Agriprocessors
Encyclopedia
Agriprocessors was the corporate identity
of a slaughterhouse
and meat-packaging factory
based in Postville
, Iowa
, best known as a facility for the glatt kosher
processing
of cattle
, as well as chicken
, turkey
, duck
, and lamb. Agriprocessors' meat and poultry products were marketed under the brand Iowa Best Beef. Two-thirds of its output was non-kosher. Its kosher products were marketed under various labels, including Aaron’s Best, Shor Habor, Supreme Kosher and Rubashkins.
The firm was founded and owned by Aaron Rubashkin
, who purchased the meat-packing facility in 1987, and managed by two of his sons, Sholom Rubashkin
and Heshy Rubashkin. Eventually it became the largest kosher meat-packing plant in the United States
.
Agriprocessors faced accusations of mistreatment of cattle, pollution, and a series of alleged violations of labor law. In May 2008, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) staged a raid
of the plant, and arrested nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers. Agriprocessors plants stopped operating in October 2008, and the firm filed for bankruptcy on November 5 of the same year. Sholom Rubashkin as the highest ranking day-to-day corporate officer was charged with federal financial fraud
and sentenced to 27 years in prison in June 2010.
The Agriprocessors plant was bought at auction in July 2009 by SHF Industries and has resumed production under the new name Agri Star.
Rubashkin brought modern industrial methods to what has historically been a small, almost boutique craft, developing retail-ready glatt kosher products being sold both in supermarkets and in small, local grocery stores and meat markets around the United States. Agriprocessors was the largest (glatt) kosher meat producer in the United States and the only one authorized by Israel
's Orthodox
rabbi
nate to export beef to Israel.
In the 20 years it operated in Postville, Agriprocessors had a major impact on the town, creating new jobs, attracting immigrants from many different countries, and bringing an influx of ultra religious Jews to a part of the United States where Jews had been practically unknown.
The Rubashkin family
opened another processing plant for bison, cattle and lamb called Local Pride Plant in conjunction with the Oglala Lakota
native-American tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
in Gordon, Nebraska
in 2006 employing some 100 locals. The presence of the plant near an Indian reservation provided considerable tax breaks for Rubashkin. Governor Dave Heineman
presented a $505,000 gratuity check to Rubashkin on behalf of the city of Gordon, as part of an incentive package that brought the factory to the town.
Agriprocessors had two distribution sites, one in Brooklyn, New York, and one in Miami, Florida
, both managed by members of the Rubashkin family. It also operated slaughter facilities in South America.
The controversies have also split the Jewish communities, raised questions of Jewish ethics, and brought about a new consciousness for a Jewish way of eating beyond fulfilling the technical requirements of kashrut
.
(PETA) released a video filmed undercover at Agriprocessors, showing gory details of cattle having their tracheas
and esophagi
being ripped out of their necks and surviving for minutes after shechita
. (ritual slaughter). Noted animal welfare expert and meat scientist Dr. Temple Grandin
called Agriprocessors procedures an "atrocious abomination" and worse than anything she had ever seen in over 30 kosher abattoirs.
Jewish authorities were split, with former Chief Rabbi of Ireland
, David Rosen
, and Shechita UK, along with many non-Orthodox rabbis from the Conservative
movement, criticizing Agriprocessors, while Orthodox kashrut organizations continued to stand by the kashrut of the meat. Under pressure from the Agriculture Department, the Orthodox Union kosher certification authority and Israel's chief rabbinate, the plant changed its practices.
In 2005 an internal report from the USDA
not only held that Agriprocessors engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter, but that USDA inspectors
were sleeping on the job, playing computer games, and had accepted bribes of free meat to ignore violations at the plant.
On June 27, 2006, at the suggestion of Rabbi Menachem Genack
of the Orthodox Union
, Dr. Grandin toured the facility. According to the Orthodox Union, Dr. Grandin was satisfied with what she saw. In 2008, though, Grandin reported that Agriprocessors had again become "sloppy" in their slaughter operation and was "in the bottom 10%" of slaughterhouses.
Another PETA undercover video, reportedly taken on August 13, 2008, showed violations of the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act
, including the use of saw-like, multiple, hacking cuts in the necks of still-conscious animals. Dr. Grandin said the second cuts would “definitely cause the animal pain.” The episode led Grandin to state that slaughterhouse visits were useless for determining proper animal treatment. Grandin suggested that Agriprocessors install internet video cams on the killing floor for constant, independent, oversight.
into local rivers in breach of regulations. On August 31, 2006, Agriprocessors signed a consent decree where they essentially admitted discharging untreated slaughtering wastewater into the Postville sewer system, in violation of Federal and Iowa State law and paid a $600,000 fine for violating waste-water regulations. Untreated wastewater from abattoirs is a heavy burden on wastewater treatment plants because of its high biochemical oxygen demand
and high concentration of FOG (Fats, oils, and grease) which can form insoluble plaques in sewage pipes.
union. The company did not recognize the vote, arguing that it was invalid because management had discovered that many of the workers who participated were in the US illegally, making their votes invalid despite protection granted undocumented workers in the National Labor Relations Act
. A National Labor Relations Board
judge decided against the company and ordered it to recognize the vote. Workers alleged that Agriprocessors paid low wages, failed to pay overtime and immediately terminated employment of workers who complained about conditions or wages.
On August 20, 2008, Jewish employees at Agriprocessors were reported to have staged a 30-minute walkout over delayed payment of wages and other compensation issues.
In October 2008, the Iowa Labor Commission fined Agriprocessors $9.99 million for various violations of state labor law, including illegally deducting money from employees for safety equipment and failing to pay employees.
(ICE) staged a raid that was described as “largest criminal worksite enforcement operation in U.S. history”. Federal authorities arrested 389 immigrant workers during the raid, 305 of them on criminal charges, 297 were sentenced on federal felony charges for fraud-related offenses. ICE spokesman Tim Counts said that “the raid was aimed at seeking evidence of identity theft, stolen Social Security number
s and for people who are in the country illegally”. According to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Iowa, those arrested “include 290 Guatemalans, 93 Mexicans, 2 Israelis and 4 Ukrainians”.
Sources quoted in the affidavit and application for search warrant
alleged the existence of a methamphetamine
laboratory at the slaughterhouse, and that employees carried weapons to work. However, later press reports do not indicate that a methamphetamine laboratory was found during the search.
In late July, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
met with workers and community leaders, after a United States House of Representatives
' subcommittee had heard testimony about the raid and its impact on the families and the town, and a rally with some 1,500 participants, organized by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
, Jewish Community Action and St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church was held in Postville in support of the detained Agriprocessors workers and their families.
The Rubashkin family was reported to have denied any criminal activity; Aaron Rubashkin said that “he had no idea that his workers were illegal and that they had produced what appeared to be legitimate work documents”. Nevertheless he announced shortly after the raid that he intends to replace his son as the company's CEO. Sholom Rubashkin remained in charge though. He was finally replaced as CEO in September 2008 by Bernard Feldman, a New York attorney who had worked as counsel for the family, after child labor charges against Aaron and Sholom Rubashkin had been announced, and the Orthodox Union had threatened to withdraw their kosher certification.
The ICE raid left the company lacking employees, and it hired Labor Ready
to supply "about 150 workers", but these workers stopped working because of alleged safety issues. The Jacobson Staffing company took the job of staffing the plant shortly thereafter. In June 2008, Agriprocessors began hiring workers from homeless shelters in Texas to replace employees detained in the federal immigration raid.
”, Getzel Rubashkin, son of Sholom Rubashkin, admitted he and two friends created the site.
In June 2008, Agriprocessors retained Jim Martin, a former U.S. Attorney, as the company's outside CCO
, hired 5W Public Relations
to repair its public image, and Lubicom, a kosher consulting and PR firm headed by Menachem Lubinsky, to present its case to the New York Jewish community. Lubinsky was quoted as saying he “expected 5W to deal with negative publicity and blogs”. Shortly thereafter, suspicious posts defending the company appeared on Jewish blogs critical of the company. Shmarya Rosenberg
, author of the Failed Messiah blog, uncovered that two posts under the name of Rabbi Morris Allen of Hechsher Tzedek
, a critic of Agriprocessors, were part of a sockpuppeting scheme. Similar comments impersonating Rabbi Allen were found on the websites of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
(JTA) and Vos Iz Neias. Ronn Torossian
, CEO of 5W, admitted that a “senior staff member failed to be transparent in dealing with client matters.”
commented on Agriprocessors:
He also directed Iowa state agencies to prohibit Agriprocessors from listing their jobs on state job lists, and ordered his Attorney General to prosecute all violations backed by sufficient evidence.
Rubashkin was arrested again on November 13, 2008 at his Postville home on Federal charges of bank fraud.
On November 21, 2008 a Federal grand jury
returned a 12 count indictment on immigration and bank fraud charges.
In January 2009, an additional 99 federal charges were filed against former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and three former managers for money laundering, making false statements, failing to make required payments for livestock, and 25 additional bank-fraud charges.
Sholom Rubashkin went to trial on these charges in state court on May 4, 2010. After a five-week trial he was found not guilty of all 67 charges of child labor violations by the Black Hawk County District Court jury in Waterloo, Iowa on June 7, 2010. The jury rejected, after about 12 hours of deliberations, prosecutors’ arguments that Sholom Rubashkin had seen many warning signs that child laborers were working at the Agriprocessors plant.
administration.
On March 20, 2009 Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, a supervisor at the Postville plant, was sentenced to three years in federal prison. He pled guilty in August 2008 to one count of conspiracy to hire illegal immigrants and one count of aiding and abetting the hiring of illegal immigrants. The single-count pleas imply that Mr. Guerrero-Espinoza may serve as witness against others in the case.
On November 23, 2009 Sholom Rubashkin's second trial on 72 immigration charges was canceled following the government's request to dismiss. In its motion to dismiss, the U.S. Attorneys Office said any conviction on the immigration charges would have no impact upon his sentence, writing, “dismissal will avoid an extended and expensive trial, conserve limited resources, and lessen the inconvenience to witnesses.” Federal Judge Linda R. Reade dismissed the immigration charges without prejudice.
of 86 charges of financial fraud, including bank fraud, mail and wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors had claimed the company intentionally defrauded St. Louis-based First Bank on a revolving $35 million loan by faking invoices from meat dealers, inflating the value of the company.
On March 3, 2010, Judge Reade denied Rubashkin's motion for dismissal of the financial corruption charges and a request for a new trial.
On June 22, 2010, Rubashkin was sentenced to 27 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for a 25-year sentence, Rubashkin's attorney for a six-year term. Rubashkin was also ordered to make $26,852,152.51 in restitution, special assessments of $8,600 were imposed, and he must serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. His lawyers have filed an appeal. In October 2010, Judge Reade rejected Sholom Rubashkin's motion for a new trial.
In May 2011, Sholom Rubashkin used political connections to seek a rehearing and reduction of his sentence; among others, Reps.
Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler
(D-NY) lobbied for a review of the case; Democratic National Committee
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
(D-FL Rep.) lobbied US Attorney General
Eric Holder
personally on Rubashkin's behalf; and Rep. Yvette Clark (D-NY) argued that her constituents
in Brooklyn
, the Rubashkin family base, deemed the punishment too harsh and feared a hike in the price of kosher food.
The Associated Press reported that “Agriprocessors in its bankruptcy filing said the company owed $50 million to $100 million to creditors. The move appears to be an effort to pre-empt foreclosure by a St. Louis bank, which sued Agriprocessors for defaulting on a $35 million loan”.
In December, the bankruptcy court approved a $2.5 million loan for Agriprocessors to allow it to resume poultry processing through at least January 9, 2009 (about 750,000 chicken
s). The company was run by Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee Joseph E. Sarachek of Triax Capital Advisors.
Agriprocessor's problems led to a shortage of kosher meat and higher prices nation-wide. Empire Kosher
, the largest US producer of kosher poultry, doubled its production capacity in response.
Agriprocessors was bought at auction in July 2009 by SHF Industries, a company formed by Canadian plastics manufacturer Hershey Friedman, an observant Orthodox Jew, and his son-in-law, Daniel Hirsch. The plant has resumed business under the new name Agri Star Meat & Poultry, LLC.
Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
by journalist Stephen G. Bloom, was published in 2000, the documentary film Postville: When Cultures Collide based on it was released in 2001. Postville U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America, written by Mark Grey and Michele Devlin, sociologists at the University of Northern Iowa
, together with Aaron Goldsmith, a Lubavitcher Hasid and former member of the Postville City Council, came out in 2009, as well as the documentary film on the ICE-raid abUSed. In the same year, seven men who were arrested in the raid wrote a play in Spanish, la Historia de Nuestras Vida (The Story of Our Lives) and performed it at Lutheran churches in Decorah, IA and Minneapolis.
Corporate identity
In Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...
of a slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
and meat-packaging factory
Meat packing industry
The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock...
based in Postville
Postville, Iowa
Postville is a city in Allamakee and Clayton Counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. It lies near the junction of four counties and at the intersection of U.S. Routes 18 and 52 and Iowa Highway 51, with airport facilities in the neighboring communities of Waukon, Decorah, Monona, and Prairie du Chien....
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, best known as a facility for the glatt kosher
Kosher foods
Kosher foods are those that conform to the regulations of the Jewish Halakhic law framework, kosher meaning fit or allowed to be eaten. A list of some kosher foods are found in the book of Leviticus 11:1-47. There are also certain kosher rules found there...
processing
Food processing
Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or by the food processing industry...
of cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, as well as chicken
Chicken (food)
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
, turkey
Turkey (bird)
A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
, duck
Duck (food)
Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
, and lamb. Agriprocessors' meat and poultry products were marketed under the brand Iowa Best Beef. Two-thirds of its output was non-kosher. Its kosher products were marketed under various labels, including Aaron’s Best, Shor Habor, Supreme Kosher and Rubashkins.
The firm was founded and owned by Aaron Rubashkin
Aaron Rubashkin
Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, or Aaron Rubashkin, an ultra-Orthodox Jew of the Lubavitcher hasidic movement born in the Russian town Nevel in the former Soviet Union, is the owner of a kosher butcher shop in Brooklyn, New York, opened in 1953...
, who purchased the meat-packing facility in 1987, and managed by two of his sons, Sholom Rubashkin
Sholom Rubashkin
Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin , an ultra-Orthodox Jew of the Lubavitcher Hasidic movement, is a former executive officer and vice president of Agriprocessors, a now-bankrupt slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa formerly owned by his father, Aaron Rubashkin...
and Heshy Rubashkin. Eventually it became the largest kosher meat-packing plant in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Agriprocessors faced accusations of mistreatment of cattle, pollution, and a series of alleged violations of labor law. In May 2008, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
(ICE) staged a raid
Postville Raid
The Postville Raid was a raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, USA on May 12, 2008, executed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security together with other agencies. The raid was the...
of the plant, and arrested nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers. Agriprocessors plants stopped operating in October 2008, and the firm filed for bankruptcy on November 5 of the same year. Sholom Rubashkin as the highest ranking day-to-day corporate officer was charged with federal financial fraud
Financial crimes
Financial crimes are crime against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property to one's own personal use and benefit...
and sentenced to 27 years in prison in June 2010.
The Agriprocessors plant was bought at auction in July 2009 by SHF Industries and has resumed production under the new name Agri Star.
History
In the 1980s Aaron Rubashkin, a Lubavitcher Hasidic butcher from Brooklyn, decided to take advantage of economic structural changes to bring mass-production to the kosher meat production business. In 1987 he bought an abandoned slaughterhouse outside Postville, a town undergoing a major employment crisis in northeastern Iowa and opened a processing plant creating some 350 jobs. Two of his sons were put in charge, Sholom Rubashkin, the second youngest as CEO, and Heshy Rubashkin, the youngest, as vice president of marketing and sales. In 1992, Agriprocessors added poultry to its offerings. At its peak the plant employed over 800 people, killing more than 500 head of cattle each day in kosher production. The sales, according to numbers given to Cattle Buyers Weekly, rose from $80 million in 1997 to $180 million in 2002 and may have reached $250 million or more.Rubashkin brought modern industrial methods to what has historically been a small, almost boutique craft, developing retail-ready glatt kosher products being sold both in supermarkets and in small, local grocery stores and meat markets around the United States. Agriprocessors was the largest (glatt) kosher meat producer in the United States and the only one authorized by Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
nate to export beef to Israel.
In the 20 years it operated in Postville, Agriprocessors had a major impact on the town, creating new jobs, attracting immigrants from many different countries, and bringing an influx of ultra religious Jews to a part of the United States where Jews had been practically unknown.
The Rubashkin family
Rubashkin family
The Rubashkin family is a family of American ultra-Orthodox Jews of the Lubavitcher Hasidic movement of Brooklyn, New York, headed by Aaron Rubashkin. Members of the family were or are active in various family businesses, most of them in the family's main business, kosher meat, for which they...
opened another processing plant for bison, cattle and lamb called Local Pride Plant in conjunction with the Oglala Lakota
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people; along with the Nakota and Dakota, they make up the Great Sioux Nation. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the...
native-American tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
in Gordon, Nebraska
Gordon, Nebraska
Gordon is a city in Sheridan County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,612 at the 2010 census.- Geography :Gordon is located at ....
in 2006 employing some 100 locals. The presence of the plant near an Indian reservation provided considerable tax breaks for Rubashkin. Governor Dave Heineman
Dave Heineman
David Eugene "Dave" Heineman is the 39th and current Governor of Nebraska. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education and career:...
presented a $505,000 gratuity check to Rubashkin on behalf of the city of Gordon, as part of an incentive package that brought the factory to the town.
Agriprocessors had two distribution sites, one in Brooklyn, New York, and one in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, both managed by members of the Rubashkin family. It also operated slaughter facilities in South America.
Controversies
The Agriprocessors plants have often been controversial because of frequent citations for illegal practices such as: animal abuse, food safety violations, violations of environmental laws, child labor laws, and the recruitment of illegal immigrants and inducing them to work in often dangerous conditions at illegal wages.The controversies have also split the Jewish communities, raised questions of Jewish ethics, and brought about a new consciousness for a Jewish way of eating beyond fulfilling the technical requirements of kashrut
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
.
Animal abuse
In late 2004, People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
(PETA) released a video filmed undercover at Agriprocessors, showing gory details of cattle having their tracheas
Vertebrate trachea
In tetrapod anatomy the trachea, or windpipe, is a tube that connects the pharynx or larynx to the lungs, allowing the passage of air. It is lined with pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium cells with goblet cells that produce mucus...
and esophagi
Esophagus
The esophagus is an organ in vertebrates which consists of a muscular tube through which food passes from the pharynx to the stomach. During swallowing, food passes from the mouth through the pharynx into the esophagus and travels via peristalsis to the stomach...
being ripped out of their necks and surviving for minutes after shechita
Shechita
Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws...
. (ritual slaughter). Noted animal welfare expert and meat scientist Dr. Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin is an American doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior...
called Agriprocessors procedures an "atrocious abomination" and worse than anything she had ever seen in over 30 kosher abattoirs.
Jewish authorities were split, with former Chief Rabbi of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, David Rosen
David Rosen (Rabbi)
Rabbi David Shlomo Rosen CBE is the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and currently serves as the Director of the American Jewish Committee's Department of Interreligious Affairs and the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding...
, and Shechita UK, along with many non-Orthodox rabbis from the Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
movement, criticizing Agriprocessors, while Orthodox kashrut organizations continued to stand by the kashrut of the meat. Under pressure from the Agriculture Department, the Orthodox Union kosher certification authority and Israel's chief rabbinate, the plant changed its practices.
In 2005 an internal report from the USDA
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
not only held that Agriprocessors engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter, but that USDA inspectors
Food Safety and Inspection Service
The Food Safety and Inspection Service , an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture , is the public health agency responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged...
were sleeping on the job, playing computer games, and had accepted bribes of free meat to ignore violations at the plant.
On June 27, 2006, at the suggestion of Rabbi Menachem Genack
Menachem Genack
Menachem Genack is an Orthodox rabbi and the CEO of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division, a supervisory organization of kosher food. He is known as one of the foremost talmidim of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik under whom he studied for over a decade. He was also very close to Rabbi Moshe Shmuel...
of the Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America , more popularly known as the Orthodox Union , is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. It is best known for its kosher food preparation supervision service...
, Dr. Grandin toured the facility. According to the Orthodox Union, Dr. Grandin was satisfied with what she saw. In 2008, though, Grandin reported that Agriprocessors had again become "sloppy" in their slaughter operation and was "in the bottom 10%" of slaughterhouses.
Another PETA undercover video, reportedly taken on August 13, 2008, showed violations of the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act
Humane Slaughter Act
The Humane Slaughter Act, or the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act, is a United States federal law designed to protect livestock during slaughter. It was passed in 1958...
, including the use of saw-like, multiple, hacking cuts in the necks of still-conscious animals. Dr. Grandin said the second cuts would “definitely cause the animal pain.” The episode led Grandin to state that slaughterhouse visits were useless for determining proper animal treatment. Grandin suggested that Agriprocessors install internet video cams on the killing floor for constant, independent, oversight.
Pollution
In 2004, city authorities started an investigation against Agriprocessors due to complaints from local residents that the firm routinely deposited untreated effluentEffluent
Effluent is an outflowing of water or gas from a natural body of water, or from a human-made structure.Effluent is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as “wastewater - treated or untreated - that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall. Generally refers...
into local rivers in breach of regulations. On August 31, 2006, Agriprocessors signed a consent decree where they essentially admitted discharging untreated slaughtering wastewater into the Postville sewer system, in violation of Federal and Iowa State law and paid a $600,000 fine for violating waste-water regulations. Untreated wastewater from abattoirs is a heavy burden on wastewater treatment plants because of its high biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand or B.O.D. is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period. The term also refers to a chemical procedure for...
and high concentration of FOG (Fats, oils, and grease) which can form insoluble plaques in sewage pipes.
Labor relations
In September 2005, workers at Agriprocessors’ distribution site in Brooklyn voted to join the United Food and Commercial WorkersUnited Food and Commercial Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile, G4S Security, chemical...
union. The company did not recognize the vote, arguing that it was invalid because management had discovered that many of the workers who participated were in the US illegally, making their votes invalid despite protection granted undocumented workers in the National Labor Relations Act
National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act , is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions , engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in...
. A National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
judge decided against the company and ordered it to recognize the vote. Workers alleged that Agriprocessors paid low wages, failed to pay overtime and immediately terminated employment of workers who complained about conditions or wages.
On August 20, 2008, Jewish employees at Agriprocessors were reported to have staged a 30-minute walkout over delayed payment of wages and other compensation issues.
In October 2008, the Iowa Labor Commission fined Agriprocessors $9.99 million for various violations of state labor law, including illegally deducting money from employees for safety equipment and failing to pay employees.
Anti-competitive practices
A December 2008 story in the Village Voice featured allegations of sharp business practices by the Rubashkins: intimidating rivals (with threats of physical violence), manipulation of the kosher certification system, collusion with suppliers to withhold supplies from competitors, etc.Federal immigration raid
On 12 May 2008, U.S. Immigration and Customs EnforcementU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
(ICE) staged a raid that was described as “largest criminal worksite enforcement operation in U.S. history”. Federal authorities arrested 389 immigrant workers during the raid, 305 of them on criminal charges, 297 were sentenced on federal felony charges for fraud-related offenses. ICE spokesman Tim Counts said that “the raid was aimed at seeking evidence of identity theft, stolen Social Security number
Social Security number
In the United States, a Social Security number is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents under section 205 of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent...
s and for people who are in the country illegally”. According to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Iowa, those arrested “include 290 Guatemalans, 93 Mexicans, 2 Israelis and 4 Ukrainians”.
Sources quoted in the affidavit and application for search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
alleged the existence of a methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
laboratory at the slaughterhouse, and that employees carried weapons to work. However, later press reports do not indicate that a methamphetamine laboratory was found during the search.
In late July, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Congressional Hispanic Caucus
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus comprises 21 Democratic members of the United States Congress most of whom are of Hispanic origin. The Caucus is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics and Latinos in the United States and Puerto Rico...
met with workers and community leaders, after a United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
' subcommittee had heard testimony about the raid and its impact on the families and the town, and a rally with some 1,500 participants, organized by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago, Ill., that works with diverse neighborhoods and community groups to battle discrimination, anti-Semitism, poverty and other forms of oppression...
, Jewish Community Action and St. Bridget's Roman Catholic Church was held in Postville in support of the detained Agriprocessors workers and their families.
The Rubashkin family was reported to have denied any criminal activity; Aaron Rubashkin said that “he had no idea that his workers were illegal and that they had produced what appeared to be legitimate work documents”. Nevertheless he announced shortly after the raid that he intends to replace his son as the company's CEO. Sholom Rubashkin remained in charge though. He was finally replaced as CEO in September 2008 by Bernard Feldman, a New York attorney who had worked as counsel for the family, after child labor charges against Aaron and Sholom Rubashkin had been announced, and the Orthodox Union had threatened to withdraw their kosher certification.
The ICE raid left the company lacking employees, and it hired Labor Ready
Labor Ready
Labor Ready, based in Tacoma, WA, is the United States' largest provider of temporary workers for manual day labor to the construction industry, other light industry, and small businesses. Its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TBI...
to supply "about 150 workers", but these workers stopped working because of alleged safety issues. The Jacobson Staffing company took the job of staffing the plant shortly thereafter. In June 2008, Agriprocessors began hiring workers from homeless shelters in Texas to replace employees detained in the federal immigration raid.
Public relations
In May 2008, following the federal immigration raid, PostvilleVoices.com, a site that claimed to be "a blog by people who live and work in Postville" and defended the firm's hiring practices, saying that "the people that run Agriprocessors are good, decent, honest people". After Postville residents suspected that this was a case of “astroturfingAstroturfing
Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...
”, Getzel Rubashkin, son of Sholom Rubashkin, admitted he and two friends created the site.
In June 2008, Agriprocessors retained Jim Martin, a former U.S. Attorney, as the company's outside CCO
Chief communications officer
The chief communications officer is a job title for the head of communications, public relations, and/or public affairs within an organization...
, hired 5W Public Relations
5W Public Relations
5W Public Relations, also known as 5WPR, is an American public relations firm. It was ranked the twenty-fourth largest independent PR firm in the United States by the J. R. O'Dwyer Company in 2010, down from thirteenth in 2009...
to repair its public image, and Lubicom, a kosher consulting and PR firm headed by Menachem Lubinsky, to present its case to the New York Jewish community. Lubinsky was quoted as saying he “expected 5W to deal with negative publicity and blogs”. Shortly thereafter, suspicious posts defending the company appeared on Jewish blogs critical of the company. Shmarya Rosenberg
Shmarya Rosenberg
Shmarya Rosenberg is a former Habad-Lubavitch Hasid, baal teshuva and graduate of Hadar Hatorah, who after becoming discontented with Habad's policies regarding the Jewishness of Ethiopian Jews, left the movement, and went on to operate a full time blog known as Failed Messiah.-Biography:Rosenberg...
, author of the Failed Messiah blog, uncovered that two posts under the name of Rabbi Morris Allen of Hechsher Tzedek
Hechsher Tzedek
Magen Tzedek, original known as Hekhsher Tzedek, is a proposed complementary certification for food produced in a way that meets Jewish Halakhic standards for workers, consumers, animals, and the environment, as understood by Conservative Judaism and its Rabbinical Assembly...
, a critic of Agriprocessors, were part of a sockpuppeting scheme. Similar comments impersonating Rabbi Allen were found on the websites of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is an international news agency serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world. The JTA was founded on February 6, 1917, by Jacob Landau as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau in The Hague with the mandate of collecting and disseminating news among and...
(JTA) and Vos Iz Neias. Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian
Ronn D. Torossian is an American public relations executive, author, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of New York City-based 5W Public Relations , which as of 2010 was the 24th-largest PR firm in the US. A crisis management specialist, his agency's clients include celebrities, hip-hop musicians...
, CEO of 5W, admitted that a “senior staff member failed to be transparent in dealing with client matters.”
Comments by Iowa Governor
In August 2008, Iowa Governor Chet CulverChet Culver
Chester John "Chet" Culver was the 41st Governor of Iowa, from 2007 to 2011. He was also elected as the Federal Liaison for the Democratic Governors Association for 2008-2009. He founded the Chet Culver Group, an energy sector consulting firm, in 2011.-Early life and education:Culver was born in...
commented on Agriprocessors:
He also directed Iowa state agencies to prohibit Agriprocessors from listing their jobs on state job lists, and ordered his Attorney General to prosecute all violations backed by sufficient evidence.
Criminal charges and trials
On October 30, 2008, former CEO Sholom Rubashkin was arrested for the first time on federal conspiracy charges for harboring illegal immigrants and aiding and abetting document fraud and aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year minimum sentence.Rubashkin was arrested again on November 13, 2008 at his Postville home on Federal charges of bank fraud.
On November 21, 2008 a Federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
returned a 12 count indictment on immigration and bank fraud charges.
In January 2009, an additional 99 federal charges were filed against former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and three former managers for money laundering, making false statements, failing to make required payments for livestock, and 25 additional bank-fraud charges.
Child labor
On September 9, 2008, Agriprocessors, Aaron and Sholom Rubashkin, and two other managers were each charged in violations of child labor laws. In accordance with Iowa law, one charge was filed for every violation for every worker for every day that the specific violation happened, leading to a total of 9311 misdemeanor charges.Sholom Rubashkin went to trial on these charges in state court on May 4, 2010. After a five-week trial he was found not guilty of all 67 charges of child labor violations by the Black Hawk County District Court jury in Waterloo, Iowa on June 7, 2010. The jury rejected, after about 12 hours of deliberations, prosecutors’ arguments that Sholom Rubashkin had seen many warning signs that child laborers were working at the Agriprocessors plant.
Immigration cases
The conviction within four days of 297 Agriprocessors employees arrested by the ICE in May 2008 on criminal charges that included using false documents and unlawfully reentering the United States marked a “significant shift in immigration-enforcement policy toward criminalizing what were previously administrative violations” of the George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
administration.
On March 20, 2009 Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, a supervisor at the Postville plant, was sentenced to three years in federal prison. He pled guilty in August 2008 to one count of conspiracy to hire illegal immigrants and one count of aiding and abetting the hiring of illegal immigrants. The single-count pleas imply that Mr. Guerrero-Espinoza may serve as witness against others in the case.
On November 23, 2009 Sholom Rubashkin's second trial on 72 immigration charges was canceled following the government's request to dismiss. In its motion to dismiss, the U.S. Attorneys Office said any conviction on the immigration charges would have no impact upon his sentence, writing, “dismissal will avoid an extended and expensive trial, conserve limited resources, and lessen the inconvenience to witnesses.” Federal Judge Linda R. Reade dismissed the immigration charges without prejudice.
Financial fraud
In November 2009, Sholom Rubashkin was convicted in U.S. District Court in Dubuque, Iowa, before Judge Linda R. ReadeLinda R. Reade
Linda Rae Reade is a District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. She joined the court in 2002 after being nominated by President George W...
of 86 charges of financial fraud, including bank fraud, mail and wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors had claimed the company intentionally defrauded St. Louis-based First Bank on a revolving $35 million loan by faking invoices from meat dealers, inflating the value of the company.
On March 3, 2010, Judge Reade denied Rubashkin's motion for dismissal of the financial corruption charges and a request for a new trial.
On June 22, 2010, Rubashkin was sentenced to 27 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for a 25-year sentence, Rubashkin's attorney for a six-year term. Rubashkin was also ordered to make $26,852,152.51 in restitution, special assessments of $8,600 were imposed, and he must serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. His lawyers have filed an appeal. In October 2010, Judge Reade rejected Sholom Rubashkin's motion for a new trial.
In May 2011, Sholom Rubashkin used political connections to seek a rehearing and reduction of his sentence; among others, Reps.
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler
Jerrold Nadler
Jerrold Lewis "Jerry" Nadler is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1992. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district includes the west side of Manhattan from the Upper West Side down to Battery Park, including the site where the World Trade Center stood...
(D-NY) lobbied for a review of the case; Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. She previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate...
(D-FL Rep.) lobbied US Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
Eric Holder
Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
personally on Rubashkin's behalf; and Rep. Yvette Clark (D-NY) argued that her constituents
New York's 11th congressional district
New York's 11th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in Brooklyn. It includes the neighborhoods of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, the Rubashkin family base, deemed the punishment too harsh and feared a hike in the price of kosher food.
Bankruptcy
On November 5, 2008 Agriprocessor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Factors cited included a loss of most of the workforce due to the May 2008 immigration raid, declining demand for the firm's products, and increased costs in the aftermath of the raid.The Associated Press reported that “Agriprocessors in its bankruptcy filing said the company owed $50 million to $100 million to creditors. The move appears to be an effort to pre-empt foreclosure by a St. Louis bank, which sued Agriprocessors for defaulting on a $35 million loan”.
In December, the bankruptcy court approved a $2.5 million loan for Agriprocessors to allow it to resume poultry processing through at least January 9, 2009 (about 750,000 chicken
Chicken (food)
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
s). The company was run by Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee Joseph E. Sarachek of Triax Capital Advisors.
Agriprocessor's problems led to a shortage of kosher meat and higher prices nation-wide. Empire Kosher
Empire Kosher
Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc. is the largest producer of kosher poultry in the United States. The company's headquarters, hatchery and processing facility are located in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania.-Early years:...
, the largest US producer of kosher poultry, doubled its production capacity in response.
Agriprocessors was bought at auction in July 2009 by SHF Industries, a company formed by Canadian plastics manufacturer Hershey Friedman, an observant Orthodox Jew, and his son-in-law, Daniel Hirsch. The plant has resumed business under the new name Agri Star Meat & Poultry, LLC.
Media
The town of Postville and Agriprocessors have been widely covered by the media in the USA and Israel, particularly since the ICE raid in May 2008, mostly focusing on the Jewish element. Postville and Agriprocessors are also the subject of two books, a play, and documentary films.Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America
Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America is a 2000 book by journalist Stephen G. Bloom. The book documents the struggle between the small town of Postville, Iowa, and a group of new arrivals: Lubavitcher Hasidim from New York who came to the town to run Agriprocessors, the largest...
by journalist Stephen G. Bloom, was published in 2000, the documentary film Postville: When Cultures Collide based on it was released in 2001. Postville U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America, written by Mark Grey and Michele Devlin, sociologists at the University of Northern Iowa
University of Northern Iowa
The University of Northern Iowa is a college located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. UNI offers more than 120 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities and Fine Arts, Natural Sciences, and Social and Behavioral sciences, and graduate college.UNI has...
, together with Aaron Goldsmith, a Lubavitcher Hasid and former member of the Postville City Council, came out in 2009, as well as the documentary film on the ICE-raid abUSed. In the same year, seven men who were arrested in the raid wrote a play in Spanish, la Historia de Nuestras Vida (The Story of Our Lives) and performed it at Lutheran churches in Decorah, IA and Minneapolis.