Gordon meat plant rejects union report

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10271729

Published Saturday | March 1, 2008
Gordon meat plant rejects union report
BY JOE RUFF
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A food workers union said Friday that a kosher meatpacking plant in Gordon, Neb., has a pattern of food safety violations. Company officials, however, said the report was not merited and the union was motivated by failed attempts to unionize workers at the plant.

"This irresponsible union is trying to drive us out of business," said Sholom Rubashkin, vice president of Agriprocessors Inc., which also runs a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.

The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union said it analyzed government documents received through Freedom of Information Act requests. The union said the plant in Gordon had more than 115 noncompliance reports from July 2005 to March 2007 issued by personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Scott Frotman, a spokesman for the union, said it represents 250,000 meatpacking and processing workers across the country. It has a long history of speaking out on food safety and other issues that impact the integrity of the industry, Frotman said.

Rubashkin said every plant in the country deals with varying degrees of food safety issues. The USDA has certified as safe all products coming out of the Gordon plant, he said.

The Gordon plant opened in 2005. It employs between 60 and 80 people, Rubashkin said. The UFCW has tried unsuccessfully to unionize workers at Agriprocessors plants in Iowa and Nebraska for about two years, Rubashkin said.