Jewish Labor Committee

JLC WR Members, Staff March in Candlelight Vigil for UFCW grocery workers

[r-l]: Jewish Labor Committee Western Region's President Floyd Glen-Lambert, JLCWR Secretary Jocelyn Sherman, and JLCWR Executive Director Leslie Gersicoff march in a candlelight vigil in support of UFCW grocery workers.

(Tuesday, September 20, 2011) Los Angeles -- The Jewish Labor Committee Western Region [JLCWR] welcomed the announcement made yesterday that over 60,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union working at Ralphs (Kroger), Vons (Safeway) and Albertsons (Supervalu) in Southern California reached a tentative agreement with the companies. The Jewish Labor Committee Western Region has been supporting the grocery workers for many years, from participating in pickets and rallies in support of decent contracts, to "adopting" the workers at two Pavilions' stores, one in Beverly Hills, one in Sherman Oaks.

The tentative agreement was reached after eight months of negotiating and the strong involvement and activism of the grocery workers and widespread support of customers and allies across the region.

JLCWR members and staff participated in the most recent vigil in support of these workers, which took place Sunday evening, beginning at the Pavilions store in Beverly Hills, and continuing on to the Ralphs in West Los Angeles.

Jewish Labor Committee Western Region President Floyd Glen-Lambert spoke to Sunday evening's crowd, referring to a passage in the Torah that workers must be treated with dignity and paid fairly and on time. Workers in the streets responded with cheers. Also speaking at the rally were Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo, Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz, Los Angeles Controller Wendy Greuel, California State Representative Bob Blumenfield, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice - Los Angeles Executive Director Rabbi Jonathan Klein and others. The JLCWR delegation, organized by JLC Western Region Executive Director Leslie Gersicoff, included regional Vice President Jerry Levey and members-at-large.

Upon learning that a tentative agreement had been reached, subject to approval of the grocery workers, JLCWR Executive Director Gersicoff said that she "congratulates these courageous workers for standing together through the toughest test of union solidarity."

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 04:42 PM | Permalink

(September 11, 2011) Philadelphia - Michael Hersch [holding placard], Philadelphia JLC Director, on picket line outside Verizon Store at 17th and Market in Philadelphia. Forty-five thousand Verizon employees were on strike for nearly two weeks in August because despite earning $19,000,000,000 (that's nineteen billion) in profits over the last four years, Verizon management wanted to take away overtime pay, benefits, pensions, and holidays including Veteran's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Strikes were held in cities around the U.S. and coordinated by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). In the Northeast, this included CWA Districts 2-13. The strikes and comunity support resulted in a return to the negotiating table.

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 06:33 PM | Permalink

September 9, 2011: The Jewish Labor Committee today announced its support for the thousands of Hyatt Hotel workers who went on strike yesterday in four cities across the United States: Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The week-long strike was called by their union, UNITE HERE, to draw attention to the abusive treatment of the housekeeping staff. According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, of 50 hotel properties from five different hotel chains, Hyatt housekeepers had the highest injury rate of all housekeepers studied when compared by hotel company. The Hyatt Hotel Company has also replaced career housekeepers with subcontracted temporary workers earning minimum wage in several of its hotels.

"The Jewish Labor Committee is proud to have stood with Hyatt workers since the company fired nearly its entire housekeeping staff in three of its non-union hotels in Boston two years ago," Stuart Appelbaum, president of the JLC stated. "Many of them had worked for decades. They were all replaced with temporary workers, who were paid poverty wages with no benefits. Our New England Region mobilized into action, organizing rabbis and Jewish organizations to support the boycott of the three Boston Hyatt-owned hotels. Since then, we have actively participated in the national campaign Justice at Hyatt which has engaged hundreds of Rabbis around the country to support the Hyatt workers."

"We call on all Jewish Labor Committee members and indeed the entire community living in or near the cities where the workers are on strike to demonstrate support by walking the picket lines with them," Appelbaum continued. "Others can express their solidarity with the Hyatt Hotel workers via site www.hotelworkersrising.org, and we continue to encourage rabbis to join the growing list of their colleagues who are committed to justice at Hyatt via the website www.justiceathyatt.org."

"We join these hardworking workers as they stand up for decent jobs for themselves and their families, and the right to take a stand with other Hyatt workers against an abusive employer that is destroying good jobs in their North American hotels." The JLC president concluded, "the people who clean, staff and help make Hyatt Hotels successful are simply seeking protections on the job. Of course we support them, and invite the community-at-large to do so as well."

Posted by Arieh Lebowitz at 02:52 PM | Permalink