The Gazette
Jewish Labor Committee condemns Agriprocessors
By Trish Mehaffey

The Jewish Labor Committee on Friday called on Agriprocessors Inc. to end its campaign of worker abuse and live up to the responsibilities of "corporate citizenship."

Spokesman Arieh Lebowitz said the committee wanted to formally weigh in on the latest reports of troubling practices at the kosher meatpacking company. The Jewish Labor Committee defends human rights and condemns any kind of worker abuse.

The committee has voiced its views against the company in the past for intimidating and harassing employees who have attempted to join a union, said Rosaliand Spigel, acting director, but this is the first formal statement in regard to the May 12 immigration raid at the Postville plant.

Lebowitz said the organization has reviewed the complaints of Agriprocessors employees, some of whom have contended the company abused child labor laws, failed to pay workers full wages, unnecessarily exposed workers to dangerous working conditions and sexually harassed workers.

"Judaism is clear on the topic of treating workers with dignity and respect," Lebowitz said. "We understand that we must treat our workers decently and justly, ethically and legally."

Also Friday, Aaron Rubashkin, the owner of Agriprocessors, announced that the plant is seeking a new chief executive officer after the immigration raid cost it nearly half its work force.

The Postville company has been led by Rubashkin's son Sholom since his family founded the operation, the country's largest kosher meatpacking plant, in 1987.

Lebowitz said Agriprocessors has a history of unfair employment practices. Spigel gave as an example a ruling Jan. 24 by the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court in a 2006 complaint against the Brooklyn, N.Y., plant.

Agriprocessors officials admitted to employing illegal immigrants, according to a decision by a National Labor Relations Board administrative judge. The company was found to have violated federal labor law by refusing to bargain with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Plant officials argued that the majority of the employees who voted to join a union were illegal immigrants, according to the decision, so the refusal to bargain was justified.

The case then went to the circuit court, which ruled that undocumented workers are considered "employees" under the National Labor Relations Act even though it's unlawful for companies to employ such workers.

Jim Fallon, spokesman for Agriprocessors, said he couldn't respond Friday afternoon but that officials planned to respond at some time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.