Agri troubles in Brooklyn, too
The Forward's Nathaniel Popper, who broke the story of alleged worker mistreatment at the Agriprocessors plant in Iowa in 2006, followed up today with an important story about a unionization struggle at the company's Brooklyn warehouse.
Aside from reports of additional alleged company shenanigans, the story notes that Agri challenged a vote in favor of unionization by arguing that the workers were – wait for it – undocumented illegal immigrants, and therefore their votes shouldn't count. Lawyers for Agri are now petitioning the Supreme Court to invalidate the vote, the story says.
Popper writes:
The situation at the Brooklyn plant also answers questions that have gone unanswered in Iowa. Most notably, it is unclear if the company knowingly employed undocumented workers, such as those who were arrested during the raid in Iowa. The company has pleaded ignorance. But the Brooklyn case suggests that long before the raid in Iowa, the company knew it had undocumented workers in its ranks and knew how to find them — when it was to the company's benefit.
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Agriprocessors,
Kashrut,
Ritual
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David Sternlight
08/15/08 06:14 PM
Lost in the noise is the ready willingness by partisans who should know better to abandon the Constitution. Even an NLRB member, who is perhaps sworn to defend the Constitution, criticizes Rubashkin for stalling, arguing that delays profit Rubashkin. Be that as it may, the Rubashkins are entitled to exercise their Constitutional guarantee of due process and should not be criticized for so doing.
Instead, critics should be asking why the allegedly illegal Brooklyn workers weren’t deported at once when they were identified, if Rubashkin’s charges can be proven, and why Rubashkin was not fined at once (if the charges are true) for hiring illegal workers.
Nothing in the post should be interpreted as being pro-Rubashkin. i, myself, have stopped buying their meat ever since I discovered that they added Carageenan, a bulking agent, to some of their products. if I wanted Carageenan, I’d be buying Carageenan, not Kosher meat.
Boruch Hashem there is still a major ethical producer of high quality Kosher chicken, whose products have been found by Consumers Union to be superior to all other brands, Kosher or not. My local market, Trader Joe’s, seems no longer to be carrying Rubashkin meats but has plenty of Empire Chicken.