[Avodah] Glatt Yosher?

[Jacob Farkas]

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> Yes, glatt kosher or chalav yisrael are good examples. We can pretend 
> the iffy is mutar when it comes to mesayeih ledevar aveirah bein adam lachaveiro, 
> but we'll spend a fortune on chumros when it comes to kashrus. (Those of us who
> are bound by minhag to follow these chumros can find their own examples. They're rife.)
> 
> But I wasn't asking, I was being rhetorical. We have a community willing to
> put money out for chumros our fathers didn't consider ikkar hadin, but 
> not to police ourselves financially.

To be fair. Assume a scenario that you are certain that your standards 
have been compromised, be it in laws of Kashrus, Yashrus, or anything 
else of your value. Would you abstain from usage of said product or 
service? Many would, and Uvda d-El Al yokhiakh...

To use the argument of Rabbi Bechofer, that there is no market incentive 
for such a service, proves one of the following; 1) Ethical treatment of 
animals or workers are not important issues to the community at large, 
2) The leadership determines what issues are important to the community, 
and having ignored the aforementioned concerns, those in the community 
(even if it constitutes a majority) with these concerns are irrelevant.

It can be argued that the former is often true because of the latter. If 
so, the question is not of capitalism and market incentive, per se, it 
is why do some individuals view this issue as one of importance, and 
those in leadership don't?

The question at hand is not hypothetical. The company whose practices 
prompted the discussion has been accused of both Tza'ar Ba'alei Hayyim 
abuses and inadequate safety training that lead to serious accidents, as 
well as providing substandard wages and working conditions. Granted, 
setting a living wage in the context of Halakhah is not a simple task, 
but why is there no discussion?

Furthermore, why is Dina Demalkhusa not applicable, particularly if 
Hiyuvei Torah may be somewhat ambiguous on the matter, there is no 
contradiction to Din Torah, so why isn't Dina D'malkhusa binding?

--Jacob Farkas