NJ Jewish Standard: Union dispute fuels kashrut debate

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.jstandard.com/articles/4095/1/Expanding-the-definition-of-kashrut

Josh Lipowsky

When consumers see the OU, OK, or another label certifying that their food is kosher, they know that it was prepared according to halakha. They don’t, however, know if factory workers are treated fairly or if a production plant is run safely and with care for the environment. But efforts are under way to change that. The nation’s largest union representing food industry laborers has been campaigning to get the world’s largest producer of kosher meat to unionize, sparking the question as to whether there is room in the definition of kashrut for such factors as labor rights.



"My sense is that within the Orthodox communities people are increasingly aware of and concerned about how their products are being made," said Arieh Leibowitz, communications director of the Jewish Labor Committee.


A worker at the Empire Poultry plant in Mifflintown, Pa. The factory’s workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Thomas b. king


The JLC has been involved with the United Food and Commercial Workers union in monitoring Agriprocessors Inc., and, he said, a standard kashrut certification may no longer be enough for consumers.

"People are asking questions," Leibowitz said. He cited last year’s scandal in Monsey, N.Y. — where a kosher market sold nonkosher chickens with fraudulent kosher labels — for raising greater consumer interest in the preparation of kosher food.

"People want to know what’s behind the label," he said. "They want to know more about the process, the circumstances in which things are made. It isn’t just the kashering per se but it may be the basic rights of workers according to halakha. And we encourage that."

The Iowa Division of Labor Services issued 39 citations against Agriprocessors earlier this month for violations of state workplace safety and health standards in its Postville, Iowa, plant. Meanwhile, United Food and Commercial Workers has continued a more than two-year fight against the company in a bid to unionize the plant’s workers. Agriprocessors employees first approached the union in 2005, said UFCW spokesman Scott Frotman, but the company has refused calls to unionize its plant.

FULL story at link.