Rabbis Back Labor Protest Against Kosher Firm
A coalition of rabbis joined workers and labor activists in a rally against unfair labor practices at a 93-year-old kosher food distributor in New York.
Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice group, helped organize a protest Tuesday with workers’ rights activists against the Faum Appetizing Corp., a Brooklyn-based firm that the National Labor Relations Board ruled abused workers by forcing them to work unpaid overtime and firing them when they complained.
The ruling ordered that Faum pay $270,000 in restitutions to its workers, but Faum is appealing the ruling, arguing that it is not obligated to pay back wages to undocumented immigrants.
The protesters gathered outside the offices of Apax Partners, a private equity firm in Manhattan that owns the largest food manufacturer and distributor in Israel, Truva, which distributes its products in America through Faum. Activists hope that Truva will use its influence to force Faum to change its labor policies.
A delegation of rabbis and community members attempted to meet with Apex Partners, but were told that the office was closed.
“As an Orthodox Jew, keeping kosher is very important,” said Ari Hart, a founder of Uri L’Tzedek. “But keeping yosher [ethical] is just as important as keeping kosher, and exploiting immigrant labor is not yosher according to Jewish and secular law.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.