Postville, IA – Following the filing of criminal charges against owners of the kosher meat producer Agriprocessors, the Orthodox Union says it will withdraw its kosher certification of the company within two weeks unless new management is hired.
“Within the coming days, or lets say a week or two, we will suspend our supervision unless there’s new management in place,” said Rabbi Menachem Genack, the O.U.’s head of kosher supervision.
Genack’s comments came just hours after Iowa’s attorney general filed criminal charges against Agriprocessors and its owner, Aaron Rubashkin, for child-labor violations.
Agriprocessors has been under the gun since a raid on May 12 resulted in the arrest of nearly 400 employees on illegal immigration charges. Following the raid, employees alleged they were shorted on pay, forced to work long hours and were the targets of sustained sexual harassment.
In May, the company announced that the Postville plant’s manager, Sholom Rubashkin, would be replaced. Months later, Rubashkin is still a regular presence at the plant and no replacement has been named.
The attorney general’s complaint represents the first criminal charges to be brought against the company’s owner and senior management.
U/D 4:35
Rabbi Weissmandel who also provides kosher certification for Rubashkin plant told VIN News in a phone interview “My job and expertise is strictly kosher supervision, as long as the strict guidelines of Kosher Shichitah is followed in this plant my Hecsher will stay on”. said Rabbi Weissmandel.
it’s all under hashgacha p’rotis!!!!
What a shame!! Rubashkin DOES NOT deserve this kind of treatment from anyone let alone from thier own Jewish brothers…
This might be the end of Rubashkin, unless they really make a change in management.
Its so sad when you see Yidden rooting on the fall of a family that has provided Kosher for millions of people. What is it about this country that we like to build people up and then tear them down.
Isnt that Hechsher Tzedek’s idea? Arent we HUGE hypocrites here?
Is the food Kosher or not? If you DO care for Chilul Hashem and Humane Practices – then wahts wrong with Hechsher Tzedek?
time for a change !!!!!!!!
deepthinker Says:
THIS HAS ALL THE EARMARKS OF A HIT JOB.
SOMEONE HAS PUT OUT A CONTRACT ON RUBASHKIN.
HE IS THE LARGEST SUPPLIER OF GLATT KOSHER MEAT IN THE U.S.
MY GUESS IS THAT IS AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE “ANIMAL RIGHTS” FANATICS AND THE NEW CONSERVATIVE “HECHSHER TZEDEK.’
09-09-2008 – 3:30 PM
================================================
Because he was the biggest producer in the usa is exactly he reason why he THOUGHT he was untouchable and can do whatever he wants.
He tried paying off everyone from the govnt to the kashrus agencies and look where all this go him. Think twice before you try to be machshil your own brothers and sisters
Now weez gettin serious here!
to 3:54 – Jealousy! We can’t stand to see someone succeed.
Shame on OU!!!!! I am not surprised that they are wimping out. It is unbelievable that they can be so gullible. I guess their high paying jobs and prestige win out over defending the rights of their fellow Jews. This will only spread more sinas chinam. If they succeed in removing their hechsher, they will only cause a chillul ha-shem.
May Hashem continue to bless the Rubashkin family.
rubashkin need a good pr agency not nat lewin the agudist idiot
annon 3:48, I agree with you.
Take into account that they needed an outsider to make crucial decisions for them. What did they think till now? What changed? It just makes matters even worse.
Just like the old saying goes “kick ’em when they are down!”
It very shameful!!!
Looks like now we cant trust the ou either
you mean to tell me that out of all the hechsheirim they give ONLY RUBASHKIN had out of all their thousand employees some minors working for them. In other words over the entire world only Rubahkin did such a “terrible crime?”?? Why are they only targeting the Rubashkins DOESNT SMELL RIGHT TO ME
we should boycot the OU
I can’t believe that anyone is giving the Rubashkins ANY benefit of the doubt. This is a company that despite numerous warnings eagerly and willingly hired children to do industrial work. While it is legal for minors to engage in certain types of labor, working at a meat packing plant is certainly not one of them!!!
For those who think this is an attack on shechita, think again. The company was not charged with anything having to do with slaughter, despite the fact that their methods, to say the least are questionable.
For those of you who claim this is a hatchet job, perhaps. But they willingly walked into the trap. Although I do not take pleasure in anyone going to jail, especially yidden, I will be very happy to see these people go to jail and Agri go out of business ASAP!!! They are not the only producers of kosher product. They just happen to be the ones who use immoral and illegal methods to do so. Does Empire, Alle, A&H Rosenblatt, Wise etc. engage in these types of activities???
If anything, the OU has been asleep at the switch and should have revoked a long time ago!!!
I refuse to use their products…SO SHOULD ALL OF YOU!!!
Kosher meat shortage is real — yom tov coming up and there will no meat.
OH MAN
I CANT WAIT TILL THE OUHAS TO TAKE OFF THEIR HECHSHER FROM OTHER PRODUCTS THAT THEIR OWNERS WERE CHARGED WITH A CRIME
THE HIDDEN FILES AGAISNT THE OU WILL NOW BE MADE PUBLIC. THEY ARE TAKING A BIG CHANCE HERE
Now Hechsher Tzedek could open there mouth..they will force the o-u to take off there hechsher in each company
one second this is charges or complain?
Now that the OU is getting serious about getting Rubashkin to follow the rules and regulations of Kashrut and the US Gov’t. I think I can finally trust the OU Hashgacha for kashrut again.
while I can’t help feeling sorry for the rubashkins, I must say I haven’t been eating their product for a while now due to serious kashrus allegations that were never properly addressed. comsumers have a right to know what’s going on- & rubashkins have been less than forthcoming to put it mildly.
I have heard plenty of stories from a friend who certifies some out of the way plants under the OU – his feeling is that they are more concermed with collecting their fees than anything else – and like any good business where no one know the difference you cut corners to save money – they should really keep their mouths shut
The OU has to feel comfortable in a place. If the owners are criminals, then according to many poskim they have no reliability for kashrus. For those who don’t care about criminal behavior, rabbi Weissmandel’s hashgacha is good enough. The OU didn’t respond before because they were just allegations. Once criminal behavior is likely, the OU must respond in kind. I don’t work at the OU, but I heard them explain how they decide to pull hashgachos.
OUch! This hurts.
Don’t more of you have anything serious to say about the allegations? What would your position be if they hold up? – I work for law enforcement (and wear a black hat) – and I am certaincan that charges such as this, especially the large number of them, would not be made lightly by a state Attorney General’s office. Very sad . . . both Agriprocessors and many of the reactions here
Rubashkins is the only company under criminal charges currently under Ou supervision. If something “DOESNT SMELL RIGHT” it might be the meat
3:48…I guess yuo mean 4:14. If 4:14 doesn’t want to eat their products, the A&P is having a special. Just your speed. You want Jews in Jail? Why? Because they don’t wear the same levush or pray like you?
Next thing you’ll all be crying that the price of meat & poultry is through the roof & demand far exceeds supply. Too bad, YOU did it with your petty jealousy & Sina.
Nice job, fellow “Frum Yidden!”
FYI!!! they are targeting Empire and other producers as well, and the final goal is to bring the Jewish people to their knees…
The OU is getting big bucks to do what they are doing… the Rubashkin’s couldn’t out bid some shmucks out there…
this is dirty, and for no reason…
Hashem should help these special people get out of this fast and easy.
ask the ou, is THE MEAT KOSHER?
Dear 4:30,Last time I checked, the A&P stopped carrying Agri and replaced them with a competitor. Just because someone is frum does NOT excuse them from having to pay the price if they do the crime. If you think that people should be absolved from having to be punished when they commit crimes just because they are frum, you have a SERIOUS problem. Furthermore, you need to seriously reexamine your moral compass.
For chicken that is now about $10/ pound, i have stopped buying Rubashkin.
What does a couple dozen kids who lied to work have to do with a hechsher?
Is the meat now not kosher because someone was 17 instead of 18 when he cut up the veal chops?
Who is OU in bed with?
Again, my friends, the question:
Who is OU in bed with?
Dose the USDA remove itself ? so why the OU there is Kosher only
Yidden,
This is sad.What we need to learn from this is to follow ‘dina demalchisa’.America is a ‘malchis shel chesed’ but cannot allow big companies to break laws.
Sorry to say that once the trouble started the company should have handled the issue with more ‘seychel’.This reminds me of the case with New Square, where they(new square) were screaming ‘antisemiten’, thinking it would help.Instead of making a deal/plea they ended up with a couple of people in ‘tefisa’ and 10 million fine
SPINELESS COWARDS. WHO ASKED THEM TO PILE-ON THESE YIDDEN WHEN THEY’RE DOWN.
so now the ou seems to have courage
there sister group YU has a woman/man professer and they say nothing
they give us boruch lanner and coverup
but now with the rubashkins they suddenly have courage
i smell a rat
I really can not believe that there are people taht are actually condoning Rubashkin and what he did.
They are the same type people that were on the Titanic as is was going down and they were looking to blame the pilot, instead of runnung for their lives.
Let us see who we can blame:
The unions
PETA
The workers
Hechsher Tzedek
The competition
Yudel Shain
The OU
but never, never Rubashkin
And for all of you that think I am a sonei Yisroel – I will lie down my life to save another Jew. Our religion is all we have to differentiate between us and the goyim. Being Jewish is our onlt ticket to Gan Eden, after 120 years. But I will not stand by when someone IN THE NAME OF YIDDISHKEIT says that it is alright to do what he did.
rubashkin has made the front page of cnn.com what a kiddush hashem!!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/09/slaughterhouse.child.labor.ap/index.html
http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/latest_news/releases/sept_2008/Child_Labor%20.html
this is a criminal complaint based upon the idea that illegally working non-Americans can provide testimony in a criminal matter. from the PR by the Iowa AG:
According to the Affidavit: “All of the named individual Defendants possessed shared knowledge that Agriprocessors employed undocumented aliens. It was likewise shared knowledge among the Defendants that many of those workers were minors. The company’s hiring practices encouraged job applicants to submit identification documents which were forgeries, and known to contain false information as to resident alien status, age and identity.”
The Affidavit said: “Each defendant, either as principal or as aider and abettor, hired children, retained the employment of children observed working throughout the plant, and/or participated in efforts to conceal children when federal and state labor department officials inspected that plant.”
In other words, the allegations are based upon accusations, shared knowledge, essentially beliefs of illegality, (IE LH). how about a simple fact question such as, “did the company fulfill its legal obligation to check and record ID presented by prospective employees?” save the rumors for yom kippur.
What happened to Innocent until PROVEN guilty???
Will people stop blaming anti semitism and instead focus on slopiness and bad judgement??
C’mon, it’s becoming silly that no matter what we hear about Agri it always ‘antisemiten’!
I wish them well, but they need to immediately get proffesionals to run the company!
Did you ever think that the OU is actually saving the company with this move?? Everyone tried helping them – they are incompetent in helping themsleves.. At least this way they will still own a company. The OU isn’t stabbing them – they are saving them!
1. What’s so holy about the OU?
2. Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s eat meat and chicken ONLY on Shabbos and Yom Tovim. Watcvh prices plummet.
3. Jealousy should not play a role in rescinding a certificate and even if it does not, the OU is, as usual, respondig to public opinion, not to kashrus.
4. I am glad Rabbi Weissmandel has decided to only look at the kashrus, and at NOTHING else.
If he keeps giving a hechsher, that’s fine with me.
5. The OU reminds me of some beis dins. It’s not the law that matters, it’s who you know and how much money you have, and how much they donate or slip you. Fakers.
shame on ou it’s time to dump them , theyre full of hot air
why allways so excited to report bad on rubashkin and never a good word????!!!!!
STINKS!!!!
This is all part of the anti-chabad sentiment in the halls of the O/U! V’hamaivin yavin!
If Rubashkin gan get away with child labor and pay a few bucks less so that I can have cheap franks, KOL HAKAVOD TO HIM.
Being a slimeball in business has nothing to do with how much I trust him in kashrus.
I am reading sall the posts. Many are repeats. Either Rubashkin is a malach or a liar. Take your pick and drink the kool-aid
To 5:24: There is no question that the OU is stabbing the Rubashkins in the back. I have lost trust and respect for the OU. If the OU turns their back on Agriprocessors, they along with the union and PETA will be responsible for their demise, C’V.
The OU is a spineless organization.
Yasher Koach to Rabbi Weissmandel for his courage in standing behind the Rubashkin family.
Why is everyone crying?? Is this the end of kosher meat in the US? We have had kosher meat in this country for over 350 years. Schechita started here long before the Rubashkin family knew of the existence of the New World.