Our Trip To Postville

A Rabbi and a Member of His Congregation See for Themselves
How Agriprocessors Treats the Employees of Its Kosher Plant

WHY WE VISITED AGRIPROCESSORS

I read the Forward’s May 26th article about labor conditions at Agriprocessors’ kosher meat processing plant in Postville, Iowa with grave concern. The Agriprocessors’ plant is the largest kosher meat production facility in the United States and the picture painted in the Forward was reminiscent of the horrific conditions described in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.

Along with anonymous workers, the Forward quoted a representative from PETA, an organization whose mission is to end the eating of meat and that has attacked Agriprocessors repeatedly over the last two years. The article goes on to quote the organizers of a union drive that was rejected by Agriprocessors’ employees. The Forward also quotes the plant’s manager, Sholom Rubashkin, who is the son of the company’s founder, Aaron Rubashkin.

As a rabbi for the past 40 years in St. Paul, Minnesota and as someone who does hashgachas for some of Agriprocessors’ products, I was concerned about the workers mentioned in the story and over the possibility that these allegations could be used as an excuse not to keep kosher. I thought about what I read over the next day, Shabbos, and what, if anything, I could do about this problem.

I concluded that instead of taking the word of Agriprocessors or their adversaries, I would visit Postville and find out the truth for myself. I called the Rubashkin family and was granted unfettered access to their plant and their employees.

I do not speak Spanish, however, and the employees referenced by the Forward were all Hispanic. I asked a member of my congregation, Dr. Carlos Carbonera, who has a doctorate in mathematics and speaks Spanish, to join me in my trip to Postville. Dr. Carbonera served as our translator and has offered his own report on what we found.

Dr. Carbonera and I visited Postville on Sunday, May 28th. Dr. Carbonera and I chose to talk with community leaders and twenty of Agriprocessors Hispanic employees, half of whom were women.

With each person we spoke with, we made it clear that we were not affiliated with Agriprocessors and wanted to make an independent assessment of the conditions facing Agriprocessors’ employees. The people we interviewed volunteered their names and no one seemed to fear reprisal for their comments. Nonetheless, we have protected the identities of those we interviewed.

The news media thrives on sensationalizing issues - and the lurid accusations of PETA and labor organizers make good copy. But what we found in Postville was far different from what the Forward described.

Dr. Carbonera and I offer our two reports as nothing more than what they are: the first-hand accounts of two people who wanted to see the truth for themselves.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Asher Zeilingold