Jewish Labor Committee

The JLC delegation included (r-l): Executive Director Martin Schwartz {holding one edge of the banner}, Adelphi University Professor Leigh Benin, Associate Director Arieh Lebowitz, Robert Schwartz, Intern Brett Goldman, and Bennett Muraskin, a union representative for New Jersey college professors. Other JLC activists, from unions including the Communications Workers, the Electrical Workers, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the United Federation of Teachers, marched with their respective unions. They and others joined our delegation at Union Square.

(Thursday, Dec 1, 2011) New York - JLC marched this afternoon and stayed into the evening at the “March for Jobs and Economic Fairness,” called by the New York City Central Labor Council, that according to one report transformed Broadway into “a sea of union workers.” The march began near Greeley Square and went straight down to Union Square, fifteen blocks south.

Continue reading "Marching with NYC’s "March for Jobs and Economic Fairness"" »

(Thursday, October 27, 2011) Philadelphia -- Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee (PJLC) Chair Jeff Hornstein, Pennsylvania State Education State Education Association (PSEA) President Mike Crossey, State Senator Daylin Leach and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) Communications Director Barbara Goodman spoke at PJLC's "Public School `Choice': Vouchers and the Risk to Public Education" program. Over 30 people attended the event, the first in our new Jewish Labor Series. Upcoming programs will include discussions on local, national and international issues, such as the Privatization of Liquor Licenses, Immigration reform, and Labor in Israel. For more details, write Philadelphia JLC Regional Director Michael Hersch at PhiladelphiaJLC@jewishlabor.org.

(Wednesday, October 5, 2011) Boston -- New England Jewish Labor Committee, nurses, college students, academics and others join Occupy Boston for action in support of the movement.

(Wednesday, October 5, 2011) New York -- The Jewish Labor Committee today issued the following statement in support of the Occupy Wall Street protestors:

The Jewish Labor Committee supports the activists in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and their message – that it is time for our elected officials to represent the 99% of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet in this difficult economy. This message is being heard not only on Wall Street, but on Main Streets across America. Through the recent actions on and near Wall Street, and the actions of labor, religious and community organizations such as the Jewish Labor Committee, in solidarity with those who are "occupying" Wall Street, this message will increasingly be heard and felt in the halls of Congress and in state and municipal governments around the country.

Continue reading "JLC In support of the Occupy Wall Street protestors" »

JLC WR Members, Staff March in Candlelight Vigil for UFCW grocery workers

[r-l]: Jewish Labor Committee Western Region's President Floyd Glen-Lambert, JLCWR Secretary Jocelyn Sherman, and JLCWR Executive Director Leslie Gersicoff march in a candlelight vigil in support of UFCW grocery workers.

(Tuesday, September 20, 2011) Los Angeles – The Jewish Labor Committee Western Region [JLCWR] welcomed the announcement made yesterday that over 60,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union working at Ralphs (Kroger), Vons (Safeway) and Albertsons (Supervalu) in Southern California reached a tentative agreement with the companies. The Jewish Labor Committee Western Region has been supporting the grocery workers for many years, from participating in pickets and rallies in support of decent contracts, to “adopting” the workers at two Pavilions' stores, one in Beverly Hills, one in Sherman Oaks.

Continue reading "Jewish Labor Committee Western Region Welcomes Tentative Contract between management and grocery workers in Southern CA" »

(September 11, 2011) Philadelphia - Michael Hersch [holding placard], Philadelphia JLC Director, on picket line outside Verizon Store at 17th and Market in Philadelphia. Forty-five thousand Verizon employees were on strike for nearly two weeks in August because despite earning $19,000,000,000 (that’s nineteen billion) in profits over the last four years, Verizon management wanted to take away overtime pay, benefits, pensions, and holidays including Veteran's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Strikes were held in cities around the U.S. and coordinated by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). In the Northeast, this included CWA Districts 2-13. The strikes and comunity support resulted in a return to the negotiating table.

September 9, 2011: The Jewish Labor Committee today announced its support for the thousands of Hyatt Hotel workers who went on strike yesterday in four cities across the United States: Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The week-long strike was called by their union, UNITE HERE, to draw attention to the abusive treatment of the housekeeping staff. According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, of 50 hotel properties from five different hotel chains, Hyatt housekeepers had the highest injury rate of all housekeepers studied when compared by hotel company. The Hyatt Hotel Company has also replaced career housekeepers with subcontracted temporary workers earning minimum wage in several of its hotels.

“The Jewish Labor Committee is proud to have stood with Hyatt workers since the company fired nearly its entire housekeeping staff in three of its non-union hotels in Boston two years ago,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the JLC stated. “Many of them had worked for decades. They were all replaced with temporary workers, who were paid poverty wages with no benefits. Our New England Region mobilized into action, organizing rabbis and Jewish organizations to support the boycott of the three Boston Hyatt-owned hotels. Since then, we have actively participated in the national campaign Justice at Hyatt which has engaged hundreds of Rabbis around the country to support the Hyatt workers."

Continue reading "Jewish Labor Committee Supports Hyatt Workers" »

In the last few weeks, the Jewish Labor Committee has been reaching out to nearly a thousand rabbis across the United States. As we've done for quite some time, we are asking them to join a growing number of rabbis incorporating a message about the importance of workers rights in some meaningful way during Sabbath services between Labor Day weekend and Rosh Hashanah, which will begin the evening of September 28th.

The Sabbath Torah reading preceding Labor Day this year is known as Shoftim, Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9. While the word shoftim means judges, it has been interpreted to refer to the importance of justice. This reading contains the oft-quoted commandment, “Justice, justice shall you pursue …,” considered by many to be the bedrock of Jewish ethical teachings.

During this extended period of economic difficulties for many in our communities, we are focusing on the pursuit of a more just economy. The widening gap between rich and poor, deepening unemployment and the struggle of workers for a fairer, more just and more decent society must be a “Call to Action” as stated in Shoftim.

We’ve compiled some articles by rabbis that may be of interest in this regard: Click here to download this publication

Continue reading "Labor On The Bimah, 2011" »

By Stuart Appelbaum

August 22, 2011: A new grassroots movement is on the streets and boulevards of Israel. Tent communities have sprung up, and massive demonstrations are taking place not only in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but also in over a dozen smaller cities and communities across the State of Israel. The protests are against the high cost of housing, medical care and childcare, and against the increasing financial pressures on middle-class and working-class Israelis at a time when the Israeli economy is doing very well indeed.

The Jewish Labor Committee welcomes this new movement for social justice within Israel. We support the calls for “changing the rules of the game” in a country that is seeing the basic expenses of living going up and up, and the disparities between the very rich and everyone else increasing day by day. The calls of this new movement must be heard by the Netanyahu Government.

Impressive in a country with a multiplicity of political parties, ethnicities, and a range of social cleavages, this movement encompasses wide sectors of Israeli society rarely marching side-by-side in shared protest: secular and religious Jews, college students and retirees, political activists and those new to participating in a demonstration, parents with baby-strollers and municipal clerks.

But although this new Israeli movement has for the most part not done so, we at the Jewish Labor Committee cannot help but connect the issues it is raising with the expensive burden of the settlements in the West Bank, and the unresolved occupation of that territory. The political as well as financial necessity to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank has been clear to us for some time. Yet, in a cynical attempt to appease the unrest over the shortage of affordable housing and simultaneously satisfy the parties opposed to ending the occupation, the Israeli Government has authorized the construction of 277 new housing units in the West Bank community of Ariel, and 1,600 apartments in Ramat Shlomo, 930 housing units in Har Homa – the latter two being communities in disputed areas in East Jerusalem.

Continue reading "The Rules of the Game Must Change – and the Settlement Enterprise Must End" »

August 16, 2011: Last week, we wrote to Verizon President & CEO Lloyd McAdam urging him to return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith for a fair settlement for the 45,000 brave Verizon workers who are on strike.

Many of you have asked us what you can do to help support the Verizon workers. In consultation with the Communications Workers of America, one of the two unions representing the Verizon workers, here are a few simple ways you can help:

Continue reading "How YOU Can Help Support Verizon Workers" »

New England JLC was at the August 10, 2011 "Shame on Shammo!" Rally for Verizon workers outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston, where Verizon CFO Fran Shammo was speaking. We joined Verizon workers outside of the event, who were marching with a range of supporters. In photo is New England JLC Regional Director Marya Axner.

On August 11, the Jewish Labor Committee called on the head of Verizon Communications to get back to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith with its workers. 45,000 Verizon workers, from Massachusetts to Virginia went on strike on Sunday, August 7 when management refused to compromise on its unprecedented demands for wage and benefit concessions.

In a letter to Verizon Communications President and CEO Lowell C. McAdams, JLC President Stuart Appelbaum said that Verizon “should not be demanding such harsh concessions from your employees.” “Competitive pressure” cannot be cited as a rationale to push for $1 billion in wage and benefit give-backs from your workforce after your company was able to pay its top five executives more than $250 million in the past four years," Appelbaum said in the letter. "It’s a clear double standard."

Continue reading "Jewish Labor Committee Tells Verizon to Play Fair, and Negotiate in Good Faith" »

By Elise Kigner / THE JEWISH ADVOCATE [Greater Boston, MA] Staff / July 6, 2011

Roused by the firing of 98 Hyatt workers in the Boston two years ago, a group of Jewish clergy from around the country has issued a report assailing labor practices at the hotel chain.
The report spotlights Hyatt’s treatment of its housekeepers, calling attention to its increased use of subcontractors that pay lower wages and offer fewer benefits.
It goes so far as to deem the hotel chain as being not kosher because of its labor practices.
The report begins by describing the events of August 31, 2009, when all 98 housekeepers at the Hyatt’s three Boston-area hotels were fired in one day. These housekeepers were replaced by lower-paid, subcontracted staff, many of whom they had trained themselves.

Continue reading "Rabbis step up pressure on Hyatt" »

May 24, 2011: The Jewish Labor Committee today praised President Barack Obama for publicly reasserting the unshakable commitment of the United States to Israel’s security. During his presentation to the American Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the President also assured that the U.S. will stand against attempts to single out Israel for criticism in international forums. The JLC also welcomes the President’s assertion of the enduring friendship between the two countries based on shared history and shared values and supports the President’s call for renewed negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We agree with the President’s insistence, expressed so clearly, that the status quo is unsustainable,” said Jewish Labor Committee President Stuart Appelbaum.
“The President correctly called for negotiations between both parties and not unilateral measures, such as a United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood, as the only way to effectively resolve the conflict.”
“President Obama is correct,” noted Appelbaum. “A resolution cannot be imposed from the outside, and any lasting solution must take into consideration the territorial and security needs of both the Israeli and the Palestinian people. The President’s reference to the pre-1967 borders as a basis for territorial compromise reiterates what has been a standard part of the U.S. position for more than two decades. The borders would undoubtedly need to be adjusted through negotiations and land swaps. The President also reiterated the long-standing US position that negotiations must be based on the recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish State. He correctly stated that if Hamas wants to be a party to the negotiations, then they must recognize Israel, reject violence and adhere to all existing agreements.”
“This is indeed the time for hard choices,” concluded Appelbaum. “The Administration should do whatever it can to bring both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table. And we support actions on the ground that strengthen the ability of Israelis and Palestinians to realize that peace and cooperation are not only necessary, but possible.”

By Patricia Simms / Jewish Daily Forward / April 27, 2011

Madison, Wis. — How was the special seventh-night Seder at the University of Wisconsin’s Hillel Foundation different from all other Seders?
Well to start with, the plague of boils became exploding landfills and destroyed wetlands defacing the earth. The plague of locusts, featuring insects traveling in a swarm? The symbol of a state public transportation system pulverized.
Traditionalists might scoff at such adaptations of the Passover meal. But some 30 battle-hardened labor activists and members of the Jewish community took to the changes without blinking as they gathered near ground zero of labor’s battle against government efforts to curb collective bargaining rights.
At the “Labor Seder” held on April 25, the traditional text was rewritten to reflect the past three months of protests against the efforts of Republican Governor Scott Walker to dilute collective bargaining rights for public employees.

ENTIRE ARTICLE ONLINE HERE

Photo by Patricia Simms

March 30th, 2011: The New England Jewish Labor Committee hosted its 11th Annual Labor Seder, this year's was held at the headquarters of Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The 220 people who participated were especially full of the spirit of liberation and camaraderie, given the recent attacks on unions and collective bargaining across the U.S. and fights for freedom around the world. As New England JLC Director notes, "every year we honor four labor campaigns to go with the four cups of wine in the Passover celebration. This year one of the cups honored the public sector workers in Wisconsin." Click her to see a video made by Brad Lutes, a teacher from Wisconsin, especially for the N.E. JLC's Labor Seder
Other Labor Seders are taking place this year in New York NY, Newark NJ, Washington DC and Houston TX.
For more details, write to info@jewishlabor.org

Continue reading "New England JLC hosts 11th Annual Labor Seder" »

March 11, 2011 - The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) today denounced the decision by the Wisconsin State Legislature to strip public sector unions of their collective bargaining rights as an assault on all workers and the middle class. The JLC, the voice of the Jewish community with labor and the voice of labor in the Jewish community, firmly supports the fundamental right of workers, in the public and private sector, to join the union of their choice, and to have that union represent them in collective bargaining.

“This decision was motivated by politics alone, and not to address the state budget deficit,” asserted Stuart Appelbaum, JLC National President. “The public sector unions in Wisconsin had already agreed to the concessions about their wages, pensions and contributions to health insurance that the Governor had demanded, but refused to negotiate. Taking away their right to negotiate is nothing more than an attempt to silence the public sector workers.”

Continue reading "The Latest Wisconsin Decision is a Disgrace!" »

by Stuart Appelbaum

March 7, 2011 - The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that took place in New York City a century ago is now being memorialized in programs across the country. It took that fire on March 25, 1911, and the deaths of 146 innocent garment workers – mostly women, mostly Jewish, mostly immigrants – to bring about meaningful safety regulations, and to respect the call of workers struggling to secure the benefits of union membership. Many of our grandparents and great-grandparents played a critical role in building a strong and vibrant labor movement with the hope that it would endure and remain a permanent feature of American life. Through their actions and their struggle, our lives and the lives of most Americans were made better. Today, those hard-fought gains are under threat in communities across the United States.

What has emerged in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and across America is an attack against working men and women in both the public and private sector. The targets are the public employees now, but their intention is to come after all unionized workers.

Continue reading "From the Triangle Fire through Madison Wisconsin: What is to be done?" »

by Steve Lipman
March 1, 2011 - The last few weeks have been rough for the union movement in the United States. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, ignited a major workers’ protest when, in an effort to balance the budget, he moved to eliminate collective bargaining rights. And New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie, also a Republican, declaring that such bargaining rights “didn’t come down from tablets on the top of the mountain,” criticized his state’s teachers’ unions for “ruining our education system.” Union leaders across the country declare the movement under attack.
For a Jewish take on this issue, The Jewish Week turned to Arieh Lebowitz, associate director of the Jewish Labor Committee, which calls itself “the voice of the Jewish community in the labor movement and the voice of the labor movement in the Jewish community.”

Q: Are teachers protesting in Wisconsin a Jewish issue?

Continue reading "Labor Pains Throughout the United States: A New York Jewish Week Q & A with Arieh Lebowitz" »

UPDATE: JLC Western Region President Floyd Glen-Lambert reports that Los Angeles JLC staff and lay activists traveled by bus to Madison in solidarity with public sector workers in Wisconsin. Boston-based New England JLCers also went to a solidarity rally, according to NE JLC Director Marya Axner, and Michael Hersch, Philadelphia JLC director, tells us that they also rallied. On Friday, February 25, JLC Executive Director Martin Schwartz and Associate Director Arieh Lebowitz carried JLC signs aloft at a rainy but well-attended rally in Trenton, New Jersey ...

February 17, 2011: JLC on the scene at the ongoing mass protests in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker's attempt to eviscerate the collective bargaining rights of public employees. In Madison, Chad Alan Goldberg, Vice President, United Faculty & Academic Staff (AFT Local 223), was among the more than 50,000 Wisconsinites who, according to the state AFL-CIO, "have poured into the state capitol to express their opposition to Governor Walker’s attempt to rob the state’s workers of their rights."

Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, a congregational rabbi in Madison, WI, issued the following statement in support of Wisconsin workers:

Continue reading "Support collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin's public sector employees!" »

[History of the Needlecraft Industry, 1938, by Ernest Fiene (Detail)]

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, just east of Manhattan's Washington Square Park, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the city's history. 146 garment workers, mostly Jewish and Italian women, died as a result of this fire, either by being burned or as a result of jumping to their deaths. Most of the workers could not escape because managers locked the doors to the stairwells and exits to keep them from leaving early. Fire trucks' ladders could only reach the sixth floor - the those who perished were on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.
Occuring in the midst of five years of labor organizing in the clothing industry in a numer of cities across the United States, the fire schocked the city, the country and the world. Legislation requiring improved factory safety standards was passed in the immediate aftermath of the fire. The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, the Amalgamted Clothing Workers of America, and other unions have been fighting ever since for better and safer working conditions for working men and women in all workplaces.
The Jewish Labor Committee and many organizations, unions, schools and other institutions are marking the 100th anniversary of this historic tragedy in a range of ways. Here are a few:

Continue reading "The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Centennial" »

Photo by Marya Axner, New England Jewish Labor Committee

December 12, 2010: The New England Jewish Labor Committee joined the Boston Workmen's Circle Shula 5th graders in their protest against Stop & Shop, whose parent company, Ahold, has refused to sit down with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to talk about conditions for farm workers. The CIW is demanding justice for Florida tomato pickers through their Campaign for Fair Food, asking companies who buy tomatoes in large quantities to charge one penny per pound more for tomatoes, which will be passed on to the farm workers. The Campaign for Fair Food also calls for industry-wide third party mechanisms for monitoring conditions in the fields and investigating abuses. Tomato pickers make approximately $12,000 a year. If all tomato buyers participate in this program farm workers will earn approximately $17,000 per year. Sunday's protest was at the Stop & Shop on Harvard Street in Brookline, MA.