Jewish Labor Committee

UPDATE: JLC Western Region President Floyd Glen-Lambert reports that Los Angeles JLC staff and lay activists traveled by bus to Madison in solidarity with public sector workers in Wisconsin. Boston-based New England JLCers also went to a solidarity rally, according to NE JLC Director Marya Axner, and Michael Hersch, Philadelphia JLC director, tells us that they also rallied. On Friday, February 25, JLC Executive Director Martin Schwartz and Associate Director Arieh Lebowitz carried JLC signs aloft at a rainy but well-attended rally in Trenton, New Jersey ...

February 17, 2011: JLC on the scene at the ongoing mass protests in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker's attempt to eviscerate the collective bargaining rights of public employees. In Madison, Chad Alan Goldberg, Vice President, United Faculty & Academic Staff (AFT Local 223), was among the more than 50,000 Wisconsinites who, according to the state AFL-CIO, "have poured into the state capitol to express their opposition to Governor Walker's attempt to rob the state's workers of their rights."

Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, a congregational rabbi in Madison, WI, issued the following statement in support of Wisconsin workers:

"Jewish tradition, from the Hebrew Bible, to Talmud, to our modern American religious movement, supports fair and appropriate treatment of workers, as well as the right to bargain collectively. Our faith tradition knows that from these important and just practices come many benefits: from increased standards of living to increased productivity and profits. Judaism supports the rights of all workers to speak with employers, negotiate in good faith, and come to a final agreement that has everyone's assent. I therefore I cannot support Governor Walker's proposal in his Budget Repair Bill to remove collective bargaining rights for public workers."

See his writing on "The Jewish Connection to Labor Issues" here.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 02:34 PM | Permalink

[History of the Needlecraft Industry, 1938, by Ernest Fiene (Detail)]

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, just east of Manhattan's Washington Square Park, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the city's history. 146 garment workers, mostly Jewish and Italian women, died as a result of this fire, either by being burned or as a result of jumping to their deaths. Most of the workers could not escape because managers locked the doors to the stairwells and exits to keep them from leaving early. Fire trucks' ladders could only reach the sixth floor - the those who perished were on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors.
Occuring in the midst of five years of labor organizing in the clothing industry in a numer of cities across the United States, the fire schocked the city, the country and the world. Legislation requiring improved factory safety standards was passed in the immediate aftermath of the fire. The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, the Amalgamted Clothing Workers of America, and other unions have been fighting ever since for better and safer working conditions for working men and women in all workplaces.
The Jewish Labor Committee and many organizations, unions, schools and other institutions are marking the 100th anniversary of this historic tragedy in a range of ways. Here are a few:

In New York City, the New York Labor History Association, the United Hebrew Trades - New York JLC, Workers United, The Forward Association and others are cosponsoring a talk on the Triangle Fire and its Implications, March 1st at New York University, 6 p.m.; there will of course be the annual commemoration March 25th, from 11 a.m to 1:30 p.m., at the site of the fire. For details, call the UHT at 212-477-0767 or email us at info@jewishlabor.org. The Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee is organizing an event as well - for details, call Michael Hersch at 215-587-6822 or email us at PhiladelphiaJLC@jewishlabor.org. Roosevelt University's and UIC History Departments, the Illinois Labor History Society, the Chicago Jewish Labor Committee and others are cosponsoriting a talk on April 7th at the Gage Gallery - for details, call Eli Fishman at 312-607-0260 or email us at ChicagoJLC@jewishlabor.org. In Los Angeles, the Jewish Labor Committee Western Region is organizing a commemoration togethere with a number of labor union locals - for details, call Leslie Gersicoff at 323-658-5500 or email us at JLCLA2@aol.com. The Remember the Triange Fire Coalition has information about many other activities planned in these communities and elsewhere.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 04:14 PM | Permalink

Photo by Marya Axner, New England Jewish Labor Committee

December 12, 2010: The New England Jewish Labor Committee joined the Boston Workmen's Circle Shula 5th graders in their protest against Stop & Shop, whose parent company, Ahold, has refused to sit down with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to talk about conditions for farm workers. The CIW is demanding justice for Florida tomato pickers through their Campaign for Fair Food, asking companies who buy tomatoes in large quantities to charge one penny per pound more for tomatoes, which will be passed on to the farm workers. The Campaign for Fair Food also calls for industry-wide third party mechanisms for monitoring conditions in the fields and investigating abuses. Tomato pickers make approximately $12,000 a year. If all tomato buyers participate in this program farm workers will earn approximately $17,000 per year. Sunday's protest was at the Stop & Shop on Harvard Street in Brookline, MA.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 11:45 PM | Permalink