Organizational highlights of our activities: November 2014 - November 2015

As the voice of the Jewish community in the labor movement and the voice of the labor movement in the Jewish community, the Jewish Labor Committee engages in programs of value to both communities.

The Jewish Labor Committee is a unique organization for those in the labor movement, including members, union officers, staff and labor lawyers, as well as for people who work professionally or as lay activists in social justice organizations, and those with a particular interest in Israel, to work together on issues of shared con-cern. Our national and regional offices carried out additional programs in 2015 that attracted individuals in their local communities who are interested in and involved in social justice activism.

Jewish Labor Committee

יידישער ַארבעטער קַאמיטעט

JLC Report 2015

Planting Seeds for the Next Generation of Jewish Leaders

As a Jewish organization with a history over 80 years long, the Jewish Labor Committee believes it has a valuable role in cultivating the next generation of progressive Jewish leaders. In 2015, we began two new initiatives in partnership with colleges and universities. At Tufts, Brandeis and Harvard, our campus initiative “From History to Action” -- a program for undergraduates is educating them on workers-rights’ issues and how to work with and within the labor movement to help workers struggling for better working conditions, union representation, and a measure of dignity at their workplace -- is laying the groundwork for new generations of Jewish labor activists.

Our second new program, also campus-based, is bringing together Jewish law students and labor lawyers to expose these students to the field of labor-side law and work as lawyers in defense of workers’ rights. To date, we have held a quite successful program, working with Jewish students in New York University Law School students; we are currently expanding the program to Jewish law students in Philadelphia at Drexel University School of Law, and in New Jersey at Seton Hall Law School and Rutgers Newark Law School.

In Boston, NE JLC has launched The Kolot Project (the “Voices Project”) at www.kolotproject.net The Kolot Project seeks to use social media to engage New England’s Jewish community in a conversation about worker’s rights, empowerment and economic inequality. Through this initiative, we hope to encourage more conversations about labor issues in the Jewish community, highlighting views of a broad spectrum of people, from Jewish political leaders to low-income day laborers.

The JLC is working with supporters in the Denver, Colorado area to start a Rocky Mountains JLC group. Their initial plans envision organizing a local Labor Seder in Denver, and working with area law schools to hold a program with law students to learn about labor-side labor law and other pro-worker activities.

From History to Action program

2015 Human Rights Awards Dinner

Fighting for Workers Rights and Economic Justice

The Jewish Labor Committee’s Annual Human Rights Awards Dinner is a capstone event in the partnership between JLC and organized labor.

Marc Perrone, the newly elected international president of the 1.3 million- member United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Julie Kushner, Director of United Auto Workers District 9A, were this year’s recipients of JLC’s Human Rights Award.

A highlight of this year’s dinner was Senator Elizabeth Warren’s remarks, which she delivered via video. Sen. Warren shared stories of her family’s ties to unions and stated that the fight against income inequality in the U.S.simply cannot succeed without a strong labor movement. Other speakers at the event included Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Michael Goodwin, President of OPEIU, Vincent Alvarez, President of the New York City Central Labor Council, and two brave carwasheros, who had been on strike for four months in their effort to gain dignity on the job through a union. Stuart Appelbaum, President of the JLC and of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, UFCW emceed the evening.

The Jewish Labor Committee continues its work in both the Jewish community and nationwide in fighting for workers’ rights and a fairer and more just economic system. In 2015, many of these efforts were directed towards “Fight for $15,” the national campaign for a $15 federal minimum wage. Central to this effort are articles by JLC leaders in online and print Jewish media. New England JLC co-chairs Rabbi Barbara Penzner and Donald Siegel opinion piece, advocating for raising the Massachusetts minimum wage, was published in the Massachusetts Jewish Ledger.

JLC President Stuart Appelbaum’s op-ed on the issue, “Jewish Community Must Join the Fight for $15 Minimum Wage,” was published by such periodicals as the New Jersey Jewish News, the Philadelphia Jewish Voice, the San Diego Jewish Journal, the Jewish Journal of Youngstown, OH, the Long Island Jewish World, and New York’s Jewish Tribune. NE JLC activist and advisor Martin Abramowitz authored an article, “Why the Fight for $15, Why JLC, Why Me?” featured for JewishBoston.com. These were shared via Labourstart, an international online compendium of labor and work-related news.

The National JLC has also mounted an online petition in support of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. The New England JLC’s work on behalf of Doubletree

workers, fast food workers and adjunct faculty in the Boston area was written up in the local Jewish Journal.

In Philadelphia, the JLC is an active member of Raise the Wage PA, and serves on the planning committee for Fight for $15, providing input and strategizing with other organizations. Over the course of the past year, JLC Philadelphia has been a consistent presence at rallies and actions, with a strong turnout at numerous demonstrations. JLC members also volunteered to safely escort employees back into their places of employment after these actions.

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New England JLC at Fight for $15 Rally

L - R: Michael Goodwin President, OPEIU; Julie Kushner, Region 9A Director UAW;

J. David Cox President, AFGE;Marc Perrone President, UFCW;

Rita Freedman Acting Director, JLC;Stuart Appelbaum President, JLC

After years of Philadelphia JLC’s work on the campaign for earned sick time, the city of Philadelphia finally passed its first Earned Sick Days ordinance. In addition to involvement with the Fight for $15 and Earned Sick Days campaigns, Philadelphia JLC has remained active as a member of the steering committee for the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools, and has marched with teachers and other education activists.

The Boston-based NE JLC continued to work on the Raise-Up Massachusetts Coalition’s campaign to raise the minimum wage and to establish earned sick time. NE JLC successfully organized several synagogues to collect signatures and make phone calls in support the Earned Sick Time ballot measure that passed in November 2014. Recently, the NE JLC submitted testimony to the Attorney General encouraging her to implement the Earned Sick Time law without delay and without exceptions.

The NE JLC leadership, assisted by Boston Jewish Community Relations Council, helped educate Nursing Home management in Springfield/Longmeadow about the advantages of retaining area standards contractors in the construction of their new

facility. The educational effort was successful and the new facility is being built by contractors who pay area standard wages and provide area standard fringe benefits to their construction employees.

The JLC Western Region has written letters, given public comment and been in full support of Raise the Wage to $15. It has joined labor and faith groups to bring attention to Wage Theft and has gone on delegations to hotel management, super market managers, contractors, restaurants, and local officials on behalf of their workers. JLC Western Region members demonstrated for OURWalmart, and for steel workers who were on strike.

JLC Western Region continues to work with the CLEAN campaign for carwasheros [car wash workers], and is part of a new coalition to encourage Unionized Worker Cooperatives, the first being the Vernon and Gage Car Wash that had been abandoned by its owner, leaving the workers without two weeks’ pay and their jobs. The workers now own the carwash themselves. In Chicago, the JLC continues to participate in local demonstrations in support of the Fight for $15, and in support of Walmart workers who are attempting to gain improved working conditions and union recognition.

Combating Intolerance, Fighting BDS, and Supporting Israel

In 2015, JLC has worked to promote dialogue, fight anti-Semitism, and confront hate speech on all sides of current conflicts.

It was not that long ago when waves of Jewish immigrants were coming to the United States and were discriminated against. Remembering that history, the JLC was active in 2015 in steps to support refugees and other immigrants. We joined with other organizations to urge Congress not to attempt to amend or circumvent the birthright citizen provisions of the U.S. Constitution. We also urged the Obama Administration to use executive authority to improve the legal immigration system by (1) allowing for preregistration of permanent residence for all preference categories; (2) counting spouses and minor children as part of the same family unit; (3) recapturing unused visa numbers; and (4) extending the use of parole for purposes of family unity.

In November, JLC noted that this year’s spate of terrorist attacks, notably in Beirut and Paris, should not become an excuse for turning our backs on the refugees fleeing war and the atrocities perpetrated by ISIS in areas they conquer. We especially reject as abhorrent statements that refugees should be accepted on the basis of their religion, in particular, that only Christian refugees should be accepted. As an organization founded

to oppose the rise of Nazism in the early 1930s, we find restrictions on who is aided – and who isn’t – based on religion to be repugnant.

All countries accepting refugees, including the United States, have to ensure that the screening process for allowing refugees to come into their country is rigorous enough to block any potential terrorists attempting to cynically take advantage of this act of humanity.

The Jewish Labor Committee issued a statement condemning the use of hate language against Jewish legislators who supported the Iran nuclear deal. We also distributed a statement opposing Israeli Prime Minister

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Immigrants arriving to Ellis Island 1902(Image from Library of Congress)

Benjamin Netanyahu’s inflammatory statement on the Holocaust, claiming that Hitler was persuaded to exterminate the Jews by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 1941. And when ISIS committed terrorist massacres in Beirut and Paris, the JLC roundly condemned these acts.

For many years, JLC’s Chicago area director has been arranging study tours of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Illinois, for local public school teachers; this activity is coordinated with our colleagues at the Chicago Teachers Union. This summer, a significant number of teachers, members of the CTU, participated in our study tour of the Museum. A few years ago, our Chicago regional director arranged for a grant to fund these annual tours in perpetuity.

National JLC provided support to organizations fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. In one key case, graduate student workers in the University of California’s graduate student local asked for and received our help and guidance in opposing a BDS resolution proposed by the local’s leadership, and in appealing

it to the national union when it was passed despite their efforts. JLC Western Region reached out to colleagues in the local labor movement when BDS activists and their supporters attempted to stop Israeli-based cargo ships from docking in ports in the Oakland, CA area.

JLC published an Issue Paper on Israel’s trade union movement, focusing on the Histadrut, Israel’s General Federation of Labor. We circulated this paper widely to U.S. trade unions, Jewish organizations and both the labor movement’s and Jewish community’s local and national media.

JLC lay and professional leaders are in ongoing contact with key people of the TULIP (Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine) initiative, started with the support of JLC President Appelbaum, the head of the Australian Workers’ Union, and the UK’s Community Union. The JLC also remains an active member of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

In the Legislative Arena

Jewish Labors Committee works hard to keep its finger on the pulse of federal and state policy that impacts workers’ rights, issues of economic justice, and issues of concern to the organized Jewish community. As a member of the Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service, for example, the JLC is working to secure passage of House Resolution 54, which calls on the US Postal System to restore overnight mail service standards, and House Resolution 12 which calls on the USPS to

maintain 6-day delivery. We have signed on to the effort to ensure that the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) prohibits public schools from discrimination against any student on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, or their association with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We partnered with the Orthodox Jewish social justice group, Uri L’Tzedek, the NAACP and other organizations to try to bring a measure of fairness to the students in the East Ramapo, New York school district.

To ensure that affordable, quality health care is accessible to as many people as possible, the JLC signed on to a public statement bringing attention to the threat posed to access to affordable health care in the Supreme Court case, King v. Burwell. We also urged Congress to support the Healthy Families Act.

Our members in Maryland supported legislation in Montgomery County, Maryland to regulate ride-hailing services, including Uber and Lyft, to protect traditional taxi cab drivers. Our NE JLC recruited an employer and her employee to testify at a hearing held by the Massachusetts State Attorney General in support of the state’s Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

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Marya Axner giving testimony on the moral imperative towards workers rights, alongside Rev.Phil Jacobs and Sister Tess Brown,

-a Fight for $15 hearing at MA State House in September.

It is gratifying when we see the fruits of our labor pay off in legislation reform. In mid- 2014, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (DWBR) passed in the state of Massachusetts. NE JLC had worked on the bill since December of 2012, lobbying and publicizing its importance. Their work on the DWBR has now turned to assisting in implementing the new law, which went into effect on April 1, 2015. Educational outreach in the form of meetings and forums are being held by JLC to inform employers and their employees about the content

With Our Union Partners

The Jewish Labor Committee provided meaningful support to both unionized workers engaged in negotiations and workers seeking to exercise their right to unionize.

Building on last year’s victory for workers at Boston’s Hyatt Hotel, NE JLC was instrumental in helping to win another battle for hotel workers at the DoubleTree Hotel in Allston/Cambridge. After a two-year campaign and boycott, the DoubleTree workers won an agreement with management for a fair union organizing process. Soon after, on April 10, 2015, the workers chose UNITE HERE Local 26 as their collective bargaining representative. During the course of their campaign, housekeepers told the public about the pain and injuries they experienced cleaning hotel rooms. The NE JLC supported these workers by galvanizing local synagogue members and Rabbis to attend rallies, lead a prayer vigil, and observe the boycott of the DoubleTree Hotel.

NE JLC is currently supporting non-union workers at the Back Bay Hilton and the Wyndham Hotel who just recently started public campaigns. Workers at both hotels are asking for a fair process in selecting a collective bargaining representative.

When the Jewish Labor Committee was notified by the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union that workers at the New Jersey warehouse of Manhattan’s Adorama camera store were enduring poor working conditions, unstable work schedules, no medical benefits, little or no paid vacation time and poor wages, we contacted the owner, pointing out that his firing of workers for exercising the right to seek union representation was a violation of labor law and a violation of the century-old Jewish tradition of respect for the rights of workers. We notified our members in the community as well as the locally elected officials of these violations.

When the Jewish Labor Committee learned that AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) was going to use non-union food servers during its 2015 national convention in Washington, DC, we sought and obtained the support of Jewish community leaders and persuaded AIPAC to use union food servers instead.

When the Jewish Labor Committee learned that employees in Chicago of Barney’s New York were attempting to join Workers United, the Chicago JLC Chair sent a letter of support to the management of the company on behalf of these workers, and encouraged letters from others. Barney’s New York store employees in a number of other cities then asked the JLC to write similar appeals on their behalf, and JLC chairs and co-chairs in New England, Philadelphia and California all weighed in.

New York City is home to the largest Labor Day Parade in the USA, and JLC staff and lay-activists were there. We used the occasion as an opportunity to build awareness of the organization and educate attendees about the Fight for $15 campaign. JLC’s participation was highlighted in local television news media.

of the law and how to be in compliance with it.

The JLC Western Region works with labor and faith groups to bring attention to widespread wage theft. In Boston, New England JLC played a major role in the preparation of the draft legislation that ultimately led to the adoption of the Boston Wage Theft Executive Order. The order, promulgated and signed by Mayor Martin Walsh, has become a model for other municipalities in the ongoing fight against wage theft.

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Co-chair Rabbi Barbara Penzner speaking at a rally for the boycott of DoubleTree Hotel

Synagogue Outreach

Through Labor On The Bimah outreach to nearby rabbis, local JLC chapters build on relationships with synagogues to educate congregants on issues of economic justice from a Jewish perspective, and in the process to build awareness of the work and mission of the JLC throughout the wider Jewish community. The New England JLC partnered with Dorshei Tzedek to host a domestic worker who spoke about the Domestic Worker’s Bill of Rights, while the Philadelphia JLC partnered

with Kol Tzedek for a program on the Fight for $15 campaign.

For many years, JLC has reached out to congregations across the country to ask rabbis to discuss Jewish teachings about workers’ rights, including utilizing a sermon based on the Torah reading of the Sabbath before Labor Day. The Chicago JLC, the JLC Western Region, the Philadelphia JLC and the New England JLC contact Rabbis with a message about workers’ rights for these Labor on the Bimah activities.

Relationships with synagogues go beyond specific programs and events. Last spring, New England JLC called upon local rabbis to speak out in support of the rights of workers at the Lexington Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, whose wages were to be decreased by 40 percent, as negotiations stalled. Rabbi David Lerner of Lexington’s Temple Emunah came forward to speak at a rally, and soon after, several more rabbis and congregations were involved. The combined efforts of Rabbi Lerner, NE JLC, and Local 1199, SEIU resulted in the nursing home workers reaching a fair agreement with their employers.

Year after year, the Jewish Labor Committee’s Labor Seders continue to be unique and powerful events, bringing together Jewish communal leaders, local labor leaders, representatives of diverse ethnic communities, and public officials. Perhaps it is the compelling Passover story - one of liberation from oppression - which resonates with workers and affects people on a deep level. Perhaps it is the connection attendees build with people from different communities that make this evening so memorable. Perhaps it is also the joy of celebrating a diverse community’s shared commitment to economic and worker justice.

In 2015, the JLC sponsored or co-sponsored Labor Seders in Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, New York City, andWashington, DC. Many of these Labor Seders used the most recent edition of the Jewish Labor Committee’s Passover Haggadah. We have learned that our Haggadah has been a useful resource for other Jewish organizations and synagogues that conduct their own community Seders, as well as individuals working to make their personal Seders more relevant. The Labor Seders provide the opportunity for labor activists, organizers and staffers to participate in a meaningful Jewish ritual.

In Philadelphia, our Labor Seder has become the local JLC’s trademark event. Held in partnership with Kol Tzedek, a synagogue in West Philadelphia, this year’s Labor Seder drew over 75 people. Mark Tyler, Pastor of the city’s historic Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and one of the clergy leaders of POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empower and Rebuild), shared his perspective on events in Ferguson, MO, and the birth of the Black Lives Matter campaign.

Labor Seders: A Community Relations Event

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15th Annual New England JLC Labor Seder

UFCW members and Mark Niedergang at one of our Labor on the Bimah programs at Temple B’nai Brith.

In Boston, New England JLC’s 15th Annual Labor Seder drew more than 300 people to IBEW 103, this year’s partner for the event. The evening’s honoree was Martin J. Walsh, Mayor of Boston who spoke movingly about the struggles of working people. A diverse group

of elected officials, union presidents, Jewish community leaders, religious leaders, workers and students attended. Three campaigns were also honored: Fight for $15, Faculty Forward, and the DoubleTree Workers Campaign.

JLC Issue Papers, Articles, and the White House

This year, the JLC published two issue papers on the importance of labor unions. One dealt with income inequality in the United States and the role unions play in narrowing the gap (“Income Inequality and Labor Unions: A Program for Progress”). This paper was selected for distribution by the Foundation for Democratic Education. The second paper outlined the history and current role that unions play in Israel; (“The Israeli Labor Movement: A Focus on Histadrut”). Both were distributed to over 2,000 policy makers, union leaders, and Jewish and social justice organizations and promoted heavily on social media.

In addition, the JLC published an issue paper on the need to support public education (“Public Education: National Values and National Need”). As a founding member of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the JLC helped pass a number of resolutions at the JCPA annual conference that we are publishing as issue papers. These include resolutions on paid sick leave, high quality early childhood education, anti-Semitism, criminal justice reform, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the Armenian genocide

The JCPA is made up of a network of 14 national and 125 local independent Jewish community relations agencies. Passage of such resolutions helps keep the organized Jewish community on record in support of issues important to working people and the labor movement.

The JLC’s long-standing work in support of a fair minimum wage was outlined in a paper, “Jewish Communities Draw on their Historical Experience, While Acting Upon Central Values to Support the Effort to Raise the Minimum Wage,” written by Seattle-based rabbinical student intern Kami Knapp and JLC Associate Director Arieh Lebowitz. It is being circulated the Workmen’s Circle in a compilation of material as part of the Fight for $15 campaign.

Nationally, JLC is proud to be one of the few Jewish organizations asked by the Obama Administration to work with them on the run-up to the Workers Voice Summit at the White House, and was tapped to help organize nationwide participation in a “Tweetstorm” with the Department of Labor.

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Founded in 1934, the Jewish Labor Committee was formed to mobilize unions, Jewish organizations and mutual aid societies across North America to help fight Nazism in Germany. The JLC supported anti-Nazi and anti-Fascist forces throughout Europe, and aided Jewish, trade union and democratic socialist leaders targeted by the Nazis.

Today, the JLC brings together the organized labor movement and the organized Jewish community to promote workers’ rights, civil rights and human rights in the workplace and the community-at-large; to combat anti-Semitism and all other forms of prejudice; to strengthen the historic relationship between American and Israeli trade unions, and to promote a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Aware of the key role that the labor movement can play to combat income inequality, the JLC mobilizes support in the Jewish community for union activities across the U.S. in support of hotel workers, public school teachers, carwashers, employees at big box stores such as Walmart, domestic workers and all others fighting for dignity, security and representation on the job. We are also active in working to increase the minimum wage on the federal and state levels, securing passage of earned sick days legislation, as well as fair and comprehensive national immigration reform.

Together with our partners and supporters, the JLC is committed to creating a fairer and more just society for all.

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