Jewish Labor Committee

June 29, 2009 -- New York: The Jewish Labor Committee congratulates its president Stuart Appelbaum for becoming the first lay-leader of a national Jewish organization and international labor leader in the United States to openly affirm that he is gay. Appelbaum's announcement came as part of the ongoing effort to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples in New York State. Last month, President Appelbaum joined the board of directors of the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation, the non-profit educational affiliate of ESPA, New York State's LGBT lobbying group.

"I have always believed that the only way to challenge injustice is by organizing people for change," Appelbaum told The Huffington Post on June 18. "That's why I first became involved in the labor movement. But change also requires being honest with each other and ourselves. For me, that means recognizing that the time has long passed for me to step forward and say: `yes, I'm gay.'"

Sybil Sanchez, Executive Director of the Jewish Labor Committee, congratulated President Appelbaum on his openness. "Stuart is a leader above the fray for the labor movement and the Jewish community, and now for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people in their fight for equal rights," noted Ms. Sanchez. "His bravery in publicly connecting his personal life story with his political beliefs is to be admired and emulated and we are proud of him."

Mr. Appelbaum told New York's Gay City News, "I am defining myself publicly, and not just defining myself privately. That's what makes a difference. I wanted to make my public role not just as a labor leader or Jewish labor leader, but as a gay Jewish labor leader."

As President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Appelbaum has worked with marginalized grocery store workers in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, and expanded the union's activities on behalf of poultry workers in the south. In landmark advocacy, he also secured for the first time in the United States a day off for Somali workers at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, TN, to observe the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

As President of the Jewish Labor Committee, he has led the organization's campaign to garner Jewish communal support for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, while leading the fight against attempts within the trade union movements in Europe and elsewhere to boycott Israel. He was recently honored as a Jewish leader by the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty for leading JLC's social justice effort in bringing labor and Jews together in order to provide and distribute 50,000 pounds of kosher chicken to New Yorkers.

Appelbaum's LGBT activism resonates the same way as his labor activism, and in a way that many consider characteristically Jewish - with an emphasis on unity and action. "It is an honor to join with my brothers and sisters in labor, the Jewish world, and the LGBT community in solidarity as we seek justice and repair of the world." he said.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 02:45 PM | Permalink

The Jewish Labor Committee has been working both nationally and locally to support the Employees Free Choice Act (EFCA). Hundreds of people across the country have signed onto the JLC's petition {you can add your name here}.

In Philadelphia, the traditionally secular organization has organized something distinctive: a rabbinic appeal to Senator Arlen Specter. JLC Philadelphia Director Rosalind Spigel has enlisted 25 local rabbis plus rabbinical students to sign an open letter urging Pennsylvania's newly minted Democratic senior senator to put Jewish values to work and help safeguard the rights of employees who wish to secure union representation.{Additional signatories are of course welcome -- see here.} Congress is currently considering the Employee Free Choice Act. While Sen. Specter previously supported the legislation, most recently he indicated a disinclination to support this legislation.

On Tuesday, June 9, a rabbinic delegation of the Philadelphia JLC met Senator Arlen Specter to urge his support for the Employee Free Choice Act. Included in the delegation were Rabbis Anna Boswell-Levy, Reba Carmel, Leonard Gordon, and Alan LaPayover; also participating were Philadelphia JLC Vice President William Epstein {who is communications director for Local 1776 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and board member of the Jewish Social Policy Action Network}, Philadelphia JLC President Jeff Hornstein {who is district organizing coordinator of SEIU Local 32 BJ}, and Philadelphia JLC Director Rosalind Spigel.

Tuesday, June 9, also saw the official launch of the website of Rabbis for Workers' Choice. The delegation that met Specter urged him to `stand with working families, and held a short ceremony to reinforce their message at his Philadelphia office.

The rabbis' open letter begins by characterizing biblical references about the Sabbath, the day of rest from daily labors, as an affirmation of human dignity for the worker. It goes on to quote D'varim/Deuteronomy [24:14-15]: "You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, but you must pay him his wages on the same day, for he is needy and urgently depends on it."

Under the proposed EFCA legislation, workers would be empowered to choose between a secret ballot and a majority sign-up process. Under current labor law, employers often use a combination of legal and illegal methods of intimidation to silence employees who attempt to form unions and bargain for better wages and working conditions. When faced with union organizing drives, up to 25 percent of employers fire at least one pro-union worker. [See Kate Bronfenbrenner, `Uneasy Terrain: The Impact of Capital Mobility on Workers, Wages and Union Organizing' (September 6, 2000).]

Currently, during the run-up to elections on whether to join a union, workers' free speech rights are often squelched. Employers may practice various forms of economic coercion and the existing rules allow them to indefinitely delay recognition through drawn-out appeals. [See John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer, 'Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns, 1951-2007' (March 2009).]

Penalties for employer transgressions are too weak to deter violations. For example, an employer found guilty of illegally firing an employee for union activity must only give back pay to that employee -- and is allowed to deduct whatever that worker earned elsewhere in the interim. Many employers find the punishment for breaking the law a bargain if firing a pro-union employee scares off others from supporting the union.

Even if workers successfully form a union despite such tactics, their employer is allowed to repeatedly appeal the results -- which can take years to resolve, by which time some employees may no longer be working there, and momentum of any organizing campaign may well be depleted. Such delays mock the democratic process and weaken union support by inviting more opportunities for employee turnover, harassment, and firings by management.

In the course of elections to secure union representation, workers are twice as likely (46 percent vs. 23 percent) as those in sign-up campaigns to report that management coerced them to oppose the campaign to unionize. Whereas less than one in 20 workers (4.6 percent) who signed a card in the presence of a union organizer reported feeling pressured to sign the card. Currently, 91 percent of employers faced with organizing drives force employees to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their supervisors; 34 percent of employers coerce workers into opposing the unionization drive with bribes and favoritism; and 51 percent threaten to close a work site if unionization prevails.

The proposed Employee Free Choice Act was crafted to remedy these pernicious practices and outcomes. Moreover, the implications for social justice are clear: the resulting growth in the unionized work force would produce better wages and working conditions for many of America's society's most impoverished and hard-pressed workers. Supporting the Employee Free Act is the right thing to do.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 01:44 AM | Permalink

Trade union leaders from three continents have announced the launch of a new global movement "to challenge the apologists for Hamas and Hizbollah in the labour movement" and to fight for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The movement is called TULIP - Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine, and recently had a launch in New York on the steps of City Hall.
The leaders are Paul Howes, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (USA-Canada), and Michael J. Leahy, OBE, General Secretary of Community ( United Kingdom ).

(l-r: AWU President Paul Howes, RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum, and NYC City Council Members Melinda Katz and Eric Goia.)

In remarks from the New York event, Stuart Appelbaum noted that "support for boycotting, divesting from and sanctions against Israel appears to be growing by leaps and bounds.

President Appelbaum continued:
"This week, Norway 's largest labor union urged the Scandinavian country to lead an international boycott of Israel if it did not reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Last month, the Scottish Trade Unions Congress called for a boycott of Israeli products.
Earlier this year in the U.S. , Hampshire College divested from a mutual fund which owned equity in companies that do business with Israel , leaving an open debate in its stead as to that school's political position regarding Israeli investments.
In response to concerns about growing calls to boycott Israel on U.S. campuses, the American Federation of Teachers has said that academic boycotts are `the complete antithesis of academic freedom.'
The boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement may seem unstoppable but indeed we intend to stop it and we welcome you here today with us as we do so by supporting workers and their unions in Israel and Palestine to promote co-operation and reconciliation.
As President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu have now met for the first time in their new roles, there is new hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It's important that trade unions participate in the change.
In such a climate, where's the room for destructive calls for boycotting Israel that would serve to strengthen the hands of those who wish to see conflict escalate and Israel destroyed?
In backing the Hamas terrorists who deny Israel 's right to exist, trade unions supporting boycotts against Israel have effectively thrown their support behind Iran 's power play in the region. And we all know that the Iranian regime is no friend of the trade union movement.
The traditional role of trade unions when faced with conflict is to bridge the gap between those at war and encourage peace, justice and conciliation. Finding common cause in advocating for the rights of workers over the destructive efforts of conflict-makers is a trade union tradition that TULIP urges upholding and we urge others to join us in the cause.
There are outstanding examples of co-operation between Israeli and Palestinian unions that need to be encouraged. For example, let me tell you about a remarkable initiative launched by the International Transport Workers Federation to make life much easier for Palestinian drivers.
This has been a small but ground-breaking union agreement encouraging dialogue between the Palestinian and Israeli national trade union federations, as well as individual unions and their members on both sides of the divide. This agreement will help improve the livelihoods of hard-working union truckers and their families.
Also as we speak, the construction trade is focusing on a project to engage Israelis and Palestinians together in training in Israel .
These models are a firm rejection of those in trade unions promoting an Israel boycott movement.
There are already unions and associated NGOs in a number of countries that support these goals. But until now they have been fighting the battle alone, each in their own country. Now is the time to join forces, which is why today we are publicly launching TULIP.
We have no illusions that this will be anything other than a long and difficult process. But we also know that we have no choice.
We cannot abandon the field to those whose goal is the destruction of any chance for a real Israeli-Palestinian peace. We welcome trade unionists from all countries to join us."

Distributed at the May 21st event were TULIP's founding statement, along with the Jewish Labor Committee's Statement of Opposition to Divestment From or Boycotts of Israel that 44 union leaders in the United States signed in 2007, as well as a statement against boycotts or divestment from the President of the 6.5 million-member Confederation of German Trade Unions [Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund - DGB].

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 01:17 PM | Permalink