and Crown Heights. There are plenty of able bodied men officially on welfare. I'm sure they'd prefer nobility of work, especially work in kosher industry, to this demeaning existence on public handouts.

[State of Postville III]

The state of Iowa has a minimum wage of $7.25. Where is Shalom, is house has been shut up for two weeks???? People leave Agri all the time because they are not paying, too many deductions and no money left.

[Yisroel Pensack (formerly Yisroel-by-the-bay)]

The Abramoff-DeLay-Mariana Islands Connection
by John Ydstie

Listen Now [6 min 56 sec]

NPR Weekend Edition Saturday, June 17, 2006 · The paths of retired Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) and disgraced lobbyist Jack Ambramoff intersect not just in Washington, D.C., but in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a chain of 17 small islands in the North Pacific.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5492833

[susan]

I do not know how far Saipan is from Palau. There have been stories for years about poor treatment of garment industry workers in Saipan, some of them brought in from Philippines and other countries. You can find this on the internet. Clothing made there can be labelled "made in the USA". The Chinese sure found a way out of Postville. Some coming from Palau may have other destinations they plan to move to after initially working at Agriprocessors. I do not know if debt still owed for transportation can be transferred to different employers. Wasn't there a so-called "IBP law" (Iowa Beef Packers) years ago that if an employee did not like the job the employeer had to pay costs to their transportation back home? (!) // After some young people from another country renting a basement apartment got sick from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty water heater, I hope these kinds of things are explained to people moving from other countries to Iowa.

[Jerome Soller]

As a political "independent" voter and a small business owner, I have a very low opinion of Nacy Pelosi. Regardless of what she claims, she is all about large business at the expense of the little guy (including small businesses and individuals). Her husband is a large venture capitalist. She recently supported an amendment that would have allowed venture capital companies to have a loophole where they could compete against small businesses on federal contracts set-aside for small businesses. I was one of several hundred small businesses from across the country that became aware of this and the small business community screamed bloody murder. Needless to say (and thanks to Congressmen like Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and John Kerry that have some integrity), that amendment is no longer in the legislation.

Jerome

[Isa]

Regarding:"""ethanol plant construction has been put on hold for a while"""

It takes a certain level of skill to work in these plants. An Iowa farm boy would fit right in. An Iowa farm boy can fix a tractor, repair loose connections or even change out a starter motor PLUS the local high schools have shop classes. I took three years of metal shop in my high school. Somebody from Guam or whatever just would not work out. I have seen it for my self that the typical Yeshiva graduate would have a hard time trying to figure out which way to turn a screwdriver.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Many of the Islanders are rural folks with skills, too.