The Jewish Labor Committee is calling for a boycott of Agriprocessors, and says the recent federal raid “buttresses the conviction shared by many undocumented workers that our government is not only indifferent to worker abuse, but works in collusion with management to penalize workers who challenge it.”

Here’s the JLC’s full statement:

Jewish Labor Committee Policy Statement:
Agriprocessors

New York: May 23, 2008
As an organization committed to the defense of human rights, the Jewish Labor Committee has long condemned the abuse of workers by any employer for any reason. For this reason, the JLC has vigorously opposed the employment practices of Agriprocessors, Inc. since we first learned of them two years ago.

In reviewing the complaints of Agriprocessors’ employees, the JLC learned that there is a clear pattern of employer negligence and even lawlessness. Among the most troubling practices by Agriprocessors are:

· abuse of child labor laws;
· failure to pay workers the full amount of wages they have earned;
· unnecessary exposure of workers to dangerous — even life-threatening — working conditions;
· sexual harassment.

The JLC has also learned that Agriprocessors is actively waging a campaign of intimidation and harassment against workers who have expressed an interest in exercising their legal right to union representation.

In this atmosphere, it is clear that the recent ICE raid at Agriprocessors, though apparently legal, only buttresses the conviction shared by many undocumented workers that our government is not only indifferent to worker abuse, but works in collusion with management to penalize workers who challenge it.

While there are many differing perspectives regarding immigration reform, the American Jewish community shares a common conviction that all workers — regardless of their immigration status — must be free to exercise their rights and challenge employer abuses. Our belief is grounded in the collective memory of American Jewry of the gross exploitation of Jewish immigrants by employers who, like Agriprocessors, abused and robbed them of their right to dignity in the workplace.
Judaism is clear on the topic of treating workers with dignity and respect. We understand that we must treat our workers decently and justly, ethically and legally.

For this reason we call on Agriprocessors to live up to the responsibilities of corporate citizenship, end its campaign of worker abuse, and respect the rights of its employees including their legal right to union representation. Until Agriprocessors establishes its commitment to these responsibilities, we urge consumers of kosher meat products to seek alternatives to the Rubashkin labels.

We’re told that a few Conservative rabbis wanted their movement to declare a boycott of Agriprocessors. Instead, the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism issued a “request”: “that consumers of kosher meat evaluate whether it is appropriate to buy and eat meat products produced by the Rubashkin’s label.”

Here’s the full statement:

“YOU SHALL NOT ABUSE A NEEDYAND DESTITUTE LABORER”
Deuteronomy 24:14

A Statement by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
And the Rabbinical Assembly Regarding Rubashkin’s Meat Products

New York, NY (May 22, 2008) - In response to the continuing disturbing
allegations of unacceptable worker conditions at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the
Rabbinical Assembly are united in their request that consumers of kosher
meat evaluate whether it is appropriate to buy and eat meat products produced by the Rubashkin’s label.

Rubashkin’s produces kosher meat primarily under the Rubashkin’s, Aaron and David label at the Agriprocessors facility. It is a major producer of kosher meat and poultry in the United States. The allegations about the terrible treatment of workers employed by Rubashkin’s have shocked and appalled members of the Conservative Movement as well as all people of conscience. As Kashrut seeks to diminish animal suffering and offer a humane method of slaughter, it is bitterly ironic that a plant producing kosher meat be guilty of inflicting any kind of human suffering.

The Rabbinical Assembly and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism will immediately release an advisory to its members and constituents asking them to evaluate whether it is appropriate to consume Rubashkin products until this situation is addressed. This advisory extends not only to products bought on the retail level but to meat and poultry bought at restaurants and for such private functions as weddings and bar mitzvahs.

As the month of Sivan approaches, Jews throughout the world are mindful of the Torah’s message of the power of kedushah, holiness as it applies to all aspects of our lives including the ethics of worker treatment and food production. It is hoped that Conservative synagogues, schools and summer camps engage in a study of this important topic in honor of the festival of Shavuot — beginning this year on June 8th — which commemorates the giving of the Torah.

A valuable source for such study is Hekshsher Tzedek Al Pi Din, a paper
written by Rabbi Avraham Reisner. It is a companion to the Hekhsher Tzedek Policy Statement and Working Guidelines. The paper is available on the websites of the Rabbinical Assembly (www.rabbinicalassembly.org) and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (www.uscj.org).

By releasing this advisory, the Conservative movement endorses the vision and guidance of the Hekhsher Tzedek commission. Hekhsher Tzedek is an initiative of the Rabbinical Assembly and United Synagogue that seeks to create an ethical certification process for kosher food. Through its work, Hekhsher Tzedek seeks to strengthen the bond between halakha and social justice.

The reports of unacceptable worker conditions at the Agriprocessors plant demonstrate the pressing need for the sort of ethical oversight which might be provided by Hekhsher Tzedek.

Nigel Duara has been reporting for the Des Moines Register on the situation in Postville, Iowa in the aftermath of last week’s arrests at Agriprocessors. Here he talks with JTA’s Ben Harris about how the raid went down.

Audio sound funny? Upgrade your Flash player.

To subscribe to JTA’s Behind the News podcast, click here.

Ben Harris is on the on the ground in Iowa, reporting on the aftermath of last week’s federal raid of the country’s largest meatpacking plant. Listen to his report on the first batch of undocumented workers to be deported, with hundreds more still in custody.

Audio sound funny? Upgrade your Flash player.

To subscribe to JTA’s Behind the News podcast, click here.

Agriprocessors’ PR folks just sent us a statement. The company says it’s trying to upgrade its immigration compliance procedures, but the first priority is getting the plant up and running again. No mention made of steps to address charges of illicit drug production on the premises, however, as reported in the government’s affidavit on the company.

Agriprocessors Addressing Challenges Following Worksite Enforcement Action

POSTVILLE, IA (May 15, 2008) – Agriprocessors, Inc., continues to make meaningful progress in addressing the challenges presented by the worksite enforcement action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies on May 12, 2008.

According to Chaim Abrahams, a company representative, Agriprocessors is concentrating its efforts on production.

“We were able to bring the plant back into operation the next day, and even though we’re not running at full capacity, we are able to resume production,” Abrahams said. “We are in the process of replacing workers so we can avoid any interruption of meeting customer needs for high quality products.”

Abrahams also noted that the company was in the process of enhancing its immigration compliance procedures.

“We are working with experts in immigration compliance to help us bolster our compliance efforts to employ only properly documented employees,” he said. “We have signed up for a government electronic verification program, and are working with our consultants on additional compliance measures that will enhance our hiring process.”

Agriprocessors also has launched an independent investigation into the circumstances which led to the worksite enforcement action, and is cooperating fully with the government.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families whose lives were disrupted and wish them the best,” Abrahams said.

Rabbi Moses Weissmandel, the supervising rabbi at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa, called this morning to categorically refute every allegation made this week by government investigators — except the illegal worker business. “That’s not my department,” Weissmandel said.

What is his department is the rabbinical staff, some 40 rabbis responsible for the actual slaughter of meat and for supervising the plant to make sure everything’s kosher. He claimed his rabbis provide round-the-clock supervision, and that none of the allegations – among them that workers were producing drugs on site, and that rabbis abused the workers with meat hooks – are true.

“I categorically say it’s false, it’s not true, it’s a lie,” Weissmandel said. “I have my rabbis supervising 24/7. We supervise every inch of that place in order to be sure that the place is totally kosher.”

(more…)

This morning I got the president of Gal Investments, Gabay Menhel, on the phone. The Israeli-born Menhel heads a real-estate company in Postville, Iowa, where federal agents Monday hauled off 390 employees of the country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse on suspected immigration violations.

Many of those workers were tenants of Menhel, who says his properties now resemble a ghost town. “One guy here, one guy there, most of them are gone,” he said. “It’s very scary.”

Menhel said he doesn’t know how many of his (former?) tenants were employed at Agriprocessors, the kosher slaughterhouse with a checkered history of food and safety violations in addition to its habit of hiring undocumented workers.

Unsurprisingly, Menhel didn’t want to guess how many of his tenants might be in the country illegally. He did speculate that 80 percent of them were foreign-born and that when the Feds showed up Monday with their helicopters and their search warrants, many of them bolted.

“They are very scared of authorities,” Menhel said.

Because of that fear, Menhel said his company tries “to take little information” from prospective tenants. He dismissed a suggestion that might indicate they have something to hide. Menhel said even his “top worker,” a man he insisted was in the country legally, had fled with his family after the raid. To where? He didn’t know. “This is too much, too scary,” the man told him.

For now, Menhel says the prevailing feeling in Postville is fear. All the restaurants are closed and news agencies are reporting that students aren’t showing up for school. “People are scared, scared what’s going to be with their town,” he said. “It’s a big uncertainty.”

Asked about his company’s website — which features a picture of the headquarters of Chabad at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, where the late Lubavitcher rebbe once held court, even though his business is done entirely in Postville — Menhel had this to say: “That’s the picture of our rebbe. Everything in Jewish faith is God, you know. Everything should reflect God. Even my home page should reflect godliness.”

And besides, Menhel added, none of his customers go to the home page anyway.