Jewish Labor Committee

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.