Former Agriprocessors workers also allege health and safety violations, workplace discrimination and labor law violations.
I spoke with two former Agriprocessors workers today. What they told me was quite disturbing.
Carole and Tisha Doty are mother and daughter, Iowa natives from Waterloo. Tisha worked at Agriprocessors from June 3, 2008 until April 7, 2009. Carole worked at Agriprocessors for three months, from late January 2009 until April 30, 2009.
Both were fired after having work-related illnesses.
Carole Doty had what she called the "bird flu," which is not a real influenza but seems to be a bacterial illness, campylobacter, commonly caught from chickens. A PETA undercover investigator contracted campylobacter at Agriprocessors in 2006. Elizabeth Billmeyer, then Agriprocessors HR director, refused to pay for his medical care. Carole worked in the laundry and in the janitorial crew. Her job included cleaning the bathrooms used by other infected employees.
Carole's daughter Tisha Doty had carpal tunnel from using unsharpened shears to cut chicken.
Both say they had doctor's notes excusing them from work.
Tisha Doty was switched to a job plucking chickens against the specific order of her doctor.
Carole Doty was fired the day she returned to work.
Agriprocessors calls this an "involuntary quit." But she was told a buyer was lined up for the plant and a sale was "just around the corner." She was encouraged to reapply for another job. She would be placed on a waiting list. The rate of pay for these potential jobs is $8.00 per hour, significantly lower than the $9.35 per hour Carole Doty made before being fired. She says she knows of about 30 other workers this happened to.
FailedMessiah.com exclusively reported Agriprocessors was firing and then rehiring workers at less pay 17 days ago. The Doty's stories confirm much of what I was told by others then.
Carole Doty received her health insurance card from Agriprocessors 3 days before she was fired. Doty believes this is a reason she was fired, and told me that "Trent Borton," Agriprocessors HR manager, told her the company needed to keep its expenses down until the company is sold. [His name is Trent Gorton and, as noted in the comments below, he was a safety manager at John Morrell before joining Agriprocessors as safety manager. Gorton later took over for Elizabeth Billmeyer, Agriprocessors former HR manager who was indicted in late March. Billmeyer was locked out by Agriprocessors trustee Joseph Sarachek two weeks before those indictments were handed down, and Gorton assumed at least some of her duties.]
When asked, Agriprocessors trustee Joseph Sarachek said, "I don't know anything about it. I never heard the claim.…We have been and fully intend to continue to fully comply with all labor laws." He declined further comment, referring me instead to his attorney in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Tisha Doty tried to change shifts because she lost her daycare and needed to be home to care for her infant daughter. Doty says Agriprocessors HR manager Trent Gorton agreed to try to arrange the shift change. After several days of waiting, Doty asked Trent Gorton again.
Instead of a shift change, she says she was fired, but like her mother and other workers I've heard from, she was told by Gorton that she could reapply for another job at a lower rate of pay.
Instead, Tisha Doty applied for unemployment. Agriprocessors claimed she was fired for cause. According to Doty, the state found no support for Agriprocessors claim.
Both workers spoke of safety issues at the plant, from the unsharpened shears Carole Doty was forced to use for three straight 10 hour shifts to untreated chemical spills and health issues.
The Dotys also say Sholom M. Rubashkin was inside Agriprocessors not long after his release on bail January 29, 2009. Tisha Doty says Rubashkin lectured poultry line workers about properly plucking feathers from chickens. Sholom Rubashkin complained the chickens had too many feathers remaining after processing. She remembers asking a fellow employee about Sholom Rubashkin's presence. "They own the plant," the employee said, "they can do whatever they want."
The time frame given by both workers matches a sighting of Rubashkin entering Agriprocessors made by another Agriprocessors employee.
If Sholom M. Rubashkin did enter Agriprocessors after his release from jail, this means he violated the order of protection given as part of his release on bail. That order forbids him from entering Agriprocessors property of contacting any Agriprocessors workers (other than specific family members and close friends).
This would mean Rubashkin could be rearrested and jailed until his trial is complete.
Agriprocessors trustee, Joseph Saracheck told me it was "impossible" for Rubashkin to have visited the plant after his release from jail.
Bob Teig, spokesman for the US Attorney, said the normal procedure in cases like this would be for the government to investigate the claims and then present the findings of that investigation to the court. The court would then decide whether to revoke Sholom Rubashkin's bail or alter the conditions of his release.
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Update 8:15 PM – I was told in February that Rubashkin was in the plant. So was at least one other journalist. I did not report it because I could not confirm it, and the employee would not use his name for fear of retribution.
About the same time, a Postville resident saw Rubashkin enter the plant.
I thought it was crazy, and asked to have someone stake out the plant with a video camera. But we didn't get film.
Then today I'm separately interviewing these women and out of the blue both tell me they saw Rubashkin in the plant after his release on bail.
Both know it was winter and very cold, and that there was ice and snow on the ground.
One specifically remembers this because she fell on the ice that same day.
Every one of these sightings confirms the others.
It is important to understand plant officials have repeatedly told workers they are not allowed to speak to the press, and most of these workers live in great fear of losing their jobs. They are for the most part poor people, who do not have the financial resources to survive if fired. That's why so many workers are afraid to come forward.
So why would Rubashkin do it?
I think it is because he believes the plant is his, that he is innocent, that what he did to get arrested is nothing different than what others do – it's just business, in his mind. He doesn't in any way understand his guilt or have any remorse for his actions. This is exactly the behavior shown by his brother Moshe in Allentown.
It may not make sense to you or to me, but it seems in the Rubashkin mind, going into the plant and violating the terms of his release somehow makes perfect sense.