I can’t understand why everyone is being to quick to jump on the company but not on the workers who committed crimes. Why does no one bother to seek out what is real and what is fake – BEFORE

I worked in agri this summer for one month and I was very happy. I can assure you that all the shechitah was done according to halachah. The workers get treated normal and the plant is full of U.S.D.A officers and quality control and they were there before the raid so dont tell me that the Rubashkins are running an illegal business!

As far as the treatment of the animals go, no animals are left in the plant overnight. the animals are on farms all around Postville and are brought in the day they get processed.

There is no meth lab and there are no WMD’S in the plant. All the employees must get e-verified for social security before getting hired. The problem with the raid was the Rubashkins WANTED to use e-verify for the workers but lefty liberals said its racial profiling.

These alleged underage workers are getting caught more and more the fact that they are just lying for the union.
One of them said he was 16 but is really 26 and is a file clerk!
Its all getting uncovered. This is a major Blood Libel for the unions!!

lets not forget Rabbi Allin who wanted to make a visit to the plant on shabbat!!!and is now making up lies that he’s received death threat from hashgacha agencies

this whole thing is a massive blood libel and we are all supporting it… shame!

I can say with confidence that the experience of working at Agri today is much different than it was before Jim Martin (the CCO we asked for) was hired. Before the raid, most workers on the killing floor and in the meatpacking departments were making only the Iowa minimum wage of $7.25, possibly less. Those same positions are now being paid $10.00. Safety information is now posted in Spanish. There is an anonymous tip line workers can report problems to without fear of punishment. Those things did not exist before.

Once Martin was hired, began implementing some change, and established a degree of transparency with the work he was doing, it did not make sense sustaining the boycott, since our conditions had been met.

I understand people’s anger and frustration at the company, but the purpose of the boycott was not to be a punitive action. We wanted to help make change.

Regarding the signers: where did you get the idea that no one who signed the boycott keeps kosher except Uri members? We had hundreds, literally hundreds, of observant Jews who observe kashrut reach out to us, sign and tell us how important this was to them and that they were no longer purchasing the meat. Orthodox Rabbis called us to ask what restaurants they could frequent. Orthodox weddings switched caterers. You cited an anecdote about a reform rabbi in Chicago, I fail to see how that proves that “many, if not most, of the people involved in the boycott are not regular purchasers of kosher meat to begin with.”

Even if none of the above had happened, the serious conversations about halachah, values, and kosher food that the boycott generated in the Orthodox community have tremendous value. A joke? I must have lost my sense of humor.

Also, between buying Rubashkin’s blindly and being a vegetarian there is middle ground: eat less meat, and when you do, buy the more ethical stuff (if you can get it – that, I admit, can be difficult).

Your point about your friend who manages the kosher restaurant is partly a “duh” but also disturbing: so your friend only cares if his customers care? The way Agri treats its workers and processes its meat means nothing? That essentially proves WoolSilkCotton’s point that kosher has officially become a joke.

Don’t become a Rubashkin sycophant.

The Gotti and Gambino crime families also display a lot of largesse with ‘charitable’ donations and ‘gifts’ for their neighborhoods and community.

If there is a shortage of kosher meat for a while, until some other company starts up, so what. How do you plan to explain to the media that the Jews need a rogue business in order to be supplied with kosher meat? The term ‘kosher’ would officially become a joke.

The Orthodox community has circled the wagons around the Rubashkins, and nobody has the backbone to confront these thugs. The Rubashkin fiasco will not be resolved in the manner you describe; I wish it could. Sociopathic criminals only respond to jail and heavy fines.