Workers Speak Out at Nation’s New Leading Kosher Producer


By Nathaniel Popper
Thu. Sep 04, 2008

CUT TWICE: Luis Molina lost a portion of his middle finger in a work accident at Alle Processing, which, he said, then suspended his pay.

ALLE: The Queens, N.Y., plant employs about 300 people.


Luis Molina lost part of his middle finger to a 2,000-pound food mixer while working at what is now the country’s largest producer of kosher beef, Alle Processing.

Molina, 23, said that the accident, which happened when a fellow employee flipped a power switch, was not a surprise, given that he and others on his team had not received safety training. But he also said that what’s happened since then has added insult to injury.

The company, which operates a plant in Queens, stopped his pay the same hour he got injured, he said, leaving him in the lurch financially. Then, he continued, when he went into the office to talk to his supervisor, he was told that when he returned to work he would be suspended for four weeks without pay, because he used the machine improperly. After three years with the company, Molina said even this was not unexpected.

“They love suspending people there for any little thing,â€