Agriprocessors Production At Near Standstill – CEO: “I Don’t Believe We’re Going To Have Substantial Production Of Any Kind In The Near Future"

Only 35 cars in the parking lot as opposed to hundreds on a normal post-raid day. Main boilers not operating. My sources tell me…

…just what the Des Moines Register is now reporting:

Slow production fuels speculation about future of Postville meat plant
BY GRANT SCHULTE AND TONY LEYS

Postville’s kosher meat processing plant is running at a capacity far lower than normal this morning, several residents said today, sparking increased speculation that the plant will shut down permanently.

Two main boilers at Agriprocessors, Inc. are not operating, and a local priest who drove past the parking lot counted only 35 cars - far fewer
than the hundreds visible on a typical day.

The plant’s beef kill department remains out of service as it was last week, said the Rev. Paul Ouderkirk, pastor of St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville. Ouderkirk is one of several local religious leaders who care for workers with housing or food needs.

The plant’s other meat departments, turkey and chicken kill, “are still going as far as we know,” Ouderkirk said.

The plant’s financial troubles have mounted in recent weeks as company managers grapple with worker shortages and overdue bills.

Bernard Feldman, Agriprocessors’ chief executive officer, acknowledged Monday that the plant was struggling to continue.

“I don’t believe we’re going to have substantial production of any kind in the near future,” he said.

Feldman is a New York lawyer who has done legal work for the Rubashkin family, which owns Agriprocessors. He was named chief executive officer in September, after the nation’s largest kosher-certifying agency said it would pull its certification unless a new leader was hired.

Feldman said this morning that he was talking with outside investors or companies interested in buying a stake in Agriprocessors. He described those talks as “full-blown discussions,” and he said he was optimistic they would lead to a re-opening of the plant. He declined further comment, saying he didn’t want to jeopardize the negotiations.

Agriprocessors was the site of one of the largest single-site immigration raids in U.S. history in May. The raid, which netted 389 illegal immigrants, thrust the company into the national spotlight and gutted a large segment of its work force.

Last week, at least four companies filed lawsuits against the meatpacker including St. Louis-based First Bank, which alleged Agriprocessors defaulted on a $35 million loan and overstated how much money it had available.

Also last week, Sholom Rubashkin, a senior plant manager, was arrested and charged with federal immigration crimes for allegedly harboring hundreds of illegal workers at the plant.

Agriprocessors also has received a power disconnect notice because of unpaid bills, said Alliant Energy spokesman Ryan Stensland.

Stensland stressed that Alliant was still working with Agriprocessors to establish a payment plan. Disconnecting a customer’s power after serving notice can take between 48 hours and a week, he said.

“Disconnects are a last resort option,” Stensland said. “We have worked with them for a number of months to work out a payment option. And we’ll continue to work with them.”

Stensland said he could not disclose how much Agriprocessors owes Alliant Energy.

Meanwhile, a staffing firm that provides workers to Agriprocessors said it was awaiting confirmation that the plant would run today.

Matt Ryan, the president of Kentucky-based One Force Staffing, said his workers could continue their jobs at the plant “as long as the plant is still working.”

“We’re still waiting to hear back from them,” Ryan said. “My only comment would be that (Agriprocessors is) a customer in good standing. We don’t have any issues with them as far as finances.”

Comments

[chickenman]

sounds like agri and postville are like the chicken running around with its head cut off. this is like a greek trajedy. I wish it were as it would not blemish yidden. pleaae say tehillim for the jews in postville that stand to loose their jobs, schools and homes if agri dies. yeah some of them may have been at that outrageous fabgrengen. they and their famalies are victims as much as the illegal workers.

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

See you guys are always attacking the Rubashkins!

Look what they are doing for the enviornment. All those workers who came to work by company-sponsored mass transit. Converting over to solar and wind for energy and shutting down the conventional boilers.

When it comes to saving the planet they are light-years ahead of the rest of the world.

Al Gore should be out there publicly thanking them.

[JewishCynic]

Interesting how quickly Agri is collapsing.
Figured the Rubashkins to be crooked but smart operators but they seem to be practically throwing in the towel.

Had they been smart in handling this they could have skated by giving a demonstration they are fixing the problems, and would problably been able to get bridge loans from the general Ortho community. Maybe someone would have had to do some jail, but they wouldn't be the first Hasid/Ortho to do so.

Could be they're blinded by arrogance, but I wonder if they hadn't already sucked Agri to a financial precipice before the raid and if there aren't more financial shinanigans yet to be uncovered.

BTW since Agri supplied such a large percentage of kosher meat has anyone seen an impact of their reduced output? Meat shortages or price increaces? Can the rest of the kosher industry ramp up to fill the void?

[JewishCynic]

Un-Ortho,
I think the Ortho community should show their concern about global warming via pledging to reduce methane emissions by stoping putting beans in the cholent !

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

JC- That would just bring out protesters from some group defending the rights of legumes.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Un-Ortho: What about human beans?

[Archie Bunker]

"defending the rights of legumes"

Or how they stink after they are digested.

[Archie Bunker]

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081103/NEWS/81103006/1001/NEWS10

“The smart investor might wait for the company to go into receivership, then buy it for 10 cents on the dollar,”

Louise wrote:

Does "buying a stake" mean that the investor would fork over money for a share of the plant, but the Rubashkins and their friend Mr. Feldman would still be in charge? If I were a potential investor and Feldman came to me with that proposal, I'd laugh heartily before kicking him out the door.

[State of Postville 2]

Un-orthodox - Just curious as to where you came up with the fairy tale about solar and wind energy being utilized at the plant here.

[Un-Orthodox and Unimpressed]

How else could the plant be running if several of the boilers are off?????

[Archie Bunker]

http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/03/1000722/possible-collapse-of-meat-producer-prompts-warnings-of-kosher-supply-disrup

Short-term disruptions in the supply of kosher meat, and particularly kosher and glatt kosher beef, are now widely expected. Rabbi Menachem Genack, the head of kosher supervision for the Orthodox Union, said he has already heard from communities that have no supply.

“There is going to be a sharp decline in availability immediately,” said Genack, adding that the company is trying to survive but that the situation is grim.

“For the kosher marketplace, there’s no question there’s going to be short-term shortages of kosher and glatt kosher meat and poultry,” said Elie Rosenfeld, a spokesman for Empire Kosher, a poultry producer. “The industry overnight cannot pick up the decreased level of volume that Agriprocessors has been doing over the last couple of months.”

[Curious Postville Native]

[How else could the plant be running if several of the boilers are off?????]

Good detecting UU. Makes me wonder if the plant is in production.

[critical_minyan]

This shabbat I ate at the local Chabad house in my neighborhood. The chulent had much less flanken than usual. I estimate the ratio of meat to potatoes was down by 30-50%. Im not sure if that was due to Agriprocessor issues or if perhaps the Rabbi just took more meat out the chulent for himself.

[Archie Bunker]

Are there any military bases or national security concerns around Postville? I tried using satellite mapping programs to find exhaust / proof of activity coming from Agri but the image is purposely blurred by the software.

[Archie Bunker]

Critical, why don't you donate some meat instead of complaining?

[brook134]

i hope that the plant and the company can be saved,then run properly.at the end of the day Rubashkin's produced a quality product,it also is a travesty to the family who until we hear all the facts are very charitable people

[WoolSIlkCotton]

+++brook134 | November 03, 2008 at 02:46 PM+++

Nice try, Getzel.

Rubashkin meats and deli are the worst quality of all kosher brands. Loaded with fat. Dubious expiration dates. Sloppy cutting.
I felt this way long before the whole Agri stink became news.

The Chassidic world will not even consider Empire or Hebrew National to be 'kosher enough'. So they're all in an uproar about where to get meat. They must eat more meat per person per day then any other segment of the USA population. You would think that 5 or 6 days a week with fish, tofu, dairy, and eggs would be ok. But no, they're in a panic.

There's no commandment that you must eat meat several days a week. Surely, in pre-war Europe, few people could afford meat on a regular basis. Why this lunacy about the demand for meat?

[steve]

Fire Halts Production at Alle Plant in MN:

http://www.forward.com/articles/14486/

[a reader]

don't expect to see kosher meat on the shelves anytime soon.
alle just stopped production as well:

http://www.forward.com/articles/14486/

[Y. Aharon]

If the current allegations about many of the chickens on the shechita processing line arriving dead are true, then Rubashkin chickens must be considered safek neveila - given the current chaotic conditions at that plant. No kosher consumer should buy such chickens - even without the consideration of the serious animal abuse involved in not providing adequate feed, water, or living conditions. What is the value of OU endorsements if such conditions are tolerated? It may be that the "triangle K" certification of Hebrew National is superior to such hashgacha.

Y. Aharon

[WoolSIlkCotton]

http://www.vosizneias.com/22046/2008/11/03/buffalo-lake-mn-kosher-meat-in-crisis-plant-where-meal-mart-and-others-slaughter-shut-down-due-to-fire/

Yes, indeed! Jewish Lightning? Or has God finally had enough of chassidishe schechita for a while?

[Shmarya]

It's only a small portion of Alle's output.

[devorah]

One way to remove the Jews from America is to have a new President who will introduce Sharia Law. Another way is to stop the production of kosher meat.

[Jack]

DaasHakohol.com

Update on the Moshe Rubashkin Sentencing

UPDATE 4:30pm

Up until now the prosecutors have been bringing up motions and the defense was objecting, many of which were overruled while some were sustained.

As of now (4:30pm) the judge declared a 15 minute recess following which will be closing statements.

“A prison sentence seems to be a real possibility here” said one of many people that are present at the court, “people need to really daven for Moshe now.”

The case against Sholom Rubashkin has been delayed and postponed to December 15th.

[Jerome Soller]

Chickenman,
I share your views, and they have been in my prayers.

Jerome

[WoolSIlkCotton]

Fascinating website, DaasHakohol.com is.
Plenty of anger towards the Rubashkin Crime Family.

Rubashkin's Dictatorship in the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council
http://www.daashakohol.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=28

Moshe Rubashkin Criminal History – Moshe Rubashkin is a convicted felon (for passing bad checks) and is presently on probation. The Jewish Community Relations Council and the Metropolitan Coordinating Council on Jewish Poverty, have both expressed the concern that this may make it difficult to keep public funding that the JCC now has, and that it will make it difficult to get any new funding.

In addition, Rubashkin’s past record raises serious questions about his integrity, and also his judgment.

Finally, the question has been asked how any self-respecting community would elect a public representative that gives such a bad impression of its people.

Emotional Outbursts and Loss of Control – Rubashkin has repeatedly lost his temper and made personal attacks and used profanity in public, and in front of politicians and police and government figures.

Personality – Some claim that Rubashkin does chesed for people, and others that he only rewards his supporters. On the other hand, many in the community complain that Rubashkin is untruthful, holds grudges, and takes revenge on people.

Other threads and comments on the site go on and on with plenty of anger and dirt aimed at Rubashkin.

[Isa]

Regarding:""""Are there any military bases or national security concerns around Postville? I tried using satellite mapping programs to find exhaust / proof of activity coming from Agri but the image is purposely blurred by the software.""""

Dear Mr. Bunker:
That area was not important enough to obtain detailed pictures-just some back water area of Iowa

[leabbimoula]

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