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ing my little dialogue, they said, `That's
the past:" Rael recalled. "I said, `Yeah,
but the past is what created the prob-
lem: If their intent is to move forward,
I can't move forward until this issue is
totally, totally done." ❑
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the main issue now should be how to
move forward.
Rael said he won't be ready for that
until various problems, like employee
back pay, are worked out.
"The minute that I got through giv-
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IL7D
4TH ANNUAL LUNCHEON
A New Agriprocessors
Sue Fishkoff
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
at the Shenandoah Golf; Banquet & Country Club
West Bloomfield, Michigan — Featuring Boutique Shopping
Join us for a special day with Geralyn Lucas,
author of Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy.
At the age of 27, Geralyn Lucas was diagnosed with
breast cancer without a trace of family history. Today,
Geralyn is the author of a memoir that Publishers
Weekly called "immensely empowering." Why I Wore
Lipstick to My Mastectomy was voted a top consumer
health book of 2004 by Library Journal, and picked
as a best book of 2004 by Borders.
Why I Wore
tfaae.
-
114
GEJSALYS LUCAS
Geralyn was an editorial producer at ABC News' 20/20 for seven years
where her stories won many awards, including the Emmy. She has spent
the last several years at Lifetime Television. She is now a Director of
Corporate Communications at the network, where one of her projects is
Lifetime's initiative Stop Breast Cancer for Life.
Geralyn lives in NewYork City with her husband Tyler, daughter, Skye
Meredith, and son, Hayden.This summer, Geralyn celebrates her 13th
year of survivorship.
Ticket prices start at $100 each. Call (248) 853-3636 or
email ghorwit1@hfhs.org for more information.
6 -tewial-74,twly,
11
Registration and Boutiques Open
Luncheon and Keynote Address
Boutiques Close
9:30 A.M.
1 P.M.
3 P.M.
A.M. -
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aur,A.,,,, eeer-fild,
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Shari Ferber Kaufman
Miriam Ferber
Francee Ford and Micki Kline
Florine Mark and Lisa Lis
'Oak
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,
tions inside the plant, and more than
a few beards and side curls on the
assembly line, belonging to rabbis
pressed into emergency service.
"To the media, this looks like a for-
profit company on one side, and on
the other side, individuals who are
hurting and suffering," said Abrahams,
as he conducted a two-hour tour of the
plant for a reporter. "But the company
(7
e:/
//11:ok .21 .2008
.
Tour Revelations
A tour revealed many empty worksta-
Workers' Perspective
Some new workers, however, tell
reporters their paychecks show unex-
pected deductions; several of those
workers have since quit.
The employment campaign is
bearing fruit. Hopeful workers are
pouring into town, from Somalia and
Krygystan, from Chicago and else-
where in Iowa, all lured by the $10-
an-hour wages, plus time and a half
after 40 hours and raises for expe-
rienced workers. That's significantly
more than the $7 to $7.50 hourly
wages paid before the raid and more
than these workers say they can make
at home.
9-fieeZ-zed4,47,
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n a recent Monday, about 60
people were milling around
Jacobson Staffing, the
national employment firm contracted
by Agriprocessors to replace hundreds
of workers lost in the May 12 federal
immigration raid.
One woman chats in Russian on her
cell phone. Thirty Somalis, the women
in traditional dress, huddle under a
shady tree. A group of young white
men, most of them locals, sit apart
from half a dozen African Americans
who arrived the day before on a temp
agency bus from Indianapolis.
Agriprocessors is hurting.
According to Chaim Abrahams, an
executive acting as company spokes-
man, the plant lost the majority of its
workers after the raid. Nearly half of
the plant's 800 employees were arrest-
ed for working without documenta-
tion, and many others "disappeared in
fear:' he said.
The company, which until May sup-
plied the bulk of the nation's kosher
beef and 40 percent of its kosher
poultry, has been trying desperately
to replace those lost workers, offering
higher wages and working through
employment agencies across the
United States in an attempt to return
badly damaged production levels to
normal.
is also hurting and suffering. We are
not able to keep up production levels
and reach out to our customers?'
Nearly three months after the raid
and six weeks before the busy High
Holidays season, kosher butchers and
restaurant owners in the United States
still report higher prices and irregular
supplies of meat and poultry.
The tour makes it clear the company
is trying to clean up its act. New work-
ers are vetted through E-Verification,
a federal system that checks work
eligibility and legal status. Signs to
that effect are displayed prominently
throughout the plant, and those show-
ing up for work are quick to tell
reporters they have all their docu-
ments in order.
The plant is immaculate, with no
discernible smell other than chlorine.
Health and safety measures, includ-
ing yellow chains separating raw food
from ready-to-eat products, are con-
spicuously in place.
Agriprocessors is pouring money
into new equipment, including an
automatically timed salting and soak-
ing process that went online a couple
of months ago. New workers say they
are receiving their overtime pay, in
contrast to workers before the raid
who say their pay stubs were doc-
tored.
Benefiting The Francee & Benson Ford Jr.
Breast Care &Wellness Center
at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital
,,,
kede d
al/1mA al (14244
Francee and Benson Ford jr.
• - •
,
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EALTH SYSTEM
HENRY FORD
HEALTH PRODUCTS
lel Huntington
DIAMONDS &
FINE
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Making every day a better day
❑
1414070
August 14 • 2008
A31