How much did he really pay? Is he a union buster?
I don't have many details but I do have a name and an amount.
The purchaser is a Modern Orthodox or non-hasidic left wing haredi man from Canada named Friedman. I'm told he paid less than $10 million for the line of credit. $5.5 million is the amount I was told.
So, who is Friedman?
He might be Moishe Fridman from Marvid Kosher Poultry, a Montreal-based poultry producer.
Hopefully I'll be able to definitively answer that question later today.
UPDATE noon CDT: JWB has some four year old posts on Marvid's questionable labor practices.
What Friedman, Marvid's President and CEO apparently did is open a second production line, staff it with temporary non-union workers, and cut his previously full time untion workers down to half time. The union workers were bringing home about USD $140 per week.
They went on strike, stayed out for months and eventually drove Marvid out of business.
Marvid later regrouped and reentered the kosher poultry business.
During the strike, Marvid imported Empire poultry, repackaged it (again usuing non-union temporary workers) and sold it as Marvid poultry with the permission of Montreal's Vaad HaKashrus (the body of Orthodox rabbis that controls kosher food in Montreal).
And the Jewish community did not stand up for those workers. All it "stood up" for was cheap kosher meat – just like Agriprocessors.