An Iowa slaughterhouse town dies, immigrants left with nothing….
Posted by acorcoran on November 7, 2008
….will there be more American towns like this as the economy worsens? I honestly don’t know what to say. Read about the travesty in Postville, Iowa here:
Postville, Iowa — In the days before the nation’s largest kosher meat company filed for bankruptcy, the company’s slaughterhouse here in northeast Iowa gradually shut down its operations, leaving angry workers without salaries or places to live, and animals caged and dying.
Around town, men and women who had come to work at the Agriprocessors plant from as far as the Pacific island of Palau and as near as Minnesota faced eviction from their apartments as the new month’s rent came due. Hundreds of workers were told on Thursday, October 30, that they were being suspended without pay, though they were given little information about why. They were not told that earlier that day, a bank had initiated foreclosure proceedings on Agriprocessors. Nor were they told that the company’s former CEO had been arrested the same day.
Read on. Hat tip: Blulitespecial
blulitespecial said
I don’t know what to say either.Many of these people had no chance to prepare for bad times.Add to that mix the company that owns most of the rentals there is going under and evicting them,these people are doubly screwed.
blulitespecial said
This sounds like the old “company store” setup.I remember Tyson in Emporia,KS was also looking into buying local senior citizen’s housing to rent to refugee labor- 6 months before they shut down 2/3rds of the plant.
I also read the family that owns Agriprocessor’s has family members in prison for storing unlicensed hazardous waste for years in their closed textile factory.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081107/NEWS/811070358
“Since the raid, many of the properties Menahem once rented to immigrant workers have remained empty.”
“Menahem said he has no direct connection to Agriprocessors Inc., although he and the plant managers belong to the Lubavitch branch of Orthodox Judaism. He said he and former plant executive Sholom Rubashkin are competitors in the local housing market.”
Gettin’ to know the new neighbors in Ft. Morgan, the men anyway « Refugee Resettlement Watch said
[...] An Iowa slaughterhouse town dies, immigrants left with nothing…. [...]
Sasha Mangrove said
I do not feel sorry for pottsville iowa, the workers are illegal aleins. they are not suppose to be working or living in the us anyway. let the slaughterhouse go under. they have been a horrible cruel nightmare for animals and workers both. they deserve to close down. the employees need to be sent back to where they came from anyway. we dont need illegal aliens working in the US or living here.
acorcoran said
Sasha, I agree with you 100%, but also have sympathy for a small American town that is now overrun with diversity.
acorcoran said
More news on Postville:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/23/eveningnews/main4628688.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories
Victoria said
Dear USA … Now you know what we’ve been living with here in Brooklyn. They’re all crooks who want nothing to do w/ the secular realm. Sad, but true. Welcome to my world! Victoria (Sea Gate)