Thread: Owner of embattled slaughterhouse charges allegations are a

Owner of embattled slaughterhouse charges allegations are a big ‘lie’
By BEN HARRIS




NEW YORK – Aaron Rubashkin, the owner of the embattled kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors, denies he has engaged in unethical labor practices and blames the failure of U.S. immigration policy for his mostly illegal workforce.

In the first substantive comments by an Agriprocessors representative since the government rounded up more than a third of its employees on immigration charges in a May 12 raid of its Iowa plant, Rubashkin flatly denied allegations of worker mistreatment and plant mismanagement.

“Everything is a lie,â€

You are only as strong as your weakest link.....he may not personally be aware if things were going on.....but he is responsible for everything done under him and deserve the full punishment the law allows.

I guess on the other extreem is the chance many of these people from the illegal end are setting these people up with false accusations. They don't want to obey the law but try and use the law as protection for them even when they lie. I mean too many times they will lie to their grave even when they weren't present or saw anything.......kind of like the "majority rules" mentality 15-1, who are you going to believe? The majority who could be lying through their teeth or the 1?

Evidence is the only proof. Looks like there's enough for this guy to be guilty for hiring illegals......the rest is questionable. I just know there seems to be this tendency of alot of accusations comming from the illegal front, that eventually is proven false, to sort of excuse what wrong they did.
Say he raped me and that seems so much worse than being here illegally, using phony documents and whatever else. Accusations are one thing, proof is another.

Postville plant's owner denies exploiting workers
By TONY LEYS • tleys@dmreg.com • June 5, 2008



The owner of the Postville meatpacking plant raided by immigration authorities last month says his company treated its workers well.

Aaron Rubashkin told a Jewish news agency that he was not afraid of possible criminal charges for hiring undocumented immigrants. "I believe in the American system, and I did nothing wrong," he told the JTA news service.


Rubashkin's Iowa operation, Agriprocessors Inc., is the largest kosher meatpacking plant in the country. Immigration agents raided it last month and arrested 389 workers, most of whom were from Guatemala or Mexico.

In an interview last week outside his Brooklyn, N.Y., office, Rubashkin told JTA that his company had no way of knowing that the workers' immigration papers were false. He blamed U.S. immigration policies.

"Nineteen million illegals here? I don't bring 'em here," he said. "I pay taxes and the government is supposed to control the stuff."

Rubashkin and his sons, who run the plant, have not been charged, but they have been criticized by government officials and union leaders for allegedly exploiting desperate immigrants. Rubashkin denied it. "I wish everybody should be treated like we treat people," he said. "...We are ethical people. We don't do no injustice to nobody - not to a cat."

The Rubashkins had kept a low profile since the May 12 raid, releasing only brief statements through a spokesman. The JTA interview is the first extended comment the family has made publicly.

Aaron Rubashkin blamed his troubles partly on the media, which he compared to the state-run news outlets he saw before he emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1953. He referred to American reporters as "the lynching press," and he dismissed their stories. "Everything is a lie," he said.

Rubashkin's statements were criticized Wednesday by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has tried to organize the Postville plant.

"We hope that authorities in Iowa, at the federal level and at the kosher certifying agencies, take notice of this company's total unwillingness to accept responsibility for its actions," union spokesman Scott Frotman said in a prepared statement.

"There is not a slaughterhouse in the country with a more reprehensible record of health and safety violations," Frotman said. "The fact that the Rubashkins are now on record accusing state and federal investigators of lying, and the fact that they would say the same thing about their own workers, shows just how morally bankrupt the management of this com-pany is, and how important it is for Agriprocessors to be thoroughly investigated."

Wednesday afternoon, Agriprocessors released a general statement attributed to Vice President Heshy Rubashkin.

"On behalf of Agriprocessors, I would like to reiterate our company's commitment to make meaningful changes to enhance our immigration compliance and overall company performance," the statement said.

"We are fully dedicated and take full responsibility for ensuring that our company complies with all applicable immigration and state and federal laws. We also are making significant changes in our management structure by hiring a new chief compliance officer and actively searching for a new chief executive officer to oversee our operations. Regarding the worksite enforcement action, we continue to fully cooperate with the government. However, we cannot respond to specific allegations until the investigation is completed and pending legal issues are resolved







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