(The following article was written by Steven Greenhouse for the NY Times) A bankruptcy trustee reopened a kosher meat plant in Iowa on Wednesday in a move intended to comfort a town that has been economically crippled since 389 illegal immigrants were arrested at the plant in May.
But judging from an angry meeting on Wednesday night, the reopening of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville — and the rehiring of more than 200 workers — produced more acrimony than solace, with many workers upset that they had not been called back to their jobs.
Many workers also complained to the bankruptcy trustee, Joseph Sarachek, who organized the meeting, that the plant, until recently the nation’s largest kosher meat producer, had failed to pay them wages they were owed for the two or more weeks before it closed on Nov. 14.
“It was one of the most hostile meetings I’ve ever been to,” Jeff Abbas, manager of KPVL, the local radio station, which has led a community effort to help laid-off plant employees, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “I felt a little sorry for Sarachek, because there were so many questions he couldn’t answer: When will we be paid? When will we go back to work?”
Mr. Sarachek, a bankruptcy expert from New York, was appointed trustee after the plant’s owner, the Rubashkin family, filed for bankruptcy last month. The plant’s kosher certification was threatened after it was fined $10 million for wage violations and faced criminal charges for 9,300 child labor violations.
Mr. Sarachek said in a telephone interview that he had rushed to reopen the plant because Agriprocessors owned 700,000 chickens that needed to be slaughtered. A bankruptcy judge authorized him to spend $2.5 million to run the plant through next Friday.
“Our game plan is to begin with the chickens, then deal with some of the cooked meats and to actively market the company for sale,” he said. He has hired as top assistants two consultants with decades of experience in kosher meat production, Arnold Mikelberg and Allan Gluck.
Mr. Sarachek said the budget he was given to run the plant was not enough for him to cover the $500,000 owed in back wages. So he promised to repay quickly only those people who were rehired, as a way to attract workers back to a plant. (Others owed back pay need to apply to the bankruptcy judge.)
At the meeting on Wednesday, one woman, eager for her job and back wages, shouted, “Tell me where I’m supposed to go and what I’m supposed to do.”
The plant, which employed more than 800 workers last spring, has long been the economic heart of Postville, a town of about 2,000 residents. Its closing created shock and despair.
Some 160 workers legally in this country from Palau were stranded, but many have since been hired at other meatpacking plants in Iowa. Scores of Orthodox Jewish workers who lived in Postville were left without work, as were dozens of African-Americans from around the Midwest who had moved to Postville to take jobs at Agriprocessors.
“The disaster has so many layers,” said Maryn Olson, the acting coordinator of the Postville Response Coalition, a group of religious organizations, news media and government agencies helping to provide food, shelter and money to hard-pressed families. “I’ve seen dozens of people every day coming for help. People need money to do their laundry. People need $5 to put gas in their car to take someone to the doctor. People need rent money, money for their heat, their lights.”
Each Wednesday, 150 people line up at the local food pantry. Local churches are playing a pivotal role in feeding and sheltering more than 30 Hispanic women arrested at the plant and awaiting deportation — for some it has been slowed by their having children born in America. The churches are also helping some 20 Hispanic workers who were arrested, given G.P.S. ankle bracelets and ordered by prosecutors to stay in the area, so they can testify against Agriprocessors and its managers.
The plant’s former chief executive, Sholom Rubashkin, is in jail, awaiting a trial on various charges.
Referring to the plant’s long-time practice of hiring illegal immigrants before the raids last May, the Rev. Paul Ouderkirk of a local Catholic Church, said, “The sword of Damocles was hanging over the Rubashkins and it fell, and when it hit them, it hit the city.”
Like many other residents, Rev. Ouderkirk said he remained unsure whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about the potential sale of the plant.
“I’d say the upcoming “holidays” are to be very sad in town,” he said. “A lot of people are unemployed, including a lot of Jewish families. It’s a major catastrophe, what’s happened here.”
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27 Responses
Blame the government for this mess. They are the ones who went in with their full force and shut down the place. They could have tread more gently and kept the place operational.
#1, regardless of his opinion and your application to this incident, if an elected public official says certain laws should not be enforced, where do they get the right to make such a claim?
To #4 – Were you there? Do you know exactly how this happened? Or do you claim Nevuah? There have been countless failures this year, of all sorts. Great Baaley Tzedakah have become Dalim. This is not a single case, although the manner was different from the others. This is Yad Haelokim in Midas Hadin. All of us are suffering. Take a look at the Yeshivos. Take a look at the chesed orgs. Even if the Rubashkins were guilty, we are all to blame. What are we doing that are Tefilos are coming back unanswered? Why is it that we were doing so well and that suddenly we are doing so poorly?
#5, while your reasoning is very lofty and indeed valid, a simpler view of things is also valid. The law is the law and while we all hate to see a fellow Jew in trouble, some objectivity must be part of our overall view, in my opinion.
#3, the government makes the law and the government enforces the law. If the laws they made resulted in shutting down the place, then they are responsible. I’m not absolving the owners of responsiblity for their own actions, but neither the owners nor the workers wanted to see the place shut down.
#4 – You either are an apologist, or are in complete denial that the Rubashkins bare responsibility for what happened at their plant, and that the allegations against Rubashkin describe behavior that amount to serious felonies. I doubt a Yid could ever be charged with a crime without you makinge excuses for the one charged. That is not a legitimate defense of a member of the Klal – it is mindless nationalism.
My last comment was meant for #5 – I may have said #4
interesting how the workers complained about the job, working conditions, pay, benefits, etc… and now they’re screaming how do i get my job back lol think before you complain!!
# 10 – You are either of the idle rich or are rather disengenious – The workers’ position makes perfect sense to anyone who has ever had a difficult, poorly paying, hard job that they desparately need to pay their bills.
Enforcing immigration laws has always been a good idea – as evidenced by the bad things that happen when you don’t enforce them. Had current immigration laws been in effect 100 years ago, American would still be cultural homogenous (i.e. predominantly WASP, with virtually no Jews). Indeed had the enforced the laws 400 years ago, the real Americans would be living in peace, chasing their bison instead of being locked up on reservations, and fondly remembered only in the names of places that were taken from them (hint: Manhattan does not mean “man with hat on”).
America’s immigration policy is based on the Bible. Was it not Sodom that objected to new immigrants? Bigotry to imigrants is an ancient hallowed tradition. But we all know the the earth belongs to whomever happens to control it at the moment, and that anything to contrary is based on myths that have been disproven by modern science (“social Darwinism” in particular).
Any of you people read the book “Postville” by Stephen Bloom?
Read it. It was written in 2000, and I wondered why the govt. did not shut them down and arrest them at THAT time.
It was no surprise that this happened given the sheer arrogance of Rubashkin and some of his managers.
Before you respond that the author is not frum and therefore has the ne’emunus of a goy, read the book. Then post your comments.
This comment is in response to those among us who express anti-immigrant views. It’s not meant to be an excuse to break the law (which is unexcusable, whether the person is a baal tzedoko or not). It’s just a comment regarding where we should stand ideologically in the immigrant debate:
The gemora in Sanhedrin (109b) says that one of the Rishus of the people of Sodom was that they did not want foreigners coming to their land, because they were wealthier than their neighbors, and were afraid that they’ll get poorer if the foreigners move in. According to the Ramban in parshas Vayerah (dibur hamaschil “vened’ah osam”), despite the fact that the Sodomites committed many aveiros, what sealed their destruction was the fact that they were anti-immigration.
Now, I’m not advocating complete open borders, because just like by Tzedoko we have Takanas Usha (that limits the giving to a sustainable level), so too the immigration must be gradual, in a way that the country can absorb. But anything less than that is certainly Midas Sdom.
As this article was written by a “Jewish” reporter of the New York Times, it should be taken “with a grain (rather, pound) of salt”; i.e., it should be considered biased and not necessarily accurate.
As has been documented by the Jewish Press and others numerous times, that newspaper (which is owned by the assimilated, formerly Jewish Sulzberger family and whose “Jewish” reporters are mostly reform or assimilated) has a definite bias against Orthodox Jews.
Interestingly, Mr. Sam Zell (the new owner of the Chicago Tribune, who is Jewish, but probably not Orthodox) was quoted in his newspaper as remarking that, when he reads the New York Times, he cannot distinguish between the front page and the editorial page!
#11 don’t know about idle but i do ok.
i have enough employees to know the job and pay that’s offered is what will be given, if it’s no good or they feel they can do better go for it, but don’t take the job and complain all day about how hard it is or the hours or the pay etc.. they knew what they were taking.
Should they get more? not my call, but if that’s what they took make the best of it, and at the least sound blaming your boss about the job, leave if you can do better, if not be happy you have a job!!
I just let a worker go for the same reason went from 20/hr to 10/hr because that’s all he could find, shouldn’t have complaint so much while he was with me, he regrets it now that’s for sure.
Some laws are immoral and we are obligated to ignore them. The only people to survive the annihilation of Sodom were those who aided and abetted the Illegal Aliens.
#12- While I agree with you 100% about how bigotry to immigrants is a hallowed tradition, I do not believe this is bigotry to immigrants. These people are NOT immigrants. They are illegal residents. The snuck into this country illegally, bypassed all the processes necessary to become a citizen, do not pay taxes but utilize our resources, and many just take the American earned money and send it across the border. They have little or no allegance to this country. Now, our parents/grandparents/great grandparents who came followed the processes, worked hard, and paid their dues. The Russian immigrants so predominant in the US today are like that. As are many foreign born citizens or permanent residents, BUT not these or many hispanics, mexicans, cubans, dominicans, etc. There is no free ride here and allowing it is dangerous. This is not bigotry to immigrants, but security from illegal immigrants. You can become a citizen… apply and wait out the process. You start off on the wrong foot (doing something illegal), what else will you do wrong?
Don’t get me wrong, I know many do this out of desperation. There are countless stories of yidden doing what was considered illegal at the time out of desperation. Especially during the Shoah. I feel bad for this small fraction of illegals who are soooo desperate, I really do. But these laws are not meant to hurt others, just protect our nation. We have rules, they need enforcing.
I promote closing our borders and enforcing the rules from here on in, but not necessarily throwing those who took advantage until now out. That hurts us since our economy relies on their cheap labor. Let’s start enforcing our non-bigotry immigration laws by not letting anyone else in.
I hope all the Baalei Loshon Hora and Sheker above who have bought into the lies of the Anti-Rubashkin media and government officials, are well-prepared for a hot afterlife.
I think all of you miss a very important point. The complaints of the workers were found to be specious at best. It was the Rev. Ouderkirk who was the one who ratted out Rubashkin to the government. He was the one who was going to the media and to the ICE about all of the problems in the plant. His anti-semitism was so obvious that you could cut it with a leftover knife from Rubashkin’s “kill” department. Now he has the chutzpah to complain! Hey, Mr. Galach, who told you to open your big mouth anyway?
But the sad thing is is all of the families who mortgaged their houses to bailout Rubashkin. They can now barely keep the roof over their own heads. And I wouldn’t be surprised that when it is all over some Arab sheik from the Persian Gulf will buy the company and convert it to a halal meat plant which will hire illegals and never, ever suffer the type of tzaros that Rubashkin went through.
#19-I’m not saying Rubashkin is right and I’m not going to say he’s wrong. I wasn’t there so I don’t know what happened. (By the way my brother was niftar in a car accident which was reported by many radio, tv stations and newspapers. There were many versions to the story but not one place got it 100% right, so much for our up to date media) What I do knoe is that just because Rubashkin is suffering does not mean that hashem is displeased with him. There have been many good, special, wonderful tzaddikim who had a lot of yissurim and tzaros. I’m not going to go into that-but hashem has his cheshbonos. There is a reason for everything even if we don’t understand it.
To all the people who scream chillul hashem all day long: Screaming chillul hashem is not helping anyone. You don’t become a better person from it. Lfi aniyus daati, it only makes the chillul hashem greater. The only thing we can do to counteract any chillul hashem is not by adverising it but by being mekadesh shem shamayim. Please get off your computer, stop condemning people and start making a kidush hashem if you are really worried.
bacci, and when the beis din sentences you to a 11 month stint in the fire, you’ll recall your believing loshon hora/sheker.
Nu? Not one person answered that they had indeed read the book “Postville” written in the year 2000.
Until you do, don’t comment. You don’t know many of the facts.
If you do, then post your comments. I guarantee you will have a different opinion.
Oh, and Joseph, I look forward to the 11 months of fire. Right now I am cold all the time due to an illness that I have. Maybe I will enjoy warming up for a while!
What gets me is that the Jew knows he’s in exile, and he has many, some of whom of their own ex patriots, who would love to see their downfall. This plant has been harrassed repeatedly by peta with hidden cameras etc.. I would have thought there would have been more caution exercised in running this operation. If this were the year 1940 and anti semitism were thick in the air, would one run their business so carelessly. G*d have mercy. Why doesn’t ice do this to Tysons in Arkansas. I know first hand they just slap them on the hands and let them go. Why? because they’re one of their own. Wake up. A concerned ger.
Yanky, this 11 month stint in the fire is not anything you will be looking forward too.
Joseph, Do not worry about Bacci40 & Faltbusher
they have been spreading the hate from the beginning.
I hope that HKBH has more rachmanus on them than they have on the R family.
Yanky55:
I read Postville when it came out and again about 1 year ago. If you believe what is written there, than I have a bridge to sell you. That book is very, very much anti frum people. Irregardless of what is going on now with Agri, if you do not think that book is against frum people, than your a fool.
Actually based on the end of your previous comment, you are a fool either way.
No, it is NOT anti frum people. It is anti people who call themselves frum and make it clear that they have no intention of obeying the law.
Me a fool? On this site that cannot be taken as an insult.
Joseph, how do you know it’s so bad in there?
Yanky,
From the Rabbinical admonitions. I suggest you don’t try it out (or play with fire.)