EXCLUSIVE: Agriprocessors 'Fires' Workers Then 'Rehires' Same Workers At Much Lower Pay

And that's not all Agriprocessors court appointed trustee is up to.

Several Postville sources have told me Agriprocessors workers have been 'terminated' and then immediately rehired for much lower wages.

Workers making $13 per hour were 'fired' and then immediately 'rehired' at $9 per hour. Their job descriptions remain the same.

At the same time, Postville city officials have publicly complained that Agriprocessors has cut off all contact with the city.

Sources also claim First Bank has cut off Agriprocessors' financing. This means that, unless new financing is secured in the next several days, Agriprocessors could be shut down and forced into Chapter 7 liquidation.

Agriprocessors' court appointed trustee, Joseph Sarachek, did not return a request for comment.

Comments

[Barney]

He said she said type stuff?

[Shmarya]

Nope.

[Curious Postville Native]

[Posted by: Barney] Gee Blarney,

. . . and to think, you commented this information was a 'rumored post'. LOL

[steve]

L'MAAN HASHEM, SHUT THIS DEN OF HORRORS DOWN ALREADY!!!

[Hometown Postville]

Sounds like the same group of thieves are still running the joint.

[Yochanan Lavie]

I bet the Rubbishmen will ask for TARP, too.

[sage]

Looks like Sarachek is trying to string things out for as long as possible to collect as much retainer as he can.

But the next step is for the Bankruptcy Judge to order liquidation.

If he's being paid off by the RCF, who knows how long, or more importantly, if this will take place.

[State of Postville III]

Are we surprised???? If the town plans to look forward and not backward, the troops in charge of Agri must go. There is no excuse for their unsportsmanship like behaviors.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Fired! (apologies to the Boss):

I'm slave-driving in my abatoir, I open up the Tanya, oh.
I'm going to close, you just say no
You say you don't like it, but girl I know I'm a liar
`cause the trustee says, "fire!"

Late at night I'm takin you home
To your Nevel abode, you say you wanna get a loan
You say you don't love me, girl you can't hide you wanna be hired
`cause when we reopen, "rehire!"

I had a hold on you, right from the start
A grip so tight the law couldn't tear it apart
My nerves all jumpin' actin like a yold
Well my competition may burn, but my heart stays cold

Esther and Mordecai, Shimshon and Delilah
Bubbeleh you can bet their kesef they didn't deny
Your words say "raise!" but your words I belie
`cause when we pay, "lower!"

[s]

hopefully the ones making the "abUSed, the Postville Raid" movie will get enough donations to have the film produced. An 8 minute segment of it can be seen on the internet.

[Chicago Samson]

Whoever is running this "kosher" plant, ought to be forced to the watch, "The Grapes of Wrath." I am starting to think that eating Rubashkin kosher meat is probably less kosher than eating KC chicken. At least the Colonel has more integrity!

[Yochanan Lavie]

CS: With that white hair and goatee, the Colonel must be a Yekke musmach.

[Curious Postville Native]

TARP - (Troubled Assets Relief Program)

[TARP is intended to improve the liquidity of these assets by purchasing them using secondary market mechanisms, thus allowing participating institutions to stabilize their balance sheets and avoid further losses.]

Thanks for the info Yochanan!

[MisterApikoros]

Here's my modest proposal for restructuring Agriprocessors:

It is my belief that O.J. Simpson was unfairly tried and convicted for retaking his own property from the thieves who were trying to fence it, as in reality he was tried for murder because the DA in Vegas didn't like the original acquittal verdict.

Therefore, O.J. should be released from prison, and given a sentence of community service in contemplation of dismissal. His community service? Put the Juice in charge of Agriprocessors. He's an expert on slaughter.

[Yochanan Lavie]

MA: Put the Juice in charge of the Jews?

[The sane one]

It was a joke, Lavie. Settle down.

[tsvika55]

i heard that sarachek will be appointed the new ceo of agri in a week

[Hometown Postville]

Put the Juice in charge of Agri?
Sure, add one more cultural dimension to the melting pot to make it more interesting! LOL!! How much worse could it get? Give a dictator from Darfur the job- he could walk in Ruby's footsteps! sorry, didn't sleep well- it makes my cynical side go wild!

[yidandahalf]

Good thread, well done fellows and, YL you are better all the time. Steve, as usual gets right to the point. When will we hear the last of the Rubbishmen in Iowa? Gasping its last breath, the hell hole still stands.

[Curious Postville Native]

I 'guess-timate', in ten working days the general public will begin to 'catch on' . . . as we watch the place slowly begin to 'melt'away-piece by piece, person by person.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Sane one: I know, i was playing along by punning Juice with Jews.

Yid; thanks.

[The sane one]

Did not seem like it, Sorry. LOL

[Yochanan Lavie]

No problem, sane one. I've made similar mistakes myself ;)

[eagle eyes]

Maybe Sarachek should be fired and rehired at $7.25 hour! Oops, he couldn't handle that, besides he is already a millionare making $50,000 a week. Living high on the "swine". Maybe he will catch the flu!

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

Where to begin the speculation?
1. Companies planning a massive financial restructuring may be subject to federal laws sometimes called "quiet period" laws:
http://www.sec.gov/answers/quiet.htm

2. The sources do not specify if all or just some workers had their pay effectively reduced. Perhaps it was just some workers we were being paid well over market. There have been instances in the past where a large company would outsource, say, their payroll department. They fired all payroll employees. The outsourcer would come in and rehire the workers at lower pay. Agri could just be trying to conserve cash, reduce the rate of burn, or make the company more attractive to a potential buyer.

3. It is pretty tough to speculate the reason why First Bank cut off lending, if in fact this is true. Banks have exposure limits, and will not lend over a certain amount to any one entity. The exact amount is usually not made public. Maybe the bank's execs declared the effort hopeless. Maybe the bank is trying to force the trustee's hand.

4. I raised the point a while ago that running a big arsed kosher packing plant in a rural location such as Postville may no longer be viable, due to the march of time. The trustee certainly tried to sell the place, using Rubenstein Associates to write press releases that would be read by the food trade. Presumably, other cold-calling sales efforts were made as well. Yet, no one stepped forward with a bid to satisfy the creditors, both secured and unsecured. If ConAgra would have publicly gone in there with an eight million dollar bid, that would tell us something. Is the whole operation too 'toxic' that no reputable kosher packer will touch it? And as Shmarya has posted once before, there may be enough spare slaughter capacity nationwide to replace the Postville facility's output. I have not seen any recent stories about a Kosher meat shortage, so don't know if other suppliers stepped in to fill the void, or if consumers are purchasing other meats instead.

Finally, didn't this packer slaughter for the kosher market?:
http://www.startribune.com/business/43009212.html

[Curious Postville Native]

[Perhaps it was just some workers we were being paid well over market.]

Be for real. This was done to workers who had years of experience as employees of the facility. By the way, they are/were/are Sarachek's-most marketable/most valuable asset.

I would have to say, this causes me to wonder as to whether or not Sarachek knows what he is doing.

? ? ? ? ?

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

CPN:
Your input is valuable because it suggests Agri has no money. I did have to ask that question. Only people committed to Bellevue Hospital don't understand the effect on morale a pay cut like that makes. You are right about an experienced workforce. There are dozens of horror stories of firms that moved to new locations and thought they could operate with a cheap new local labor force.

Did you ever hear that old saying, "Fools rush in where brave men fear to tread?"

[state of disgust]

North Star used to produce kosher but the plant has not been producing meat for quite awhile. There was impact on the market but not much.

[Curious Postville Native]

["Fools rush in where brave men fear to tread?"]

FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican:

Your quote speaks volumes, with reference to Agri.

[s]

there must be a need for preparation of raw poultry, cooking some of it, since North Star Foods burned recently

[State of Postville III]

There hiring ads are still in place bringing people to town for jobs. The food shelf had over a 100 folks yesterday, and some are new. When is it time to take these ads down? This can't go on forever. They come here can't get jobs and then apply for free rent and get free food. But they are walking down the streets with cigs which cost what $5 a pack-- It is really unfair to folks traveling so far for so little.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

SOP III:
I'll bet five pounds of remaindered Streit's Passover matzos that the trustee does not even know about the hiring ads you are referring to. Are these billboard ads, Internet ads, ads in printed publications? In what geographical area do they appear? Maybe they were placed by HR people "who are no longer with the company." It is in everyone's interest to take these ads down.

[state of disgust]

There are no more HR people. Ads must have been placed by "management." Perhaps Heshy, Chaim or Getzel.
The Trustee works for the bankruptcy court that represents the creditors. But, technically, the Rubashkins still own the place, not the court and not the creditors.
Perhaps FGBA can clarify if under such circumstances, the Trustee can fire the owners.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

The sole stockholder of Agri is Aaron Rubashkin of Brooklyn. In such a case, I'm pretty sure the trustee can hire and fire people, but I am not a lawyer.