Jewish Labor Committee

Good evening. I would like to thank you all for being here this evening
I'm Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Jewish Labor Committee; and I'm also president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and I'd like to welcome you to our 2009 Human Rights Award Dinner.
Before anything else, there are some people who worked very hard to make this evening a success and I'd like to recognize them:
The executive director of the JLC; Sybil Sanchez.
Our dinner coordinator; Sharyn Gare.
And the JLC's communications director; Arieh Lebowitz.
As well as Janet Wandel, Natalie Cimbol, Helen Murphy and Steve Pezenik.
There are some other people here who deserve all our thanks. It's the wait staff here at the Hilton -- they're members of UNITE-HERE -- and I want them to know how much we appreciate their hard work!

Tonight we have the honor of recognizing the contributions of three, outstanding leaders:
The president of AFTRA, Roberta Reardon.
The president of the New York City Central Labor Council; Jack Ahern.
And the president of the Morton Williams grocery store chain: Morton Sloan.

But that's not all.
We're equally honored to be joined by the three uniquely distinguished men who'll be presenting our awards:
Paul Almeida, the president of the Department for Professional Employees of the AFL-CIO.
Bronx Borough president; the Hon. Ruben Diaz, Jr.

And a long-time friend of the JLC, the new and exciting president of the AFL-CIO, Richard L. Trumka.

This evening is a special time for the Jewish Labor Committee.

Tonight we're, of course, recognizing the contribution of three, very special people.

But we're also honoring the work of hundreds of men and women whose names aren't in your program: they're the activists who have given -- and continue to give -- so much of themselves to making the JLC what it is today -- and what it always will be:
A union voice in the Jewish community; and a Jewish voice within the House of Labor.
I'm sure some of you may be asking what that really means.
You may be asking, "œWho is the JLC?"
Well, let me take a stab at answering that question.
Who is the JLC?
We're activists in L.A. who've been organizing to build Jewish support for a campaign to organize car wash workers.
We're in Philadelphia, where we have been signing up rabbis in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
In Boston, we're fighting to stop the abuse of workers at Commercial Cleaners Company.
In Chicago, we're working to help UNITE-HERE win their strike at the Congress Hotel.
In New York and New Jersey we're doing our part to help nursing home workers win new contracts.
And, Rich, I want you to know that we intend to mobilize all across this country to help send the message, on November 5th, that we don't need any more talk about health care reform, it's time for action!
Many people don't realize this, but almost all self-governing Jewish communities throughout history set up systems to ensure that every family had access to health care.
In fact, doctors were required to lower their rates for poor patients, and when that didn't work, the entire community joined together to make sure that people without money could always get the care they need.
No one talked about establishing health care co-ops that can't work.
No one talked about a trigger that meant that more people would have to suffer and die before it was time for the community to act.
Instead they said that it was the duty of a moral society to guarantee health care for all.
It was true then -- it is true today -- and, brothers and sisters, we have to put everything else aside to make sure Washington gets the word that American Jews want health care reform "¦ and we want it now!
Why does the JLC do it?
Why do we care about winning good contracts and the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform?
Because we know, in our hearts, that being Jewish isn't simply a matter of lighting candles or going to services or being bar mitzvahed.
It's also about fighting for justice.
It's about recognizing that just as Jews suffered in ancient Egypt, there are millions of working people who are suffering today.
They've been robbed of their right to health care.
Robbed of their right to a good pension.
Robbed of their right to earn a decent wage.
And robbed of the one opportunity they have to do something about it -- the right to organize!
The way we see it, while some say that a good Jew might eat a kosher chicken "“a better Jew makes damned sure the workers at the plant it came from have a union contract!
Who is the JLC?
We are Jews who believe it's our responsibility to remind the Jewish community of its responsibility.
Luckily, that isn't always very hard to do because there is that progressive tradition in the Jewish community.
Some of you remember that, last year, the Republicans did everything possible to scare Jews into believing that Barack Obama's election would be the worst possible thing that could happen to them.
When you stop to think about it, Republicans -- even here in New York - have a habit of saying that to Jews whenever the Democrat happens to be African-American.
Well, it certainly didn't work last year. On Election Day Barack Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote
That's impressive, but the fact is that Jews have only voted Republican once since the first voter tracking began in 1916.
That was in 1920 -- and the only reason it happened was because a lot of Jews voted for Eugene Debs instead of the Democratic candidate!
The progressive tradition is alive and well in the Jewish community; our mission in the JLC is to make sure that Jews remember that standing up for the labor movement is part of it!
But as I said, the JLC isn't only labor's voice in the Jewish community -- we are a Jewish voice in the labor movement.
That's how we got our start.
In 1934 about the last thing most Americans cared about was what was happening to Jews in Nazi Germany.
But there was one group of people who did care: Jews in the labor movement.
They believed that if their union brothers and sisters knew what was happening in Germany they wouldn't turn their backs.
And they were right.
And, in the years since, the relationship broadened and it grew deeper.
It's one of the principal reasons why Israel has never had a better friend in this country than the AFL-CIO.
Why? Because the labor movement understands that there is only one country in the Middle East where workers can freely organize.
Israel!
It's because the labor movement understands that there is only one country in the Middle East where women have equal rights.
Israel!
It's because working people know that there is only one country in that region that has consistently stood by America through good times and bad.
Israel!
That's why the American labor movement has always stood with Israel in the past -- and that's why it's standing with Israel now in one of the most important battles it has ever faced: the fight to stop the boycotts.
Today, Israel's enemies have targeted unions throughout the world -- and even in this country -- as part of a new campaign to wreck the Israeli economy.
They don't make any bones about their strategy: it's to label Israel an apartheid state and then use that as the moral basis for demanding an economic blockade.
Some unions overseas have bought into it.
Well, thankfully, unions here haven't.
We haven't because we understand that the victims of boycotts won't be the right wing and guys like Bibi Netanyahu -- it won't be the people who refuse to support a Palestinian state.
No!
The people who are going to feel the pain from boycotts are working- class Israelis and working class Palestinians!
And that's their true purpose.
It's not to move the right-wing to the bargaining table; instead it's to do economically what they haven't been able to do militarily: destroy the state of Israel!
That's why when British unions began flirting with boycotts the JLC went to work. Without hesitation, the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, and every major International union in this country signed on to our statement to the British trade union movement and said "œno" to boycotts and "œyes" to a two-state solution!
That's why the JLC put together a delegation of Irish- American trade union leaders last November (including one of our honorees tonight) to go to Ireland and to stand up for the State of Israel when Irish trade unionists were considering positions with which we disagreed.
It's been said that Israel lives in a very tough neighborhood.
And it's true.
Thanks to George Bush, Iran now exercises more power in the region than ever before.
And today, as we know, not only does Iran have technology sophisticated enough to produce and deliver nuclear weapons; they have a president who is ignorant and unstable enough to use them.
That's why we don't have the luxury of ignoring the Iranian threat.
That's why we can't allow ourselves to be fooled by those who refuse to acknowledge the differences between Iran and Iraq.
That's why we all have a stake in the success of the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Can the American labor movement make a difference?
I think we can.
After eight years of George Bush and Dick Cheney we finally have a president who'd rather work for peace than plan for war.
As a movement, I think we need to let him and others know that we're on his side.
Who is the JLC?
We're Jews and we're trade unionists.
We're men and women who believe in fighting for justice at home "¦ and who are committed to standing up for peace abroad.
And, tonight, I want to pledge that just as you have always stood by the Jewish Labor Committee we will always stand with you!
Thank you so much for being here.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 05:54 PM | Permalink

Good evening. Thanks to Stuart Appelbaum for inviting me to be one of tonight's honorees. And thank you Sybil Sanchez for the hard work you have done behind the scenes. Congratulations to my fellow honorees Roberta and John. (Morty also thanked Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and Richard Trumka).
It is truly a privilege, not only to be an honoree of such a venerable organization as the Jewish Labor Committee, but to be honored in the presence of everyone important to me: my wife Judith, my partner and brother Bill, family, friends, business colleagues, Union officials and those who feel keenly that the rights of the worker, both here and abroad must be protected.

Many years ago, I heard a professor define a Jew as, "œSomeone who is allergic to injustice." This was back in the early 60s when I joined hundreds of Jewish classmates participating in sit-ins at Boston's Woolworth's to protest its segregated lunch counters in the Deep South.
As I have grown older, my world has expanded, and so has the breadth of my professor's definition. Last year, I visited Sderot, in Israel, target for Hamas's Qassam rockets that still rain down on innocent families day after day. Was there world condemnation? Far from it! The world responded with a solid condemnation of Israel and with more boycotts of Israeli products.
And our European friends? The UK refused to grant Israeli professors entry visas. France can barely protect its Jewish citizens from Arab violence. Turkey, for centuries a steadfast friend of Israel and a haven for Jews in need of a home, recently cancelled joint Air Force exercises with Israel. Even worse, Turkey is airing a viciously anti-Semitic television series just one step removed from "œThe Protocols of Zion." And in South Africa, dockworkers have refused to unload Israeli ships, forgetting how it was Jews who led the fight against Apartheid.
Who is going to step in and help when Jews are discriminated against and vicious boycotts continue to spread that hurt the workingman?

The Jewish Labor Committee.

How? By working through unions worldwide -- efficiently, effectively and without fanfare -- be it in Germany, Spain, or as far away as Australia

The Jewish Labor Committee has succeeded when formal diplomacy has failed. Why? Because a Jew is someone who is allergic to injustice, whether the victim be a Black man in Mississippi, an orange grower in Beersheba, or getting closer to home, a worker in a Midwest meat plant subject to dangerous working conditions, sexual harassment and illegally withheld wages.

Now I want to move even closer to home: the Bronx, where I was born and where four generations of my family earned their living and depended on a reliable labor force to help them grow. In turn, our family could be counted upon to provide a clean, safe working place, to protect against any form of discrimination"¦"¦to reward industry and dedication with abundant opportunities for advancement.
And ever since my father Joseph Sloan became president of the company more than a half century ago -- consisting then of just one store - these workers"¦.. the backbone of our business, have been members of the Union. Because of harmony in the workplace, we can take pride in the fact that Morton Williams has a very large percentage of its labor force that stays"¦ and stays "¦and stays. Ask Virginia who became a cashier at age 17, just off the boat from Italy, now our comptroller in charge of 15 bookkeepers. Or Orlando, born in Columbia, who came to work as a porter, and is now one of our top executives. Ask some of our dairy or grocery clerks who have come to us with family problems"¦. prolonged illnesses"¦. special needs. We work together to try and find a way out.

I celebrate a big birthday today, and I guess it won't be that long before the fourth generation takes over, with the fifth generation fast breathing down their necks. (There have already been sightings of two little boys trying out the club chairs in our conference room). My brother and I will be passing a twelve- store chain on to them, as well as our continued aspirations to expand - carefully and wisely. And we will be passing on as well the lessons that Judaism, democracy, the Jewish Labor Committee and the basic tenets of the American Labor Movement have taught us.

Thank you for honoring me tonight. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to enunciate my deepest gratitude to you for your fight to protect us against the evils of ignorance and discrimination.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 04:18 PM | Permalink

Good evening and thank you.
Thank you, President Trumka for being here tonight to present me with this award, and thank you for your kind and generous introduction. We all know how incredibly busy you are since being elected as president of the AFL-CIO last month, and it is a huge honor to for me personally to have you here with us and to share not only this stage, but the nation's labor stage with you. On behalf of the 1.3 members of the New York City Central Labor Council, thank you for all you have done, and continue to do, with such courage and conviction, to advance economic and social justice for America's workers.

It is also an honor to be here with all of you this evening. I see many friends and labor brothers and sisters in the audience, and I thank all of you for being here tonight as we celebrate human rights and the Jewish labor committee.
I congratulate my co-honorees, my labor sister and AFTRA national president Roberta Reardon and Morton Williams supermarkets president Morton Sloan. You are both great leaders and I am honored to share tonight with you both.

I want to thank the Jewish Labor Committee for selecting me along with Roberta and Morton for such a distinguished and moving honor. The JLC has long been a voice and a force for human justice and dignity, and it is especially gratifying to have been recognized by all of you. Whether through its national office in New York or local offices and groups across the united states, the JLC enables the Jewish community and the trade union movement to work together on important issues of shared interest and concern, in pursuit of our shared commitment to economic and social justice. and, of course, human rights, what tonight is all about.

I would like to thank the staff and officers of the JLC as well. I know how hard the JLC staff has worked on tonight's dinner and I want to thank them for all of their tireless and supportive efforts to make tonight such a success.

JLC president Stuart Appelbaum has been a good friend and vital part of the central labor council executive board as president of the RWDSU. Stuart is a true leader and voice of labor and working people.
Stuart's passion and regard for others makes him one of the real human rights winners of our organized labor movement. Stuart has always been about the struggle for justice. From his recent stands on gay rights to his long stand in support of the struggle of working men and women to advance their interests in the workplace, Stuart is truly a champion of dignity and equal rights for all.

I was honored last year to be asked by Stuart to be part of a labor delegation to Ireland in the wake of the boycotts and divestment against Israel called by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. With Stuart's leadership, we were able to engage in some constructive conversations with our Irish counterparts and made our position clear: boycotting Israel is counterproductive and contradicts the international trade union spirit of solidarity and fraternity. Stuart, I thank you for the opportunity to be part of such an important global labor mission, and I enjoyed sharing a Guinness with you and toasting to our brotherhood and friendship.

But, our Irish and Jewish common ground doesn't end there. Ironically, this past weekend there was a tribute program that was performed at the Irish Arts Center called "œIf it wasn't for the Irish and the Jews." It's a moniker shared with both the 1912 song penned by the illustrious Tin Pan Alley song-writing duo of William Jerome (whose family hailed from County Mayo) and Jean Schwartz (a Hungarian born in Budapest). As I have come to learn recently, there were some wonderful collaborations between Jewish and Irish songwriters. as the program director said so well in an interview recently, "œyou could say that those in power write the history, but those who suffer write the songs." We know our share of suffering, which is why human rights are so deeply personal to us all.

Before I end, it is important to note that the labor movement has a mantra that we repeat often in our rallies and fights for fairness: "workers' rights are human rights." When workers are denied the right to bargain with their employers about the conditions of their employment, our society becomes less just, less equal, and less democratic. Wages lag, race and gender pay gaps widen, the social safety net is strained, civic and political participation is undermined, and corporate greed and power go unchecked.
This is why Congress must pass the employee free choice act now. Restoring workers' rights and freedoms is a true campaign for human rights. And we intend to win. Thank you, President Trumka, for your strong and determined leadership on this most important issue in our labor movement today.

The other issue we intend to win is health care reform with a public option! As Senator Kennedy reminded us so many times, health care is a basic right. And all Americans should have coverage, but 47 million do not. And that is just not right. Insurance companies must be held to accountable by choice and competition. It is time to pass quality, affordable health care for all.

Now, I know that Stuart keeps one poster in his office - it is a quote from the Old Testament, which reads in English "Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue." In Hebrew, the words are "Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof." I know this poster is one of Stuart's inspirations, and at this time, I'd like to ask President Trumka to come back to the podium to help me inspire Stuart just a little bit more.

Stuart, we know your parents were your true inspirations in this world. And we know how it feels to be the son of a union member who taught you the value of work and dignity. As many of you know, Stuart's father, Henry, who passed away in December 2006, was a proud member of the American Postal Workers Union and was employed in Connecticut as a postal clerk. As Stuart likes to remind us, that means Henry Appelbaum sorted the mail, he did not deliver it.
Well, tonight Stuart, in appreciation for all you do, I want to "œdeliver" something to you that we were able to dig up. It's a recreation of your father's union card from APWU.
We hope you will put this on your office wall too to remind us all that a union card is the best human right there is. And the best symbol for fairness and justice in the workplace.

Thank you all, and thank you again Jewish Labor Committee for tonight's award.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 04:18 PM | Permalink

Thank you, Stuart, for that warm introduction. And I thank you and Sybil for all that you have done to lead the Jewish Labor Committee, with such dedication and vision, as we celebrate JLC's 75th anniversary and carry forward through the 21st century.

I'm so pleased to join you here this evening.

The Jewish Community Relations Council's relationship with the Jewish Labor Committee goes back nearly four decades to the founding of the JCRC. It was JLC's then New York Director, Martin Lapan, of blessed memory, who, behind the scenes, was instrumental in bringing together the diverse elements of our Jewish community to form what Marty knew was needed -- a central resource and coordinating body for the Metropolitan area's Jewish community, with a strategic role to be played by organized labor.
And Marty's vision was prophetic. Indeed, there have been numerous issues on which we have worked hand in hand. Far more than that, I do not hesitate to say that whenever the Jewish community sought the support of the labor movement, the JCRC knew that we could turn to the Jewish Labor Committee and that the doors would be open to cooperation and partnership.

Tonight's event is entitled the 2009 Human Rights Award Dinner, and I congratulate all of your fine and deserving honorees.

I dare say that it's the theme of this gathering which impels me to ask, where would the Jewish community have been when we were advocating for the human rights of the Jews in the former Soviet Union, and might I add of the trade unionists too, without the support of organized labor? I still vividly remember back in the '70s and '80s how every year, here in New York, we marched arm in arm with our union brothers and sisters at our Solidarity Sunday for Soviet Jewry marches.

Where would the State of Israel be today without the major investments organized labor, and particularly, President Trumka, the AFL-CIO has made in that country's infrastructure through State of Israel Bonds, as well as the consistently powerful advocacy of the labor movement for Israel's safety and security.

And with the menacing threat now emanating from Iran, as mentioned earlier by Stuart Appelbaum, once again, it was the JLC and organized labor who stood together with us a few weeks ago on September 24th at the "œStand for Freedom in Iran Rally" across from the United Nations. It was Stuart, both as JLC President and President of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, along with J. David Cox as National Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees, who lifted the spirits of the thousands of demonstrators with their remarks. And how heartening it was to receive the endorsements for this compelling human rights cause from the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, thank you President Ahern, as well as the American Federation of Teachers, New York's United Federation of Teachers, and others.

And now during these difficult economic times, it has been a labor of love to work in cooperation with our union colleagues in assisting the least fortunate and most vulnerable of New Yorkers, with the Jewish Labor Committee serving as a welcoming bridge between us, linking us.

On behalf of the Jewish community of New York, I commend the JLC and you, all of you, our brothers and sisters in labor, for all that you do. And I pray that our brotherhood and sisterhood will never weaken, only strengthen, and, even more so, continue to grow, from strength to strength.
May all of our joint efforts bear the fruit of freedom, security, prosperity, dignity and peace for the peoples of New York, the United States, the State of Israel, and the world over.

Thank you for inviting me to join you here this evening.
Shalom.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 04:18 PM | Permalink

I also want to add my congratulations to the honorees this evening:
My friend -- and a tremendous advocate for working people both within and outside her industry -- Roberta Reardon.
Morton Sloan -- an employer who's worked to create good, union jobs in the Bronx.
And, of course, the man who I have a special privilege of helping to honor"“ Jack Ahern.
I know there's no one here who needs me to tell them about Jack. You see him in action every day.
Now, as a lot of you know, this isn't the first time I've spoken at a JLC banquet -- and I hope it won't be the last.
Because when I'm with the JLC I know I'm not simply in the company of some terrific trade unionists.
You're more than that.
You're people I've known as long as I've been in the labor movement.
You're my brothers and sisters.
You're mishpucha!
But it's true.
Whether it's been behind the scenes -- or in the streets -- the Jewish Labor Committee is always there:
Organizing.
Mobilizing.
Building coalitions that make change happen.
Coalitions that are helping workers to form strong unions "¦ and helping strong unions to win good contracts.
To the men and women of the Jewish Labor Committee, solidarity has never been just a slogan; to you it's a way of life -- and I'm here to tell you the American labor movement is stronger for it!
But I didn't come up here this evening only to praise the JLC; I also came here to challenge you.
To challenge you to use your talent and your skill -- and your commitment -- so we can take advantage of the opportunity we have to make this labor's moment.
Our moment.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the term tikkun olam.
It's a Hebrew phrase.
Some interpret it to mean repairing the world, but there are some who say it really means perfecting it.
Well it's up to us to do both.
To not only clean up the wreckage of the Bush years; but to create something newer; something better in its place.
An America that's as just as it is wealthy.
Where no one's left on the outside looking in.
A new America where all of us have a seat at the table -- and where every family has their chance to step into the winner's circle.
That's always been our dream and, today, it is within our power to make it a living, breathing reality.
That's what restoring the right to organize is all about.
You know, today fewer than one of every three young workers makes enough money to pay their bills and put something aside -- and that is 22 percentage points worse than it was 10 years ago.
Nearly half of them worry about having more debt than they can handle.
One in three still lives at home with their parents.
Brothers and sisters, they don't need more training or tips on writing resumes; what they need is the strength and the security that can only come with a union contract -- and it's our job to see they have it!
The JLC's already done a lot to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and I am here to tell you that if we keep up the fight -- if we turn the heat all the way up -- there is no question that we are going to win!
But building that new America goes beyond passing the Employee Free Choice Act.
First, we need to win true health care reform.
Notice I said true health care reform.
I forgot who made this, well, less than kosher analogy, but I remember someone once said that "œyou can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."
Well, our message is that you can call a proposal anything you want, but unless it has a public option it's not health care reform!
Brothers and sisters, the Senate Democrats have a choice to make: they can do what the American people want "¦ or they can do what Olympia Snowe wants "¦ but they can't do both!
But, you know something? Ultimately, we're not just standing up for the right to organize or for the right to health care.
Those are just parts of something bigger: we're fighting to build a different kind of economy than the one we have today.
An economy that puts working families first.
An economy where paychecks matter as much as profits.
An economy that lets all of us go to sleep at night knowing that the America we'll leave to our kids will be a fairer, better nation than the one that was left to us.
In short, we don't want an economy that mocks our values; we want an economy that honors them!
Now, I wish I could say I'm the one who came up with those ideas, but the fact is that's the very same vision that gave birth to the American labor movement.
And I know I don't have to tell anyone at the JLC that there were few men and women as passionately devoted to that vision as leaders like:
Rose Schneiderman, and
Clara Lemlich, and
David Dubinsky, and
Pauline Newman, and
Sidney Hillman, and the tens of thousands of other Jewish workers who helped to inspire unions to be about something more than working hours and pay raises and sick leave.
They helped to teach us that we had to be more than that: that we had to be a movement -- a:
A movement to empower the American working class -- a
And that the only way that movement would ever succeed was if it brought all workers together.
I don't know how many of you remember the story of Jay Gould.
He was one of the robber barons of the 1800s.
He's actually the 9th richest man in all of U.S. history.
He once bragged: "œI can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half."
For corporate America dividing workers wasn't simply a tactic; it was fundamental to its success.
And there were few better ways to divide workers than by exploiting their bigotries.
Those early Jewish trade unionists understood it, because they'd been victims of bigotry themselves.
They understood racism, because they grew up in the age of pogroms.
In 1905, in one year alone, 2,500 Jews were murdered in Odessa.
And it wasn't just Russia.
Or even Europe.
Jews were even being slaughtered in Argentina.
This was decades before the Holocaust.
To be a Jew was to take your life in your own hands. That's how it had always been.
And why Jewish trade unionists were out front demanding that the labor movement take a stand against lynching.
That's why the JLC helped take the lead organizing union support for the civil rights movement.
A lot of people don't know this, but it was the work of the JLC that actually laid the groundwork for what became the AFL's own civil rights program.
Now, given the traditions, the heritage, the commitment -- and given the values -- Jewish workers have always brought to the labor movement, I don't think it ought to come as any surprise that the Jewish community here -- and around the world -- has never had a stronger ally than the AFL-CIO!
And, tonight, let me tell you that, so long as I'm president, you will never have a stronger ally than the AFL-CIO!
That's why we're proud to stand with the JLC to oppose boycotting Israel!
Brothers and sisters, there is only one way we're going to stop the violence in the Middle East -- and it's not by bashing Israel -- it's by supporting President Obama's peace initiative!
And I ought to add, that's why we need to stand by President Obama on Iran, too!
But I think we ought to be clear that not every threat facing the Jewish people is in the Middle East.
We still have some problems right here at home.
In America, we sometimes think that anti-Semitism is part of the past, but the truth is that it's like a weed that can always grow back.
And that's especially true during hard times.
You know, sometimes it's couched as "œanti-Zionism."
Other times there's no effort to disguise it at all.
There's Ann Coulter saying Jews should be "œperfected" by becoming Christians.
There's Bill O'Reilly saying that if you're Jewish and you have a problem with public schools promoting Christmas then you ought to just pack up and move to Israel because as he puts it, "œAmerica is Christian."
And then there's Pat Buchanan "¦ and, well, what can you say about Pat Buchanan?
You don't have to Google him to find examples of his anti-Semitism "¦ all you have to do is wait for his lips to move!
Now, hard as it is to believe, but there actually are some people out there crazy enough to believe the Coulters, the O'Reillys, Buchanans, and all the others just like them.
Brothers and sisters, last June, not even a mile from the AFL-CIO, an armed gunman went to the U.S. Holocaust Museum with one goal: to kill Jews.
He managed to murder an African-American security guard.
Well, within days the killer was being hailed as a hero by white supremacists!
These days we're seeing a lot of hatred in this country.
One day President Obama.
The next day gays and lesbians.
Latinos, Asians.
Muslims "¦ and Jews.
Now, there's some people who might hear anti-Semitism and say, "œwell, it's the JLC's job to do something about it."
But, you know something? They're dead wrong.
Brothers and sisters, it's everyone's job to do something about it -- and that includes the labor movement!
This isn't Bill O'Reilly's America, or Anne Coulter's America -- and it sure as hell isn't Pat Buchanan's America -- this our America and it's time we took it back!
Now, I've always been a big believer that speeches ought to end on the same night they started.
But a few blocks from here there was another JLC gathering.
It was 72 years ago.
20,000 people packed Madison Square Garden in the largest anti-Nazi rally up to that time.
There were several speakers.
Fiorello LaGuardia and others.
But the who stirred the crowd the most was John L. Lewis.
He gave a detailed account of what had happened to German labor movement.
He talked about the trade unionists who'd been tortured and murdered.
He described Hitler's Germany as having become a medieval country where workers had been reduced to serfdom.
And of course he talked about what was happening to the Jews.
But that's not all he said.
He said that there was only one guarantee that America would never fall victim to fascism itself -- and that one guarantee was a strong, growing, labor movement.
A labor movement that didn't only focus only on winning at the bargaining table, but also creating what he called industrial democracy.
He said: "œI need hardly point out to you the union isn't only an instrument for improving workers' wages, hours and conditions of labor -- it is also an instrument for the expression of their social, political and economic aims."
That was 1937.
I doubt many of the people who were there that night are around anymore.
Of course, LaGuardia's gone -- and John L. Lewis died before some of us here were even born.
But the truth he said at that JLC rally that night endures today.
And it's up to us -- up to our generation of trade unionists -- to pick up where Lewis and his generation left off.
It's up to us to raise up their fallen standard and build the movement we need to create the America we want.
Tonight let's not only honor these three leaders -- tonight let's also pledge to honor the vision of the:
Lemlichs and the Dubinskys;
The Hillmans and the Schneidermans;
The Jerry Wurfs "¦ the Jack Sheinkmans "¦ the Moe Billers "¦ the Al Shankers "¦ the Sandy Feldmans
And every Jewish trade unionist who taught us that if we stand together,
if we march together,
if we fight together,
we are going to win together!
This is our moment to build a new America and, by God, we will not be denied!

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 03:54 PM | Permalink

Thanks. This is for the leadership of AFTRA.

It is all about community. Rabbi Hillel, or Hillel the Elder, one of the most famous and important scholars in Jewish history: "œIf I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?"
Our work at AFTRA is very much aligned with the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, a Hebrew phrase that means "œrepairing the world" or "œperfecting the world."

We are committed to bring fair pay, safe working conditions, access to benefits and retirement security to all performers and broadcast journalists workin/g around the country in both large and small markets and at all budget levels - not the high-end, headline-grabbing productions, but smaller, less well-known productions that sustain members working outside of the major centers of New York and Los Angeles and that put food on the table and pay the bills for thousands or working class members.
Many think of the entertainment and news industries as glamorous or as populated with celebrities and the ultra-rich. Yes, our membership includes celebrities, but in AFTRA those celebrities (Robert Newman, Martha Reeves, Gabrielle Carteris and Robert Pine) lend us their support to help, not themselves, but the less powerful and famous working men and women. The truth is, without unions in the entertainment and news media, there would be no such thing as working or middle class performers and journalists. There would be only the very famous, and the very, very unfortunate.
This is part of our culture. Embracing diversity and building consensus to achieve power and effect change in the world - not just for ourselves - but for everyone working in the entertainment and news media and all Americans. Our success is your success and together our success can change the world.
In addition to our work bargaining better contracts to improve the lives, careers and communities of middle-class and middle-income members, our legislative and public policy agenda includes:

1) I AM PWD Campaign with SAG and Actors' Equity -Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People with Disabilities - award-winning national human rights and public awareness campaign launched in October 2008, endorsed by the AFL-CIO convention this past September;
2) Convention resolutions this past summer:
a. Requested that Congress moved forward to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act with gender identity protections intact, and urge all AFTRA locals to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered men and women from discrimination in the workplace and support a fully inclusive legislation outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity;
b. Resolved that AFTRA fully supports the public policy goal of delivering broadband access to all Americans, and calls upon the federal government to ensure that any policies, regulations, plans or laws include provisions to protect against the theft of intellectual property an the Internet;
3) Health and Retirement Issues Committee did not jump into the fray of statements condemning the Motion Picture and Television Fund's decision to. close its long-term care facility, and instead met with the Fund's CEO and are working with IATSE members in Los Angeles to. find a solution to solving problems and helping our brothers and sisters in need;
4) Employee Free Choice Act
I found two wonderful quotes about freedom of choice:
First, from Clarence Darrow:
"œYou can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free If I am free."
Next, Dwight D. Eisenhower:
"œOnly a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice."
The right to belong to a union is a basic human right.
That is the essence of the Employee Free Choice Act. Right now, the employers compel us to follow a dictatorial assignment by holding all the cards.
Thanks to the Jewish Labor Committee for its national outreach in support of the Employee Free Choice Act;
5) Performance Rights Act (endorsed by the NAACP at its 100TH Anniversary Convention in July)
6) Meaningful health care reform;
7) Working state-by-state to outlaw punitive non-compete clauses from broadcast journalists' contracts (these clauses make it almost impossible for journalists to accept employment in their local areas after leaving a station for defined period of time);
8) Advocating for improved federal shield law protections to protect reporters from being prosecuted for refusing to reveal their sources;
9) Organizing campaigns to protect the integrity of quality local news journalism which benefits both reporters and the public who have a right to the best possible news coverage in their area;
10) Opposing media consolidation which threatens our democracy by limiting local news and diversity;
11) Fighting for meaningful entertainment child labor protections in New York, specifically, and other states and on the federal level;
12) Working for the safety of news jouirnalists in dangerous zones throughout the world (the International news Safety institute is part of the AFTRA Foundation).

It's difficult to isolate the "œpurely humanitarian" activities of AFTRA because, in fact, everything we do at AFTRA is directed toward a humanitarian cause.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 03:54 PM | Permalink