The following article is from TheJewishAdvocate.com [1]. 

Agriprocessors Charged with 9,311 Child Labor violations

Orthodox Union  issues ultimatum that could significantly affect local supplies

On Sept. 9, 2008, the State of Iowa charged Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meat production plant, with more than 9,300 counts of child labor violations.

The Orthodox Union quickly responded by threatening to withdraw its certification from the kosher meat processing plant within a few weeks unless the facility overhauls its management staff.

"We have to protect a lot of interests here as well as the kosher consumer, and in light of these charges, this is the position we are taking," said Rabbi Menachem Genack, rabbinic administrator and CEO of the OU Kashrus Division. "We want to act responsibly and not precipitously, but we'd like to see a new CEO to give the company a new direction."

Agriprocessors' current CEO, Sholom Rubashkin, is the son of the company's owner and president, Abraham Aaron Rubashkin.

After the arrest of 400 undocumented workers in May [2008], the OU asked the plant to bring in a regulations compliance officer, which it did, and to replace Sholom Rubashkin, which it has yet to do.

"All I know is it is being worked on," wrote Menachem Lubinsky, Agriprocessors' marketing consultant, in an e-mail to The Advocate.

Iowa's Attorney General charged both Rubashkins, along with three other human resources and management employees, with knowingly employing 32 underage workers, seven of whom were allegedly under the age of 16.

Agriprocessors' company spokesperson, Chaim Abrahams, issued a statement in response to the charges levied against the company.

"Agriprocessors vehemently denies these allegations and looks forward to trial so that it may put to rest the insidious notion that it knowingly employed underage workers," the statement read, in part.

But the charges issued on Tuesday [Sept. 9, 2008] are the latest in a long list of allegations against Agriprocessors, which supplies nearly 60 percent of the country's kosher meat and 40 percent of its kosher poultry.

In 2004, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals accused the plant of animal cruelty.

The Rubashkins have also faced allegations of worker abuse, and unsanitary conditions have led to thousands of dollars in fines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA].

The plant has since tightened its sanitary regulations and was cleared of animal abuse allegations. And the OU responded to PETA's claims by establishing new guidelines for the shehicha (kosher slaughter).

As of press time, Agriprocessors did not issue an official response to the OU's recent ultimatum.

"In the meantime, the OU is [at the plant] and so is Rabbi Menachem Weissmandl, who is the chief certifying rabbi," Lubinsky wrote. "Agriprocessors has hired Jim Martin, a former U.S. Attorney, as its compliance officer, and also a former OSHA official to monitor safety. It has also hired the Jacobson Staffing firm to handle its hiring. The firm is using the federal e-Verify system to assure that all workers are documented."

But confidence in the company's promises is far from assured. In August, PETA filed additional allegations with the USDA after it reportedly videotaped the inhumane slaughter of three cows. The USDA later cited the company, though it is not known if the citation was connected to the reported abuse.

And the arrest of another illegal worker on September 9 [2008] came as the Rubashkins were being charged in court.

"Agriprocessors uses the e-Verify system, which, as has been proven by other plants across the country, is not foolproof," Lubinsky responded. "One worker out of 800?"

But the latest troubles for the Postville, Iowa, plant and the OU's threat to pull its certification could not have come at a worse time.

As Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Chanukah approach, the potential loss of the nation's largest kosher meat producer could spell disaster for retailers and consumers.

"It would be catastrophic around the holidays," said Walter Gellerman, president of The Butcherie in Brookline, Mass.

Agriprocessors' products only make up a portion of The Butcherie's kosher meat and poultry. But Gellerman said the company's production of kosher meat has still not returned to the levels it had once been before the May raid decimated the plant's workforce.

The shortage, combined with rising fuel prices, has caused a significant spike in the price of kosher meat. And if retailers lose Agriprocessors' products altogether, Gellerman said, there would be few alternatives.

"It looks like other [companies] are trying to pick up the slack, but that unfortunately doesn't happen immediately," said Gellerman. "Hopefully [OU will not pull its certification] in the next two weeks."

When asked whether that is a possibility, the OU's Genack said he hopes the Iowa plant will do what is necessary.

"We've given them a few weeks; it's coming up on Yom Tov and of course we don't want to hurt the workers and so on," he said. "But the truth is, I don't know."

source:   TheJewishAdvocate.com [2]

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