By Marissa Brostoff, Forward
The kosher meat giant Agriprocessors shut down major portions of its slaughter operations at the same time that the company’s former CEO was arrested and the state of Iowa imposed a $10 million fine on the company.
On October 30, federal prosecutors arrested Sholom Rubashkin, son of Agriprocessors founder Aaron Rubashkin. The younger Rubashkin, who had run the company’s operations in the midwest, was charged with knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants at the Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse.
The arrest came a day after the $10 million in fines, which the Iowa labor commissioner issued in response to the alleged failure of the company to pay proper wages to its employees.
“Once again, Agriprocessors has demonstrated a complete disregard for Iowa law,” said the labor commissioner, Dave Neil, in a statement.
Representatives for Agriprocessors did not respond to numerous calls from the Forward seeking comment.
Agriprocessors’ Postville plant was the subject of a federal immigration raid last May, in which nearly 400 immigrant workers were arrested. That raid came two years after an article in the Forward raised concerns about the treatment and pay of workers at the plant. In September, the owners of Agriprocessors were charged with more than 9,000 separate child labor violations, but until now, none of the members of the Rubashkin family had faced arrest in connection with problems at the plant.
Before the raid, Agriprocessors was the largest producer of both kosher beef and kosher poultry in the United States – and was the sole supplier of kosher beef to many parts of the country. In the days before the arrest and fines, people in Postville reported that the plant had shut down its beef production.
“All the workers are walking the streets today,” Paul Ouderkirk, a priest at Postville’s Catholic church, said in an October 29 phone interview.
Jeff Abbas, who runs Postville’s community radio station, said that he saw live cattle being trucked away from the slaughterhouse on the morning of October 29.
Agriprocessors had attempted to deal with its problems by having Sholom Rubashkin step down as CEO of the company’s midwestern operations. That move was announced in May, and in September the company brought on a New York lawyer to fill the post. The Rubashkins, however, appear to still be involved in the company’s operations.
A special agent with the Department of Homeland Security wrote the affidavit that detailed the reasons for Sholom Rubashkin’s arrest. The special agent consulted a number of former Agriprocessors employees in drawing up the charges. According to the affidavit, Rubashkin personally helped procure fraudulent identification cards for undocumented immigrants working at the plant. In one case, Rubashkin allegedly loaned supervisors at the plant $4,500 in cash to pay for the cards, each costing $200.
Discussing one of the Agriprocessors employees, referred to as Subject A, the affidavit reports that “Subject A stated that Sholom Rubashkin inspected the first group of IDs and told him/her that, the IDs looked good to him, and that he would sign the I-9 Forms for the applications.”
Rubashkin was set to appear at a federal court in Iowa on October 30.
The charges against Rubashkin came shortly after an Agriprocessors human resources manager Laura Althouse pleaded guilty to federal charges that were filed against her because of her work at the plant. Althouse, who initially pleaded not guilty, has been charged with harboring undocumented workers and forging Social Security cards for them. She faces up to 12 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.
The fines that the company is facing are not related to the immigration charges. According to a statement released by the commissioner’s office, more than 2,000 workers had their wages illegally reduced within the past two years. Most of the fines are civil penalties accrued by the company for allegedly forcing workers to pay for their own uniforms. Additional fines were levied because the company allegedly withheld employees’ paychecks during the weeks after the raid.
Agriprocessors has faced a steady flow of fines over the past year, but these appear to be the largest. A spokeswoman for the commissioner said that the fines were the largest the department had ever leveled in connection with wage violations.
Don’t overlook the central issues here. He broke the law. He employed kids, and illegals. He broke the law, and he’s paying the price.
David
You can be ashamed of being a jew. You can choose to be safe hating too. and the most important thing for you to remember, you and all your Miami friends who are not going to eat rubashkin (for whatever reason) please remember that without Ruashkin’s products there will be a major shortage in kosher meat in the US abd i mean MAJOR like probably 75% less then now! so what do you think will happen then? well i will tell you. You will not be able to afford kosher food!!!!! prices will be up 300% maybe more there will… Read more »
To number 7, I would like to tell you that in a time like this when the Rubashkins need and deserve all of our support ,you should be telling your freinds that now more than ever they should be buying the Rubashkin products and not to boycott them. Look into your own closet and your friends in their closet and see if there are any skeletons, when times were good you derived pleasure from their good quality and prices and were happy but now things took an ufortunate turn you run from them, you and your friends should be ashamed… Read more »
it is vey unusuall to see this kind of court procedures go on.
first the inspectors
then the arrests ot a few workers all frum
then the courts with 10,000,000.00 fines
and then one day later this arrest of shalom
all from the feds
something is really very wrong here that we dont know about,
i would with my total ahavas yisroel and pity on another yid
have second thoughts when trusting their kashrus, even with a private name on it as the o.u. or whom ever
moshiach now
assume they wrote it to keep the community informed and so we can DAVEN that sholom mordichai will be alright. sholom mordichai haleivi ben rivkah.
why do you have to write about this????
My hear goes out to this Jewish family, but the law is the law. What does anti-semitism have to do with this?
Pure anti-semitism. we need Moshiach NOW!
THIS IS AN ATTACK AGAINST A VISIBLE JEW- pure anti semitism.
I pray for the Rubashkin family and wish them extra strength during this HORRIBLE time, Moshiach Now!
I am ashamed to a be the citizen of a country that targets and persecutes Jews.
We must stand together and resist the antisemitism of the goyim and – other Jews.
For those boycotting Rubashkin meat shame on you!!!!!
You are cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Where are all the people that Rubashkins helped throughout the years, all the mosdos, all the millions they donated? shouldnt everyone be standing up for them now? Kol Yisrael Areivim zeh lozeh. This is a tragedy for all of us.
Oy veh! The shame I feel. It’s almost like some of us are inviting the anti-Semitism we’re lucky enough to live without in this country.
The majority of my friends and a large portion of my community (Miami, FL) were boycotting eating Rubashkins after the immigration raid, and I’ve resisted… until now.
David
All the people and mosdos who were helped by them, got food, money and tzdoka?!
Is this fair??!?!
wow, when you start with the unions, you can not win.
I am shocked!
This is devastating! These are good people! How could this happen??