Jewish Labor Committee

2013 Jewish Labor Committee Human Rights Awards Dinner
New York, April 3, 2013-04-03
Remarks by Richard Trumka
President, AFL-CIO

Thank you. I'm honored and humbled to stand with all of you today as we recognize the dedication, effort and accomplishments of some truly remarkable people who have defended the rights and improved the prospects of working people in the United States and around the world.
And let me say a special thank you to Stuart [Appelbaum] for all you do.
I am also pleased to be here as we celebrate the deep and vibrant ties between the labor movement and the Jewish community, and to reaffirm our shared vision, our collective responsibility, and our common struggle to make the world a better place.
The importance of the Jewish community to the American labor movement was no accident of history, but a product of the shared experiences and common activism of working men and women who immigrated to the United States a century and more ago.
We came from various corners of the globe, fleeing poverty and persecution, but we sought the same thing--a chance to work hard and to build a better life. It wasn't easy. But with solidarity, we found strength to win a measure of social justice, a value that is deep-seated in the Jewish community. That value helped give shape to America's labor movement, and it continues to play an integral role in our movement today.
I'm talking both about the broad Jewish tradition of honoring work, and the specific contributions of thousands of individual Jews over the decades who have sought to give expression to their personal commitment to justice and fairness by joining the labor movement.
And that's why, on behalf of the working men and women of the AFL-CIO, I'd like to express my profound gratitude to you, for who you are and what you do. Thank you.
As working people in America, we have been living through some tough and trying times. I'm talking about record inequality, and the diminished power and fractured lives of working men and women.
And on top of it all, in Washington, we seem to go from one crisis to another -- from the Fiscal Cliff to Sequester to -- who knows? But this political show has real victims, real casualties, real jobs lost, and real workers furloughed, real children cut off Head Start rolls, real programs cut short and curtailed.
Why are working people in such a fix? There are as many reasons as there are stars in the sky. Ruthless Wall Street CEOs and bad actors in business, the broken NRLB, feckless political friends and iron-clad political opponents, but in the end, those reasons aren't good enough.
And let me just say, on behalf of the largest organization of working people in America, we have not done enough to stop it. Our unions have not done enough to change, to adapt and to reach out to new workers.
You see, if we wait for Wall Street to stop being greedy, we'll be waiting for a long, long time.
I don't know about you, but I don't want working families in America to wait that long.
And that's why the AFL-CIO has embarked on an ambitious plan to take a hard look at ourselves, to solicit the best ideas, to open up and, if needed, to dramatically re-shape our unions, and open up our membership to every single working man or woman who wants to join with us.
Now, when you talk about change, some people get antsy, because it can sound a lot like criticism. Some people think accepting criticism is a mark of vulnerability, but I'm not so concerned about appearing vulnerable.
Working people and labor unions have been vulnerable for years. And no amount of bluster or head-in-the-sand insistence that everything is fine will change that reality.
So, yes, working people in America and our unions are vulnerable, but from vulnerability can come strength.
Brothers and sisters, when we look back on the early days of our modern unions, in the years and decades before 1940, it can be easy to forget that the future growth of our unions and of America's middle class was not a foregone conclusion. Not at all.
Working people tried a lot of different ideas until some stuck, until some worked.
The growth of unions in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s happened because of a convergence of a moment of possibility and of hard work, creative and relentless work.
You see, our job today is to do the same thing, to try new ideas, to risk failure and to keep working until we match up with a moment of possibility -- and I believe that moment is upon us. I want to add, too, that our job right now is not so much to figure out all the answers, but to develop a conversation and a process that can generate ideas, experiment with those ideas, and then take the ideas that work and scale them up.
America's labor movement needs your ideas, your thoughts and your input. There are a lot of ways that you can get involved, but one is for you to join an open conversation on the website of the AFL-CIO that will start next month, and we'll be holding listening sessions and discussions. The subject is the future of working people, and we hope you'll take part because our nation needs your experience and your insight.
That's the difference between top-down and bottom-up problem solving. We don't need to come up with all the answers ourselves, but we do have to ask questions together, be open, and be able to spot answers that might work.
That's what the United Mine Workers did under John L. Lewis, with the organizing committees that built the great unions of the CIO: the Steelworkers, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Communications Workers, and so many others.
We need to do the same thing today. And, to do so, we need courage and a belief that the impossible can be possible. We need a serious and appraising eye, and the absolutely certain belief that every worker -- every single worker -- deserves a voice on the job, and a chance to improve his or her life through collective action. America needs that now, today.
My friends, ours is an important job, a sacred responsibility.
It's time for us to stop wishing the world were different. It's time to make it different. What we want is not too much to ask. A good chance for a decent life. An opportunity to have a voice and do our best work. Fair wages. Health care. A secure retirement. Education, and a better life for our kids and grandkids.
That's not too much to ask for the working people who wake America up every morning and tuck her into bed at night, who answer the call and do what it takes. That's not too much to ask.
That vision is what unites us here tonight. Now let us be united not only in our values and our vision -- but in action.
Thank you.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 04:46 PM | Permalink

2013 Jewish Labor Committee Human Rights Awards Dinner
New York, April 3, 2013
Remarks by Stuart Appelbaum
President, Jewish Labor Committee
President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union

My name is Stuart Appelbaum and, to those here who I haven't had the opportunity to meet, I'm the president of the Jewish Labor Committee.
I'm something else, too: the president of the RWDSU -- which, as you know, is a proud part of the UFCW.
But even though I hold these two, different positions I'm not here wearing two different hats.
Why?
Because there's a seamless connection between being a trade unionist and an activist in the Jewish community.
It's not that the labor movement and Judaism share a common heritage. They don't.
But I think what we do share is a common vision grounded in common values.
It's the reason why we believe in an America -- and a world -- where no one's destiny is decided by their gender, or the color of their skin, or their language, or their faith, or by whom they love"¦ because we all share a common humanity.
It's the reason why we believe in an America -- and a world -- where dignity and respect for working people aren't seen as an obstacle to prosperity, but as a precondition for it.
It's the reason why we believe in an America -- and a world -- where the decisions that affect all of us aren't made by a few people who only have profits on their minds, but by all of us together.
That's what modern Judaism is all about.
That's what today's unions are all about.
And we're here tonight because that's what the Jewish Labor Committee is all about!
Helping to build bridges "¦ and alliances "¦ and partnerships that bring together the most vital forces in this nation today:
Unions and the progressive community.
Community groups, people of color, immigrants, environmentalists, the LGBT community, people of faith -- including the Jewish community.
Women and men joining together -- not out of expediency - but a shared recognition that we can't win "œjustice on the job" absent "œjustice in the community".
A shared recognition that our responsibility to workers doesn't end when they leave their jobs at the end of the day, and their responsibility doesn't end when those women and men leave for work the next morning.
A shared understanding that we don't have the luxury anymore to put ourselves into different buckets -- one marked "œlabor" and the other marked "œeveryone else".
That if we're going to succeed we need to build one, strong and united progressive movement.
I, myself, like to say that we in labor must begin to see ourselves as the labor component of a broad progressive alliance -- an alliance which understands that union contracts are an essential component of any progressive vision.
That's one of the reasons why all of us in JLC are so proud to be able to honor Bob King and Chris Shelton tonight because they've worked tirelessly to help see to it their unions are in the forefront of building that kind of movement.
And all of us here have a duty to do the same.
And that includes the JLC.
It's the reason why we went to work to build Jewish support for Chicago's teachers when they stood up to protect their students from Rahm Emanuel's war on public education.
It's the reason why we mobilized rabbis to stand in solidarity with the 14,000 Boston janitors in their campaign for a strong union contract -- and I should add that because of the support they received from those Rabbis -- together with priests, ministers, and imam, and others -- they won their contract.
It's the reason why, today, we're organizing Jewish leaders throughout the country to back the incredible struggle of Hyatt hotel workers to exercise their legal -- and moral -- right to union representation.
And it's why right now, today, in this city, JLC has joined forces with my union and two community groups called Make the Road New York and NY Communities for Change to help low wage workers at New York car washes win the dignity that only comes with collective bargaining.
Some of those men and women are here tonight -- car wash workers and leaders and organizers of the Wash NY campaign and I'd like to ask all of them to stand to be recognized.
Sisters and brothers, I want you to know that the JLC is going to fight as hard as it takes -- and as long as it takes -- to see to it that car wash workers in NY have the paychecks and benefits they've earned and deserve.
But, JLC isn't only a labor voice in the Jewish community; we're also a Jewish voice in the House of Labor.
And a lot of people aren't sure what that means.
But for the JLC it means in part, standing up for Israel and a peace process which respects both Israelis and Palestinians alike.
The American labor movement has long understood that Israel is the only functioning democracy in the Middle East.
Arab Israelis have the right to vote -- and today serve in the Knesset and throughout the Israeli government.
And unlike every other country in that region, Israel has a free and democratic labor movement.
And we are aware as well that today anti-Semitism often manifests itself an anti-Zionism.
And we are outraged as well by the missiles and rockets and threats of annihilation that are lobbed at Israel, and the lessons of hatred and bigotry that are taught throughout the region by Israel's enemies.
The ability of Hamas to recruit new adherents does not occur in a vacuum -- but in an atmosphere where the rights of Israelis and Jews are denied -- and the governments of Israel's neighbors have often been complicit in their denial.
Now, is all this to say that the policies that have been pursued by the Israeli leadership haven't from time to time damaged the prospects for peace?
Hardly.
Every new settlement on the West Bank does nothing but make it that much more difficult for moderate Palestinians to come to the bargaining table.
We know that.
But, brothers and sisters, there's only one way we can keep those settlements from being built.
Not by isolating Israel through boycotts and divestment, but instead by embracing and strengthening the Israeli peace movement.
That's what we believe in JLC"¦and I want to thank the leaders sitting before you because I know that's what they believe, too! And I want to thank the unions they lead for standing up for Israel and for a just resolution in the Middle East.
I know we're all anxious to begin our program, so let me close by sharing just a few words with you.
It's from a commentary about the Tower of Babel and the bosses who oversaw its construction. It was written 1,800 years ago by a Rabbi called Rebbe Eliezer:

"œThey built it 27 miles tall," he wrote.
"œThere were stairs on both the eastern and western sides of the tower. Those carrying bricks up ascended the eastern stairs, and those coming down used the western stairs, in order to avoid colliding with each other."
"œWhen a person fell off the stairway they did not mourn -- for there were many thousands more to carry bricks up in their place. But when a brick fell, they were greatly distressed, and mourned "œhow can we find another brick to replace this one?"

Sisters and brothers, today, we live in a world where bricks are still valued more than workers.
A world where, each day, men, women -- and even children -- are forced to trade their dignity for their paycheck.
But a world -- which we also know -- doesn't have to be that way.
Good people, decent people, courageous people are standing up and fighting back.
People like the car wash workers -- taking incredible risks to demand dignity. Fast food workers, Verizon workers, Wal-Mart workers, auto workers in Mississippi, poultry workers in Alabama, Teachers, and so many others. Working people who despite the odds and difficulties continue to organize and fight back. Immigrant workers who cannot even rely on the law for protection as they seek so desperately needed immigration reform. People of faith who so often lead the call for justice.
All of us "¦ all of you "¦ who have marched and spoken out and fought for freedom and dignity and justice.
That is what we celebrate tonight. And that is what we must commit to fight for tomorrow.
And it is in that spirit that I thank you all for being here and for your support of tonight's honorees and of the Jewish Labor Committee.
Thank you.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 03:32 PM | Permalink