Agriprocessors boycott commences

Note from the Maven:

I am proud to say that my Rabbi is a graduate and received his semicha from the YCT Rabbinical School where this boycott started. Keeping kosher means more than watching what it is that you put in your pie-hole. It's how you conduct your life on a daily basis - the essence of living Torah, not just talking about it in abstract terms. Yasher Koach to all involved.

Randy Shiner


Agriprocessors boycott commences

Published: 06/17/2008


A Modern Orthodox social justice group launched a boycott of the kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors.

Uri L'tzedek, an initiative started by students at the liberal Orthodox rabbinical seminary Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York City, set Monday as the date it would stop patronizing Agriprocessors if the company did not agree to abide by certain ethical labor standards.

Organizers say some 1,300 people, including several leading Jewish figures, have signed the group's petition asking the company to establish a transparent department to ensure compliance with both Jewish and U.S. legal requirements regarding worker treatment.

Representatives of Uri L'tzedek met last week with several company officials in New York, including members of the extended Rubashkin family, which owns the company. The group was promised a statement of the company's position on worker rights within 48 hours, but the document had not materialized as of Tuesday morning.

The representatives also spoke with Jim Martin, a former federal prosecutor who was hired recently as the company's compliance officer. The group submitted written questions to Martin regarding the parameters of his role; they are awaiting a response.

"Until they produce what we've asked them to produce, we still don't feel comfortable purchasing Rubashkin's meat," Uri L'tzedek spokesman Ari Hart told JTA.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested nearly 400 Agriprocessors workers in a raid last month on the firm's plant in Postville, Iowa. Employees since the raid have complained of working long hours without being paid and being sexually harassed.

Agriprocessors spokesmen have not responded to JTA requests for comment.