Jewish Labor Committee

New York, November 6, 2008 – The following is the statement of Jewish Labor Committee President Stuart Appelbaum:

The historic election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden is welcome news to all Jews who share a commitment to economic justice, religious pluralism, and Israel's security. After suffering through eight years of the most reactionary presidency in modern times, we look forward to the administration in implementing the progressive reforms our nation desperately needs.

Continue reading "Jewish Labor Committee Welcomes Election Results" »

A summer study program in Poland and Israel for U.S. secondary school teachers.

Thank you for your interest in our Summer Seminar Program on Holocaust and Jewish Resistance, initiated by Vladka Meed in 1984. This year's program is scheduled for July 5 - 23, 2009. Our seminar includes educational activities in Poland and Israel with the participation of scholars from Israel's Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the Study Center of the Ghetto Fighters' House at Kibbutz Lohamei HaGeta'ot. On this web site, there is an online application for you to print out, complete and send back to us. [Just hit "continue reading", below, and scroll down]

Continue reading "2009 Holocaust & Jewish Resistance Teachers Program" »

To read the most recent articles on the situation, click here. For items on blogs, here.

On Sept. 10, 2008, Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Jewish Labor Committee, issued the following statement on the latest developments regarding the Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse and meat processing plant in Postville, Iowa:

The 9,311 child labor violations issued by the Iowa Attorney General yesterday confirms our opposition to Agriprocessors’ workplace practices for over two years.

The Jewish Labor Committee hopes that all appropriate legal penalties be applied to the firm. The public must know that the need to respect all labor laws – including, but not limited to, child labor laws -- is taken seriously by the relevant government agencies as well as by employers, and that violations of these laws will be taken seriously as well.

Continue reading "On the Latest Developments re Agriprocessors" »

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is critical Federal legislation that would help protect the rights of workers in the U.S. to organize and form unions. The law would give more workers a way to form unions and negotiate for better wages, health care and working conditions.* Organizations supporting this proposed legislation range from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs to Americans for Democratic Action.

The Jewish Labor Committee has joined in a multi-organizational effort to secure one million signatures in support of EFCA – and you are invited to join us!
You are invited to sign our petition, that will be presented to the new President and Congress, by clicking here.

*The EFCA, when passed, would amend the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, by requiring employees to recognize a union when a majority of workers sign cards authorizing union representation [so-called card-check]. When passed, EFCA would also strengthen penalties for companies that coerce or intimidate their employees and establish binding arbitration mechanisms when employers and workers are unable to agree on a first contract.

Continue reading "Support the Employee Free Choice Act" »

by Stuart Appelbaum

In August 2006, a worker at a Rite Aid Distribution Center in Lancaster, Calif., was fired. Her name was Debbie Fontaine.

Her offense? Taking part in a campaign to organize a union. It’s an incident that may not make many of us think about our responsibilities as Jews, but this Labor Day it should.

Like her co-workers, Fontaine, 48, had a growing list of complaints against the company. But it wasn’t until they began to organize to have a union that she discovered how brutal her employer could be.

Workers supporting the union say they were spied on and threatened with the loss of their paychecks, even their jobs. One worker who did lose her job was Fontaine.

Continue reading "Jews, justice and the workplace" »

More than 1,000 people rallied in Postville, IA on July 27th in defense of immigrants' rights, and to express concern over the mid-May ICE raid at the Agriprocessors meat processing plant in that community that resulted in nearly 400 workers being detained for up to five months, at which time they are expected to be deported; many of their spouses have been forced to wear GPS bracelet tracking devices, and, when their spouses are deported, they will go into detention.
Bus-loads of protestors went to Postville from Chicago, IL, St. Paul, MN, and Wisconsin.

[Photo of Eli Fishman, Chicago Director, JLC, taken by Abbey Fishman Romanek, a Chicago JLC board member; Matt Wolkowicz, a New York City member of the JLC's Educators Chapter, also traveled to the rally in Postville.]

Continue reading "Postville, Iowa, rally to support Agriprocessors workers" »

Bill Lucy, President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists President and Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME, addresses protestors in Washington DC on July 21st.

Nearly 100 trade unionists, human rights activists and concerned Zimbabweans marched outside that country's embassy in Washington, DC. Dozens of activists rallied in Washington DC outside the Embassy of Zimbabwe in near 100-degree heat to demand justice for the Zimbabwean people following the corrupt presidential runoff elections in June. Demanding fair and free elections and an end to government-sponsored violence against opponents, trade unionists, human rights activists, concerned Zimbabweans abnd others chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Mugabe has got to go" and read and delivered a "People's Indictment" to Embassy officials that charged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his administration, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank with crimes against humanity.

NOTE: See Postscript at end of this article.

Continue reading "Demonstration in Washington DC in support of "Justice for Zimbabwe"" »

Some 400 people came together on July 9th at the Hilton New York to attend the 2008 Human Rights Award Dinner of the Jewish Labor Committee’s Trade Union Council for Human Rights. Our three honorees were: Anna Burger, International Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU and Chair, Change to Win; William Lucy, International Secretary-Treasurer, AFSCME and President, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; and Christian W. E. Haub, Executive Chairman of the Board of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc.
[l-r: Rosalind Spigel, Acting Director, Jewish Labor Committee; Christian W. E. Haub; Anna Burger; William Lucy, Arlene Holt Baker, Executive Vice President, AFL-CIO; Joseph T. Hansen, International President, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; Stuart Appelbaum, President, Jewish Labor Committee, and President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, UFCW.]

The Educators' Chapter of the JLC heard Philip Dine, journalist with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and author of the acclaimed new book, "STATE OF THE UNIONS: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence," at the Biennial Convention of the American Federation of Teachers, held in early July in Chicago, IL.

Demonstration on Thursday, June 19th, of workers, family members and supporters.

On Monday May 26, 2008, twenty long-term employees at Flaum Appetizing Company, a major distributor of high-end kosher products in Williamsburg, Brooklyn New York, lawfully stopped work to protest of the firing of one of their co-workers, Maria Corona. At this point, instead of negotiating with them, management locked out and fired these workers. Previously required to work more than sixty hours per week without legally-mandated overtime pay, without sick leave, holidays, vacations, or even drinking water on the job, the workers joined the Food and Allied Workers Union 460/640, IWW.

Continue reading "Support Workers Fired at Flaum Appetizing Company in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn!" »

BIDMC in heated battle with healthcare union
by Lorne Bell / The Jewish Advocate / Friday May 30 2008

Marya Axner, center, director of the JLC New England Office, stands with other JLC and Workmen’s Circle members at a May 9 rally in Longwood to encourage greater healthcare worker membership in SEIU 1199. Hundreds attended and the Dropkick Murphys performed. [Photo courtesy of The Jewish Advocate]

Two weeks ago, members of the Jewish Labor Committee of New England and the Boston Workmen’s Circle gathered near the Longwood Medical Center to rally in support of local 1199, a division of the Service Employees International Union now organizing across Boston’s medical community. But at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the union and hospital CEO Paul Levy are accusing one another of using unscrupulous tactics to influence workers.
“There has been a very poor history on the part of [the hospital’s] management in dealing with workers who are organizing,” said Mike Fadel, executive vice president of 1199SEIU.
Fadel said that the union has fielded several complaints from Beth Israel Deaconess’ workers. In April, Anthony Patti, a former Beth Israel Deaconess maintenance employee, spoke out against the hospital in an SEIU advertisement in the Boston Herald.
“When our managers found out [that we were organizing], they hit us with a campaign of intimidation and misinformation,” wrote Patti. “They said if we voted to unionize they’d replace us with outside contractors. In my case, my director reminded me that my children wouldn't have insurance if I lost my job.”

Continue reading "Boston: Jewish labor groups support SEIU Local 1199's efforts to organize" »

This is an evolving issue. You can find the latest articles here, and latest items in the blogosphere here.

New York: May 23, 2008 -- As an organization committed to the defense of human rights, the Jewish Labor Committee has long condemned the abuse of workers by any employer for any reason. For this reason, the JLC has vigorously opposed the employment practices of Agriprocessors, Inc. since we first learned of them two years ago.

In reviewing the complaints of Agriprocessors’ employees, the JLC learned that there is a clear pattern of employer negligence and even lawlessness. Among the most troubling practices by Agriprocessors are:

• abuse of child labor laws;
• failure to pay workers the full amount of wages they have earned;
• unnecessary exposure of workers to dangerous -- even life-threatening -- working conditions;
• sexual harassment.

The JLC has also learned that Agriprocessors is actively waging a campaign of intimidation and harassment against workers who have expressed an interest in exercising their legal right to union representation.

Continue reading "Agriprocessors: JLC Policy Statement" »

A number of significant articles appeared within a few weeks of Stuart Appelbaum’s Opinion piece, American Labor Can Help Right Anti-Israel Left, being published in the March 28 issue of The Forward. Most notable is

Union chief retreats from Israel advert [The Australian, April 6, 2008]: “The head of the Maritime Union of Australia has distanced himself and his union from an allegedly anti-Semitic advertisement linking Israel's statehood to `racism and ethnic cleansing', after his Sydney branch endorsed the ad.
Paddy Crumlin, the MUA's national secretary, said the advertisement published in The Australian last month had used `an appalling choice of words'.

Continue reading "Australian union chief retreats from [anti] Israel advert" »

by Stuart Appelbaum, The Forward, March 28, 2008 [online here]

For more than two years, Israelis living in Sderot and other towns near Gaza have been the target of choice for Hamas terrorists. Launching its arsenal of Qassam rockets from residential neighborhoods and even schoolyards, they have as much as dared Israel to fight back. Now it has.

Predictably, much of the world is expressing its dismay — and those of us who call ourselves progressives are fuming that much of it is coming from our counterparts on the left overseas. However, it’s not enough for us to be indignant. Absent the involvement of the American labor movement, any effort to build worldwide support on the left for the Jewish state will be extraordinary difficult.

Continue reading "American Labor Can Help Right Anti-Israel Left" »

This year, there were a number of Labor Seders across the country: Boston, MA; Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC; Philadelphia, PA; St. Louis, MO; Washington, DC; Houston, TX, and Los Angeles, CA. At these festive events, members of the Jewish community and members of the trade union movement sat down together for a a Seder meal and explored the relationships between the traditional story of Pesach and more recent struggles for freedom and dignity.

Continue reading "Labor Seders across the U.S.A." »

JLC President Stuart Appelbaum met with Israeli President Shimon Peres Feb. 20. Appelbaum was in Jerusalem as part of the Israel Leadership Mission of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. In his meeting with Appelbaum and other leaders, Peres called for forging closer ties between Palestinians and Israeli Jews.

Continue reading "JLC President Stuart Appelbaum in Israel" »

Friday, September 7, 2007 - The president of the Jewish Labor Committee today applauded yesterday’s decision by Germany’s largest labor federation to oppose a growing boycott campaign against Israel. JLC President Stuart Appelbaum, who is also the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said the move by the 6.5 million-member Confederation of German Trade Unions [Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund - DGB] is a “powerful statement against the Israel-bashing which has become common in the European labor movement.” In July, the leaders of virtually every major U.S. union signed on to a JLC statement blasting British union support for the boycott effort.

Continue reading "German Unions Follow U.S. Labor to Oppose Boycott Against Israel" »

By Stuart Appelbaum

NEW YORK (JTA) -- As is the custom, millions of families will soon flock to beaches and backyard barbeques to celebrate Labor Day. Unfortunately, the reason for the holiday, recognizing the value of the labor movement, is too often forgotten. Of course, every family has reason to salute the contributions unions have made to our country. After all, it was organized labor that introduced the idea of the weekend and the 8-hour day. However, this year there's one group of Americans who have special reason to be thankful for organized labor -- those of us in the Jewish community.

At a time when many in business, the media and other institutions are too timid to challenge the rising tide of anti-Semitism abroad, America’s labor leaders did something extraordinary this summer. In a stunning show of solidarity with Israel, the presidents of virtually every major U.S. union signed on a declaration denouncing anti-Israel boycotts and divestment campaigns like the ones which have been endorsed by several British unons. CONTINUED

By David Dolev

BOSTON (Jewish Advocate) -- Many of us remember hearing stories of our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents moving to America and struggling to “make it” in the new country. Some may have been small business owners while others were rank and file workers, but common to all was the struggle to sustain themselves and their families. Many suffered in sweatshops and developed the mutual support system called the U.S. trade union movement.
The imperative of supporting one another in economic struggles was not new to them. One of our foremost scholars, the Rambam, states that the highest level of charity is “entering into a partnership with one in need, or finding employment for him, in order to strengthen his hand until he need no longer be dependent upon others.”
Remembering their own struggle, our parents and grandparents passed on to us the commitment to help others in need. That is what unions are all about – supporting the basic right of individuals to a fair salary, benefits, workers safety, and the ability to raise him/herself to a better life. This is why so many in the Jewish community are supporting the ... READ IT ALL HERE: Download file

U.S. labor leaders are denouncing British union support for a boycott of Israel . Their response comes in the wake of a decision by several unions, including the UK Transport and General Workers Union, to back economic, cultural and academic boycotts of Israel in protest against “the treatment of the Palestinian people.”

“Their resolutions have no purpose other than demonizing Israel ,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Jewish Labor Committee, an alliance of Jewish union leaders and supporters which is soliciting support for a statement opposing these boycotts.

Continue reading "U.S. Labor Leaders Blast British Unions' "Boycott Israel" Resolutions" »

We view with increasing concern the phenomenon of trade unions in a number of countries, including, most recently, the United Kingdom, issuing resolutions that either directly or indirectly call for divestment from and boycotts of Israel.

With the large number of local, regional and international conflicts, with the diverse range of oppressive regimes around the world about which there is almost universal silence, we have to question the motives of these resolutions that single out one country in one conflict.

We note with increasing concern that virtually all of these resolutions focus solely on objections to actions or policies of the Israeli government, and never on actions or policies of Palestinian or other Arab governments, parties or movements. We notice with increasing concern that characterization of the Palestinians as victims and Israel as victimizer is a staple of such resolutions. That there are victims and victimizers on all sides, and that many if not most of the victims of violence and repression on all sides are civilians, are essential items often not mentioned in these resolutions.

Continue reading "Statement of Opposition to Divestment From or Boycotts of Israel" »

What is the JLC?
The Jewish Labor Committee is an independent secular organization that helps the Jewish community and the trade union movement work together on important issues of shared interest and concern. Our national headquarters are in New York City; we have staffed local/regional offices in Boston, MA; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Los Angeles -- and volunteer-led JLC or JLC-affiliated groups in such places as Washington, DC; Cleveland, OH; Miami, FL; Phoenix, AZ; Las Vegas, NV, San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA.

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You are Cordially Invited to Join the Jewish Labor Committee

For 74 years, the JLC has served as the bridge linking the Jewish community and organized labor in a shared commitment to economic and social justice. You can be a part of this historic tradition of working together to advance the cause of the Jewish people and to help create a better future for all.

You can join the outreach to the millions of families who are union members and all of the allied organizations and groups which support the labor movement.

If you share our concerns for human rights, respect for all in our increasingly diverse world, and Israel, you belong in the JLC. Individual dues are only $40 a year. By joining the JLC, you will be part of a progressive, community-oriented organization that will make your voice heard on behalf of justice and human rights.

E-mail us here JLCExec@aol.com with your name and address; we'll send you a membership form. Join the Jewish Labor Committee as we embark on a new century of struggle and service.

The Arizona JLC is working the Arizona Minimum Wage Coalition, which has brought together unions, community groups and a number of small businesses. One focus is a ballot initiative, filed with the secretary of state last November – to be decided by voters November 2006. There currently is no state minimum wage in Arizona; only the Federal minimum wage of $5 .15 an hour.

The initiative specifies that employers pay workers no less than $6.75 starting Jan. 1, 2007. It also mandates that the minimum wage be annually adjusted for inflation, based on the percentage increase in the U.S. Department of Labor's consumer price index over a one-year span. Businesses with yearly gross revenue less than $500,000 would be exempt from these requirements. Their employees would keep the federal government's minimum wage.

Continue reading "Recent Activities: Arizona" »