The Kosher Jungle

It's hard to argue, I think, with…

…two editorials posted today. The first is from today's New York Times:

‘The Jungle,’ Again

A story from the upside-down world of immigration and labor:

A slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, develops an ugly reputation for abusing animals and workers. Reports of dirty, dangerous conditions at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant accumulate for years, told by workers, union organizers, immigrant advocates and government investigators. A videotape by an animal-rights group shows workers pulling the windpipes out of living cows. A woman with a deformed hand tells a reporter of cutting meat for 12 hours a day, six days a week, for wages that labor experts call the lowest in the industry. This year, federal investigators amass evidence of rampant illegal hiring at the plant, which has been called “a kosher ‘Jungle.’ ”

The conditions at the Agriprocessors plant cry out for the cautious and deliberative application of justice.

In May, the government swoops in and arrests ... the workers, hundreds of them, for having false identity papers. The raid’s catch is so huge that the detainees are bused from little Postville to the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo. The defendants, mostly immigrants from Guatemala, are not charged with the usual administrative violations, but with “aggravated identity theft,” a serious crime.

They are offered a deal: They can admit their guilt to lesser charges, waive their rights, including the right to a hearing before an immigration judge, spend five months in prison, then be deported. Or, they can spend six months or more in jail without bail while awaiting a trial date, face a minimum two-year prison sentence and be deported anyway.

Nearly 300 people agree to the five months, after being hustled through mass hearings, with one lawyer for 17 people, each having about 30 minutes of consultation per client. The plea deal is a brutal legal vise, but the immigrants accept it as the quickest way back to their spouses and children, hundreds of whom are cowering in a Catholic church, afraid to leave and not knowing how they will survive. The workers are scattered to federal lockups around the country. Many families still do not know where they are. The plant’s owners walk freely.

This is enforcement run amok. As Julia Preston reported in The Times, the once-silent workers of Agriprocessors now tell of a host of abusive practices, of rampant injuries and of exhausted children as young as 13 wielding knives on the killing floor. A young man said in an affidavit that he started at 16, in 17-hour shifts, six days a week. “I was very sad, and I felt like I was a slave.”

Instead of receiving merciful treatment as defendants who also are victims, the workers have been branded as the kind of predator who steals identities to empty bank accounts. Accounts from Postville suggest that that’s not remotely what they were. “Most of the clients we interviewed did not even know what a Social Security number was or what purpose it served,” said Erik Camayd-Freixas, a Spanish-language interpreter for many of the workers. “This worker simply had the papers filled out for him at the plant, since he could not read or write Spanish, let alone English.”

The harsh prosecution at Postville is an odd and cruel shift for the Bush administration, which for years had voiced compassion for exploited workers and insisted that immigration had to be fixed comprehensively or not at all.

Now it has abandoned mercy and proportionality. It has devised new and harsher traps, as in Postville, to prosecute the weak and the poor. It has increased the fear and desperation of workers who are irresistible to bottom-feeding businesses precisely because they are fearful and desperate. By treating illegal low-wage workers as a de facto criminal class, the government is trying to inflate the menace they pose to a level that justifies its rabid efforts to capture and punish them. That is a fraudulent exercise, and a national disgrace.

If Agriprocessors' owners and senior management are not indicted, the Times is correct. The next few weeks will tell the story – a story that has, so far, been written with the blood of the poor and abused, and not with the blood of the rich abusers.

Editorial number two is from the Des Moines Register:

Where's enforcement of labor laws?

Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel "The Jungle" had an impact. Stories of eastern Europeans subjected to horrendous working conditions in filthy Chicago slaughterhouses outraged Americans - including President Theodore Roosevelt. After many of Sinclair's assertions were confirmed, Roosevelt signed into law two new food-safety bills.

But in some ways, this response missed the mark.

People were more concerned about rats in their meat than about the abuse of immigrant workers. Sinclair reportedly said he had aimed the book at the public's heart but accidentally hit the stomach.

A century later, Americans need to get in touch with their hearts.

That need is unfortunately underscored by documented safety violations and allegations of other abuses leveled at a meat-processing plant right here in Iowa.

Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville made national news after a federal raid of the plant led to arrests of 389 workers in the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history. The public has rightfully demanded that the government enforce its immigration laws, after years of turning a blind eye toward violations.

But the humanitarian concerns about treatment of workers at Agriprocessors that have come to light also should prompt the public to demand change.

A history of safety violations

At times, the plant has refused to allow safety inspectors to enter and has benefited from dramatically reduced fines for safety violations, the Register has reported, based on reviews of public records. Accidents that led to partial amputations of three workers' hands in 2005 resulted in only $7,500 in state fines.

In the aftermath of the raid, allegations surfaced that workers had to purchase their own protective clothing, that they were paid less than minimum wage and that the plant employed minors.

Now federal agents say they have found evidence that an Agriprocessors employee helped distribute false immigration documents to workers. The company may have both broken the law and wronged workers in the process. An attorney representing workers told the Register laborers had to pay $200 for new ID cards.

The documented safety violations at the plant and the steady stream of allegations of other abuses are an embarrassment to the state of Iowa. They're an embarrassment to the entire meatpacking industry.

Sometimes the wheels of government turn slowly. Perhaps comprehensive investigations into all the allegations against Agriprocessors are under way. Yet, with no charges filed against company owners nearly three months after the raid, the public is left to wonder whether a double standard is at work in the zeal of prosecuting workers versus employers.

New workers, new allegations

In the meantime, new laborers have been recruited to work at Agriprocessors - young men from Somalia who say they are here legally as refugees - and new allegations of abuse have arisen.

These workers told the Register they were living in Minneapolis when recruiting firms and word-of-mouth drew them to Postville. Many are apparently replacing workers seized in the raid.

One said he and others were promised a bonus and a free month's rent to come. But the paycheck for his first week's work totaled $8.61. Deductions listed on his pay stub included rent and payment on a loan he says he never took out. He also said he'd been paid for 34.5 hours of work when he actually worked 48 hours. Another worker told the Register he had received no training and most of his pay was also withheld. Agriprocessors and the recruiting company that hired the workers declined comment.

Following the Register's initial report on safety problems at Agriprocessors, this page called for more inspectors to monitor safety in meatpacking plants, surprise inspections to see what's really going on and fully fining Agriprocessors when violations are found.

But even that wouldn't be enough. Workers must be paid fairly for their labor. Whether here legally or not, all workers have protections and recourse under federal labor laws, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The agency does not inquire about immigration status of workers when investigating complaints.

Real solution: Immigration reform

The reality, of course, is that illegal-immigrant workers are afraid to report problems - afraid of the government and afraid of losing their jobs. They're also afraid to call police when they're victims of crimes and often are afraid to seek medical attention when sick. There is nothing so powerful as fear to keep people silent.

The solution rests with fixing our broken immigration system. The failure of Congress and the president to move forward with comprehensive and reasonable immigration reform leaves people scared, desperate and ripe for abuse. Perhaps the frustration over lack of a workable immigration policy also has hardened our hearts to the vulnerability of all low-wage workers, including American citizens and other legal residents.

It is unconscionable that in the United States of America in 2008, a refugee who fled turmoil in his home country of Somalia could work a back-breaking job for a week and take home less than $9 in pay.

This country has come a long way in the past 100 years. Refusing to tolerate the mistreatment of our most vulnerable workers would be the mark of true progress.

Reaction to Sinclair's Jungle caused Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act. And from that eventually grew the Humane Slaughter Act.

Jews were given certain exemptions to that act so that kosher slaughter could take place. But thise exemptions were narrow and based on testimony of Orthodox rabbis. The kosher slaughter exempted did not involve ripping out a cow's throat with a meat hook.

The reforms instituted also were meant to protect workers.

The Rubashkin family of Chabad hasidim and their rabbinic enablers from across the Orthodox spectrum have brought us back 102 years, and have made a mockery of the Humane Slaughter Act, child labor and minimum wage laws, worker safety regulations and basic human decency.

And that, my friends, is the true legacy of Orthodox Judaism in America.

[Hat Tips; Yochanan Lavie, Chaim Yankel.]

Comments

[1152]

And the spinning on the web goes round and round; round and round; the spinning on the web goes round and round all the way though town!!!

[Take The High Road]

While the supposed overhaul of Agri is taking place, I think it's about time that somone explains what exactly the different lables and hashgachos on meat actually represent. Is there really any difference between Empire Kosher and Rubashkin meat as far as glatt is concerned? Is there any difference between the standard of KAJ and the OU? If not, then why does Empire insist on paying KAJ and the OU for their Hashgacha?

[Yochanan Lavie]

Bungling in the Jungle (with apologies to Yitro, the Tullner rebbe)

Walking through Postville of Nevel apartments ---
Scoff at the black hats who live in their dark tents
Down by the shteibl --- kiddush every friday ---
Playing with their nuts --- slaving their workers on sunday.
Mexicans and Somalians who wait in the shadows ---
"Go fast 'cause you're lazy, or sleep in green meadows!"

Let's bungle in the Jungle --- well, that's Upton Sinclair.
"I'm a frum Jew when I want love,
But I'm a sneak if I am unfair."

Just say a word and the boys will be right there:
With ICE at your back to send a chill through the night air.
"Is it so frightening to have me over your shoulder?"
Stealing and lying couldn't be bolder.
"I'll write on your tombstone, 'I thank you for dinner.'"
This game that you play, Rubbishcan, is a sinner.

Let's bungle in the jungle --- well, that's not right by me.
"I'm a slavedriver when I want work,
But I will fire you if we disagree."

The livers are full of e.coli nasties
And he who made chumrot put mistakes in for cash;
He's a lover of loot but a player of pawns ---
But, the King on his "Kisaih" lies waiting for Dawn
To light up your Jungle
As play is resumed.
The bloggers seem willing to strike up the tune.

Let's humble down the Jungle --- well, that's all right by me.
I'm a tiger when I want justice,
And I'm a snake if you try to jerk me.

[Take The High Road]

Lu Ayasher Chelki, I would be mesaken as 'Horoas Sha' that every yeshivah high school must mandate the reading of "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/140

[steve]

Is there really any difference between Empire Kosher and Rubashkin meat as far as glatt is concerned?

I believe that Empire only produces poultry products. There is no such thing as "glatt"
poultry, no matter what the label says. Poultry is either kosher or it's not. There is no mid-tier or upper-tier.

[John K. Diamond]

This was posted on Yudel Shains Blog this morning:

http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

It seems that a major effort is going to be made to stop any Federal charges being leveled against Rubashkin and associates.

[Paul Freedman]

It is not a scandal for the government to enforce immigration laws, is it? No, illegal immigrants should not be exploited. They also shouldn't be in the country.

[Archie Bunker]

I thought Yochanan would start with apologies to Axel Rose.

Much of the lyrics are not changed here as the song seems to have been written with Agri in mind.

Welcome to the jungle
It's no fun with Rubashkin's games
We got all the treif you want
Honey at the OU they know their names
Genack's people can find
Whatever you may need
If you got the money honey
We got your disease

Chorus:

In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your shun n,n,n,n,,n,n,,n,n,n,,n,n,,n knees, knees
I wanna watch you bleed

Welcome to the jungle
We take it day by day
If you want it you're gonna bleed
But it's the price you pay
And you're a very sexy girl
That's very hard to get paid in full unless you put up with the foreman's sleaze
You can see DHS helicopter lights
And you won't get out scott free
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my serpentine meat hook
I, I wanna hear you scream

Welcome to the jungle
It gets worse here everyday
Ya learn ta live like an animal
In the jungle where we play
If you got a hunger for what you see
You'll make 6 bucks an hour eventually
You can have any flea bag apartment you want
But you better not take it from Agri

Chorus

And when you're high on ecstasy pills you never
Ever want to come down, so down, so down, so down YEAH!

You know where you are
You're in the jungle baby
You're gonna die
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your shu n,n,n,,n,n,,n,n,n,,n,n,,n,n,,n knees, knees
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my serpentine
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your shun n,n,n,n,,n,n,,n,n,,n,n,,n.n, knees, knees
In the jungle
Welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your
It's gonna bring you down!
Ha!

[H]

Good one, YL.

The "playing with their nuts" line doesn't mean what one might think it means, does it?

[H]

AB - budding parodist!

Not bad!

[uncle joe mccarthy]

so the problems will be solved if there is immigration reform?? the system is not broken...it hasnt been enforced, and the bush administration has basically allowed the corporatists to do what they want in the name of profit.

as we see by the stories of the new employees, all who are alledgedly legal, conditions at the plant have changed little...what does immigration reform have to do with that?

what needs to happen is that people in power must go to jail.

and that includes the congressmen and senators who assisted agriprocessors in their corrupt ways.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Archie: I like competition. Keep up the great work!

H: The "playing with their nuts" line doesn't mean what one might think it means, does it?

That's for you to decide...

And thanks for the shout out. For a while I thought my mic was dead (LOL).

I want shmarya to write a parody! Y'know he used to be a song writer before chabad ruined his dreams and destroyed his life

[Simcha Daniel]

Shmarya, Thanks for posting the Register piece next to the Times piece - they're quite a pair.

It occured to me as I read the Times editorial that there must be some connection between Jack Abramoff and this whole Postville thing. Have you gotten anything on this?

Shabbat Shalom.

[Baruch Atta]

Not to be picky, but isn't there an issue with copying verbatium whole articles, obviously copyrighted? Is this "fair use"? Doesn't the blogger (or reporter) need to insert some sort of commentary or such between bits of the quoted article? Just wondering

[Yochanan Lavie]

Baruch: Click on Shmarya's Fair Use tab. I think he addresses that, there.

[H]

H: The "playing with their nuts" line doesn't mean what one might think it means, does it?

That's for you to decide...

Sly, YL, sly! :)

Shabbat Shalom!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Shabbat shalom to you, too, H.

[yidandahalf]

A gitte shabbos to everyone.

[Carol Ann Varley]

Religious slaughter as defined in the Humane Slaughter Act is ambiguous: "...the animal suffers loss of consciousness by simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp instrument..."

The Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS Directive 6900.2 Revision 1) allows MORE THAN ONE KNIFE STROKE to facilitate bleeding and ANY ADDITIONAL CUT to facilitate bleeding.

Ritual slaughter is generally portrayed as a single stroke of the blade, but sawing motions and the use of a meat hook to make second cuts to facilitate bleeding are allowed by FSIS.

There should be objective standards for ritual slaughter; for example, an acceptable length of time from initial throat cut to loss of consciousness whereby if consciousness persists after a specified number of seconds, the animal would be rendered unconscious by captive bolt, even if it meant the animal was trief.

If there were FSIS standards for religious slaughter, it would help the public understand this method; after all, most of Agriprocessors products are sold as non-kosher. The fact that animals can remain conscious for several minutes after the ritual throat cut may explain why the method has drawn criticism.

[John K. Diamond]

Hi Carol Ann,

Please see Shechita Guide 2008 from the UK, below.

(http://www.shechitauk.org/downloads/2008guide.pdf)

No other manner of shechita is Kosher, except as outlined in this guide.

A properly shechted animal will be dead within than 30 seconds or less.

The so-called second cut has no basis in Halacha, whatsoever.

[Shmarya]

No other manner of shechita is Kosher, except as outlined in this guide.

A properly shechted animal will be dead within than 30 seconds or less.

The so-called second cut has no basis in Halacha, whatsoever.

As I explained off site to Jon several times, that so-called shechita guide is simply PR spin.

And, like it or not, a second cut does have a (minority) basis in halakha.

[jewishwhistleblower]

http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/073108/njLocalLeadersSaddened.html

Local leaders saddened as pol quits
Neil Cohen resigns as probe continues into porn allegations

Former Assemblyman Neil Cohen addressing a signing of religious freedom bills in April at Ahavas Israel, an Orthodox synagogue in Passaic.

Photo by Robert Wiener
by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

July 31, 2008

Jewish leaders reacted with a sense of shock and sorrow to the resignation of Neil Cohen, who stepped down as deputy majority speaker of the New Jersey State Assembly on July 28 after allegedly being in possession of child pornography.
...

[John K. Diamond]

Hi again, Carol Ann,

With all due respect to Shmarya, we are not in agreement re: Shechita.

Be that as it may, a good plan of research would be to check what is written in the UK Shechita Guide against other sources.

Dr. Temple Grandin, a Shechita expert, is another source to check. She has posted on the web another guide.

You can probably find a third.

With three guides, you can compare all of them and come to a good layman's take on the issue.

The inverted pen at Agri has presented problems in that, there is more risk to nicking the blade than with the preferred upright pens.

This led, on many instances, to incomplete Shechita on the initial cut, some of which were caught in the PETA videos.

Proper Shechita, from several sources that I have investigated, severs the trachea, esophagus, jugular and carotid arteries in one swift, precise and uninterrupted cut, after which the animal is dead normally in less than 30 seconds.

Additional cuts on a live animal increase the pain and suffering and are problematic re: tsa'ar ba'alei chayim.

[rebitzman]

++Be that as it may, a good plan of research would be to check what is written in the UK Shechita Guide against other sources.++

On, by all means - lets check the guide of a country that has been actively trying to ban kosher slaughter for the last 100+ years.

[Carol Ann Varley]

John,
I have read in proper Shechita, the animal is unconscious under 20 seconds. However, there are cases where consciousness is prolonged. FSIS standards are needed to address those situations.

The Shechita you described is the ideal, but other variables affect the outcomes: the skill of the shochet, the condition of the knife, the animal's mood, restraint systems, and arterial occlusions (why arteries close in cattle/calves is not clearly understood).

I totally agree with you that additional cuts in the wounds of conscious livestock is wrong, but this is happening in religious slaughter and FSIS has no power to stop it. Remember, an earlier FSIS directive to prohibit such practices was rescinded in 2003 when religious authorities met with USDA officials resulting in the current directive.

I am interesting in hearing what you would propose?

[rebitzman]

++FSIS standards are needed to address those situations.+

“‘You are the Public Health Veterinarian assigned to monitor a kosher slaughterhouse… Today the establishment is ritually slaughtering cattle. Seconds after the shochet, a rabbi trained as a kosher butcher, cuts a steer's throat, a plant employee steps forward to make a second cut and pull out the steer's trachea, or breathing tube, and its esophagus, or gullet.

“‘The trachea and esophagus are dangling from the neck of the animal. . . . You are concerned as to whether the animal is sensible during this process…. But before you can call the District [supervisor] or adequately examine the animal . . . the steer begins to right itself, and then stands, and starts to stumble around in the bleeding area, flopping its head on adjacent equipment.’

“In such a situation, the document says, the federal inspector should immediately notify the slaughterhouse that it has a “conscious” animal “at a point in the process where it should be unconscious.” After waiting to verify that the animal has been put out of its misery, it says, the inspector should place a “U.S. Reject” tag on the device that restrains the cattle during slaughter and “inform the plant that the slaughter operation is suspended.

“‘You take these actions because the plant personnel performed a dressing procedure on a conscious animal, and because they failed to react appropriately to address a suffering, conscious animal. In addition, you inform establishment management that they will be receiving an NR [Non-compliance Record] for this egregious violation.’”

[rebitzman]

Carlo - the above represents the CURRENT standards of the USDA.

Point out what holes you would like addressed.

[Lilit]

ROSENBERG'S BLOG IS NOW SONG PARODY LAND

I LOVE IT.

[Yochanan Lavie]

"Point out what holes you would like addressed.

Posted by: rebitzman | August 03, 2008 at 10:45 AM"

A-holes. Inexcusibly vulgar, but I couldn't resist...

[rebitzman]

++A-holes. Inexcusibly vulgar, but I couldn't resist...++

Yeah - been talkin' to that guy in another thread.

[John K. Diamond]

Hi Carol Ann,

There are FSIS directives in place to stop dressing proceedures on live animals, as Rebitzman has posted. These were put in place in response to the 2004 Agri Shechita Scandal.

But that didn't stop the abuse, as the directive was not strictly enforced. The second Shechita Scandal at the Rubashkin plant in Gordon, Nebraska in 2006, bears this out.

I'm going to give you my take on the Rubashkin Shechita situation from what I have gleaned since December, 2004. I may make errors or give incomplete information, and others on this thread can feed in corrections and/or additional pertinent information.

1. Traditional Kosher slaughter, I believe, was not envisioned as a mass production operation. From time to time, an animal was slaughtered for the needs of individuals, their families, etc.

2. It seems that the Rubashkin business model requires mass production in an assembly line process, where speed is a primary metric.

3. They use an inverting pen, in which there is more risk for nicking the chalaf than in upright pens.

4. With the speed metric and (3), the probability of improper or incomplete Shechita is great.

5. The second dressing proceedure was not put in place as part of Shechita, but was for bleeding issues affecting blood splatter.

6. The investigation after the 2004 Scandal uncovered testimony from a long time worker at Agri, that the second cut had been going on for many years prior, before the alleged secret meeting in Washington, DC where the Humane Slaughter Act was revised to prevent the USDA from stopping the line.

7. There seems to be a conflict, in the present situation between proper Schechita and speed.

8. What percentage of animals are propery schected at Agri is unknown, as Rubashkin will not permit random inspections by third parties. Rabbi Yudel Shain would have my vote for such an inspector, as he has been one of Agri's harshest critics.

9. My overall recommendation would be that several slaughter lines be run in parallel, so that the speed would be reduced to the point that proper Schechita would be almost guaranteed for every animal.

[Carol Ann Varley]

Rebitzman,
Is there an FSIS standard to put an animal out of its misery if consciousness is prolonged for 60 seconds or more after the initial throat cut?