Agriprocessors supervisor says he was aware minors were working at plant

A former Agriprocessors supervisor said he told managers and executive Sholom Rubashkin that there were minors working at the company's Postville meatpacking plant.

Matthew Derrick, 41, who worked for years in other slaughterhouses before coming to Agriprocessors in August 2006, was the state's first witness as Rubashkin's child labor trial resumed this morning (Tuesday, May 11).

“I had more children working on the cut-up floor than I had adults,” Derrick told jurors.

Rubashkin is charged with 83 counts of child labor violations in state court. Prosecutors alleged teens worked with dangerous chemicals and power-driven equipment between 2007 and a May 2008 immigration raid.

Derrick talked about meeting a 12-year-old boy on the Agriprocessors floor. He said it broke his heart, and he wanted to take the child into his home, help him get citizenship and go to college.

“He was very bright,” Derrick said.

Derrick testified that he told plant managers Gary Norris and Brent Beebe about the minors and was told to mind his own business.

Derrick said he also brought up the matter with Rubashkin once during a meeting after he approached the executive about a “boot” that had been placed on his vehicle in the company parking lot.

After talking about the vehicle, according to Derrick's account, Derrick told Rubashkin that everyone in his area was exhausted from working long hours and that there were children in the plant.

Derrick said he told Rubashkin some of the employees were “too young to be doing the job.”

“He didn't seem to want to solve the problem,” Derrick said. He said the conversation occurred in Rubashkin's office, and no one else was involved.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Mark Weinhardt, Derrick said he didn't tell U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors at the plant about the minors. Nor did he tell any government investigators about it until months after the May 2008 immigration raid.

He also said he didn't disclose his conversation with Rubashkin during initial interviews with investigators.

Defense attorney Montgomery Brown asked the court to declare a mistrial after Derrick mentioned that he and his family had been the subject of threats. He also asked for a mistrial because Derrick talked about an e-mail that was allegedly distributed to him, Beebe and Rubashkin.

The e-mail, which the defense said had never been verified, allegedly came from the human resources department and asked Derrick to take workers to a Postville restaurant to get fake work documents.

Judge Nathan Callahan declined to declare a mistrial and asked jurors to disregard Derrick's statements about the threats.

Other witnesses on Tuesday morning included Alvero David Ajin Garcia, who had worked at the plant before he turned 18, and Luther “Don” Peddy, an official with Iowa OSHA, who talked about the dangers of chemicals at the plant.

-- Jeff Reinitz, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier