Agriprocessors to Culver: Check us out for yourself
By TONY LEYS • tleys@dmreg.com • August 26, 2008

Leaders of the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant have responded to Gov. Chet Culver's criticism of them by asking him to travel to the Postville factory.

"We are pleased to invite the governor to visit the plant and to meet with our leadership and to see the truth firsthand," they wrote in a response to a critical essay Culver published in the Des Moines Sunday Register.

"In such a meeting, we would be delighted to hear the governor's suggestions as to how we can further improve to fulfill the governor's challenge to us," the letter said. "In addition to meeting with us, the governor should meet with members of our community, the mayor of Postville, with our happy employees, and our supervisors and our compliance officers."


A spokesman for Culver said the governor would decline the visit, at least for now.

Culver's essay constituted an unusual shot from the governor at a specific Iowa employer. The company has been the center of controversy since May, when federal agents arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants working there.

The raid focused a spotlight on long-standing accusations that the company violated rules on worker safety, environmental practices and child labor. Culver accused Agriprocessors of "taking the low road" and said he had ordered state agencies to investigate every possible legal violation.

In their response letter, sent to the Register on Monday, Agriprocessors executives said they are striving to improve conditions at the plant.

"Agriprocessors fully subscribes to the governor's call to begin to take the 'high road' and join the family of responsible businesses in Iowa, since it wholeheartedly believes that it is doing precisely that," the letter says.

Plant managers say that they have increased starting pay for skilled workers from $7.25 to $10 per hour; that they have improved safety training; and that they have hired an employee-recruiting company that is using the federal government's computerized "E-verify" system to ensure that all new workers are in the country legally.

The executives denied knowingly hiring underage workers.

"Agriprocessors regrets that some of its employees may have used fraudulent documents to lie about their age," the letter says. "Agriprocessors has been in contact with the Iowa Department of Labor ever since it raised the issue early this year. It repeatedly asked the department to advise it of underage workers who may have fraudulently presented documents to work at the plant.

"The department did its own audit in April and did not find any underage workers. The company policy is clear: 'No one under 18 may be employed at the plant.' When it did learn of several underage workers in the plant, they were immediately dismissed."

On Sunday, a company consultant complained that Culver was declaring the company guilty without a trial. But the letter released today has a diplomatic tone.

No executives face criminal charges, although two lower-level supervisors have been charged, and one pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges last week.

Governor's spokesman Troy Price said Monday that Culver "respectfully declines a visit to the Postville facility at this time."

Price said that if Agriprocessors leaders "in the future choose to 'take the high road' in their business practices, the governor would be pleased with that course of action."


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