Jewish Labor Committee

October 7, 2023 - The President of the Jewish Labor Committee, Stuart Appelbaum, made the following statement about the horrific attack against Israel earlier today:

The Jewish Labor Committee unequivocally condemns Hamas’s terrorist attack from Gaza against the State of Israel. We stand in solidarity with the people of Israel in these dark hours, and grieve over the loss of life, and the many injuries, and send our sympathies to the many families who are now suffering as a result of this heinous action.

We recognize the State of Israel's unequivocal right to defend itself and those who live within its borders, and extend our support for that country’s defense forces.

We call for the immediate safe return of the hostages held by Hamas.

Hamas's violent hatred of Israel and refusal to live in peace will only lead to more tragedy for both those living in Israel and Gaza.

We reach out to the international community, including our brothers and sisters in the labor movement, and call on them to join us in condemning this act of terrorism and in support of Israel.

l-r: Prof. Emeritus Jerome Dancis, University of Maryland (AFT); Gail Malmgreen (New York Labor History Association); Barry Dancis; Frank Silberstein (AFGE); Benjamin Ross; Arieh Lebowitz and Martin Schwartz (Jewish Labor Committee).

August 26th, 2023 - Washington, DC: As many as 50,000 people again gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, at the 60th Anniversary of the 1963 March On Washington. And, again, we were there.

Despite significant progress in the last 60 years, there is a growing wave of intimidation, hate crimes and hate speech. Attacks on Jews, African Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, Muslims in the U.S., and on people of diverse identities based on race, religion, gender, sexual identity and cultural heritage and affiliation are on the rise. That is why we came to Washington.

Six decades ago, on August 28, 1963, at the first “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph and with the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin as its principal organizer, we gathered at an historic event, organized by a broad coalition of civil rights, labor, and religious groups. One of the largest political demonstrations for human rights in the history of United States, it was designed to put the political, economic, and social discrimination suffered by African Americans squarely on the national agenda.

Today, in 2023, there is still much work to do. Racism, bigotry and discrimination persist. Our society is fractured, and the result, too often is violence. We see it in the headlines, on the streets, and outside and inside our houses of worship. And that is why we and so many others assembled on a hot Saturday in our nation's capital, coming from the civil and human rights movement, the labor movement, and a range of Jewish and other ethnic and faith-based organizations. We were there to join with others, to reaffirm our shared commitment to freedom, equality, economic and social equity and respect for our common humanity.

(Jewish Labor Committee collection, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives / Tamiment Library, New York University)

August 16, 2023 - New York, NY: We mark the anniversary of the World Labor Athletic Carnival, held on August 15th and 16th at New York’s Randall’s Island, to protest the holding of the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. The two-day event, organized by the Jewish Labor Committee with the active support and cooperation of a number of unions and labor bodies, brought over 400 athletes from across the United States to compete in what became known as the “Counter-Olympics.” Honorary co-chairs of the event included New York Governor Herbert Lehman, NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, American Federation of Labor President William Green and Judge Jeremiah Mahoney, former President of the Amateur Athletics Union of the United States and a leader of the “Move the Olympics” movement, who resigned from the American Olympic Committee to protest holding of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Chairing the Labor Committee of the Carnival was Isidore Nagler, Vice President of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

Continue reading "1936: Anti-Nazi World Labor Athletic Carnival Held in New York City" »

July 24, 2023: Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), and president of the Jewish Labor Committee, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), made the following statement today:

“Today was a dark day for Israeli democracy. The push to topple democratic consensus in Israel by a right-wing, extreme government, must be challenged. We are heartened that the Israeli public is challenging them at home, and we pledge to do everything in our power to stand with the pro-democracy protesters and to protect democracy in Israel.

“As American trade union leaders and as Jewish activists who care deeply about Israel, we are saddened and sickened by the Netanyahu government’s frontal attack on democracy. Workers’ rights will never be guaranteed without true democracy and untethered courts.

“We believe that Israel’s future is dependent on equality of opportunity and democracy for all of its citizens — Jewish and Arab, religious and secular. We are gravely concerned about the damage to be done to civil and human rights in Israel by this decision — and the implications for further entrenching the occupation of the Palestinian people.

“We know that there is another vision for Israel, and we pledge to stand with all those who promote it. We urge all those who care about Israeli democracy — inside and outside of Israel — to join us in embracing and encouraging the movement for democracy in Israel.”

Continue reading "US Union Leaders: We Continue to Support the Fight for Democracy in Israel" »

April 4, 2023 - The story of Passover transcends the Jewish community. It is the story of overcoming injustice and achieving freedom. This story has resonated with and inspired all sorts of communities and causes through the centuries.
Especially when we come together from different backgrounds and situations to celebrate and find our own meaning in the Passover Seder, this story reminds us of something else: that justice is indivisible. You can’t be for justice for some and not be for justice for all.
That’s why it is so important for the Jewish community and the labor community to come together, and share each other’s concerns and priorities, in the context of common values. The JLC has been hosting labor seders in many cities, across the United States, for over two decades.
As we tell the story of the exodus, we also see how it relates to the struggles of working people to find meaning and dignity in their own lives.
At the same time, it provides an opportunity to address the challenges the Jewish community continues to face, with alarming increases in acts of antisemitism all across the country.
This is a special moment for working people in the United States. More than two thirds of Americans now support unions - the highest number in decades. And workers are standing up in numbers we haven’t seen in a long time. Workers are tired of being treated like a disposable commodity, with their health and safety disregarded - as too many people witnessed during the Pandemic.
Our two communities - the Jewish community and labor - both believe that all people must be treated with dignity and respect. And that means there is a lot to talk about to see how we can support each other.
With best wishes for a Happy Passover, a Hag Sameakh, a Ziessen Pesakh!

Stuart Appelbaum
President
Jewish Labor Committee

Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and President of the Jewish Labor Committee, and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and Secretary of the Jewish Labor Committee, made the following statement today:

“We strongly back the General Strike called by the Israeli trade union movement Histadrut and by the Israeli universities in defense of democracy in Israel. We stand ready to support our trade union allies in Israel in any way we can – and all those who are fighting for democracy there — to ensure an independent judiciary and human and civil rights for all.

“It’s heartening that the Histadrut, an institution that has sustained the Israeli people and the Israeli economy since the country’s founding, made the decision it did. We commend Histadrut President Arnon Bar-David for his statements and his action. All trade unionists know that it is nothing but an illusion that unions can cooperate with an autocratic government while retaining their independent power. This hasn’t happened anywhere in the world.

“Similarly, education and learning can only thrive in a free environment. Israel boasts some of the leading institutions of higher education in the world, but without democracy, these universities will wither. We applaud the leadership shown by the university presidents whose aim is to ensure that the pursuit of knowledge will be shielded by the pursuit of democracy.

“The leaders of the protests against the judicial coup have kept the promise of democracy alive for 12 plus weeks. Hailing from civil society along with individuals who have broken their normal routines to put all their energy into this struggle, their stamina and determination have been something to behold. Their commitment and their leadership are inspirations not only for the Israeli people, but for everyone around the world who cares about –and cherishes—democracy.

“For both of us, this struggle in Israel is also very personal. We have stood by and in Israel during times of war, and with hopes for peace. Now, with Israel in a war for democracy, we are locking arms with the people of Israel once again.”

JLC President Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union,
addressed those at the rally. Photo by Jacob Kornbluh/Forward.

February 21, 2023: New York, NY - Jewish Labor Committee people were among the 200 in New York, many associated with groups connected to the Progressive Israel Network, at a rally in Midtown Manhattan during afternoon rush hour across the street from the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan. We were there to show support for democracy in the State of Israel, to protest the Netanyahu Government’s proposed court reforms, and express solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in that country. Below are President Appelbaum's remarks:

I am standing here today as a proud Jew, as a proud New Yorker, as a progressive, and as head of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, and President of the Jewish Labor Committee.

Now is not the time to mute our criticism. Now is precisely the time to make our critical voices heard. We can and must speak out, loudly – lending our support to all those progressive forces in Israel who are determined to fulfill its promise and secure its democratic future.

There's still time to RSVP and join us virtually this Monday, December 19th for the Jewish Labor Committee's 2022 Annual Human Rights Awards. We'll be honoring Speaker Nancy Pelosi with our Lifetime of Valor award. 

In addition to Speaker Pelosi, awards will be presented to President Lynne Fox, Workers United, SEIU, President Chris Shelton, CWA and Al Vincent, Jr., Executive Director, Actors Equity. We will hear remarks from RWDSU/UFCW and JLC President Stuart Appelbaum, AFT President and JLC Secretary Randi Weingarten, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and very special guests Pennsylvania Governor-Elect Josh Shapiro and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA).
You can securely register here:

As we celebrate the second night of Hanukkah and all the accomplishments of our friends and leaders in Labor and the Jewish Community we hope you will join us Monday, December 19th virtually.

More details:

Continue reading "You're Invited:
Jewish Labor Committee's Annual Human Rights Awards Gala - December 19th, 2022" »

October 20, 2022 - You're invited to watch and listen to this very engaging discussion between Stuart Appelbaum (President, JLC), Aaron Dorfman (Founder and Executive Director, Jewish Partnership for Democracy), Eric Richard (Legislative Director, New Jersey State AFL-CIO), John Shea III (Director, Committee on Political Education, NJ AFL-CIO), and Rabbi David Vaisberg (Senior Rabbi, Temple B’nai Abraham, Livingston NJ) - just click here.
During this conversation, our panelists made some important points - and we will continue the conversation, as we grapple with these issues – to the all-important midterm elections and the weeks and months beyond.

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, a time for self-examination and renewal, is upon us. For people around the world, this has been another challenging year. As the season changes, and as we enter a New Year, we are still confronting threats to democracy, including assaults on voting rights.

The COVID-19 pandemic, still a serious health threat, has raised the curtain on inequalities and injustices that have always existed but have now been exacerbated: the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on minority communities and vulnerable populations is starkly visible.

Our work continues, whether it’s working with and for people who are bakers, teachers, hospitality workers, domestic workers, museum workers …

This summer, we reached out to rabbis across the U.S., encouraging them to devote part of a D'var Torah - a sermon - before Labor Day, to the challenges facing working people today, and what Jewish tradition, history and faith have to say. And rabbis have done just that, from California to Massachusetts. We’ve spoken to congregations not only on the historic Jewish labor movement, but on what we are doing today to help working men and women, locally and across the country.

The US Department of Justice is investigating more than 1,000 hostile threats or instances of harassment against election workers and officials. And so, working with the Jewish Partnership for Democracy, we’ve reached out to hundreds of lawyers to provide a few hours of pro bono legal support for election officials and volunteers who continue their vital work despite the strain of such threats.

Continue reading "On Rosh Hashana: A New Year's Message from the JLC" »

by Arieh Lebowitz, Executive Director, JLC

In a recent article, “ ‘Quiet quitting,’ the sudden trend in work, sounds sort of … Jewish?,” Andrew Silow-Carroll, editor-in-chief of the New York Jewish Week, mentioned “cooling your hottest ambitions in favor of a saner work-life balance.” As someone who’s been working from home since March 2020, my “hottest ambition” is precisely a saner work-life balance.

Speaking of a related balance, or rather, imbalance, he added that “the demise of unions has shifted the workplace power balance to employers.” To paraphrase Mark Twain’s’ oft-misquoted expression, that demise has been exaggerated. A decline, yes, but unions in the U.S. are still alive, active, significant, and increasingly finding favor in opinion polls, and with working people who are reaching for that saner work-life balance, plus decent wages and working conditions, greater work-schedule stability, and a measure of respect on the job.

In a nutshell, the not-so-sudden trend is not simply “quiet quitting,” but working people looking to get a better balance in their work-life – often through joining unions and in collective action.

Continue reading "What does labor want? Thoughts for Labor Day 2022" »

Starbucks workers in Nanuet, NY, right after they won their union elections.
(Right to left; Adriana Valdez Escarcega, Sophia Farias, Furquan Khan, Cristian Ramirez)
Click here to watch this discussion.

June 20, 2022 - The Jewish Labor Committee had a special conversation about this historic worker-led unionizing effort, run by people who are also working their regularly scheduled shifts at work. More than 150 [update: now close to 190] Starbucks stores are now unionized - six months ago, none of them were. And workers at over 100 additional Starbucks locations have petitioned for union elections.
In a discussion with Arieh Lebowitz and Martin Schwartz of the JLC, hear David Melman, an Executive Vice President of Workers United, and Cori Schimko, who works at Starbucks in Nanuet, New York and helped lead her shop to a landslide union victory earlier in June: the first Starbucks in Rockland County to unionize. Employees there hope a union will help secure better wages, benefits and give them a voice in decision-making at their workplace. Click here to watch this powerful discussion of one part of the campaign to build barista power across the map, store by store.

[l-r: Michael Bauduy, Brittney-Willis Bauduy, Andy Banks, and Arieh Lebowitz]

June 18, 2022: Washington, DC - JLC was proud to join with many others, from across the USA, at the Mass Poor Peoples and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls, where we stood in solidarity with the 140 million poor and low wage workers demanding justice!

There are millions of poor and struggling people and communities in this country. We marched to demand a living wage, affordable health care, decent housing and a democratic society that guarantees dignity and respect for all.
During the march, hosted by the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, we came together in Washington, D.C., with state leaders, faith communities, moral allies and partnering organizations to not only take substantive action, but also to make our voices heard and demand an end to systemic inequality in all its forms.

We joined in declaring an ongoing, committed moral movement to:
* shift the moral narrative;
* build power;
* make real policies to fully address poverty and low wealth from the bottom up.

The United States of America must live up to its possibilities and promises so every person living here can live a life of dignity and respect.

March 16, 2022 - Hamantashen for Ukraine is a show of bakery solidarity for the people of Ukraine. Profits of sales are donated directly by participating bakers to the Polish Humanitarian Action to help them assist Ukrainian refugees at the Polish border escaping the violence.

Find a bakery/store near you that's participating! Bakers are joining all over the world! This list is being updated regularly to add dates and locations! Please check the bakeries' individual websites and social media for opening times and availability!

""How Hamantashen for Ukraine Is Raising Funds Worldwide: Hamantashen for Ukraine is the latest international bake sale relief effort, just in time for Purim," by Emily Bloch, in Eater, Mar 14, 2022.

"To help Ukraine, these Jewish bakers are making hamantaschen," by Joe Baur, in The Nosher, March 7, 2022

We would be honored to have you join us for our
2021 Human Rights Awards Gala.

This year's virtual event will honor AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada, and New York Hotel and Gaming Council, AFL-CIO, President Rich Maroko.
We will have the opportunity to hear from special guests including United States Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, and others.
Hearing these leaders' perspectives should be very informative and insightful.
You will not want to miss out.

 -- Stuart Appelbaum, President, Jewish Labor Committee

To RSVP, order tickets, and to contribute, just click here.

Together, we can forge a new year - good fortune, happiness, a livelihood and good health for all!

Once again, we are sending our best wishes for Labor Day, and also for a good, sweet and happy Rosh Hashana.

This year, Labor Day falls on Monday, September 6th, and Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, begins that evening. There could not be a more appropriate confluence of events. As unions and labor organizations around the United States hold their annual Labor Day events, and as Jews around the world gather together – virtually and in person – it is an opportunity to reflect on the struggles working people have been facing, even before the pandemic.

This Labor Day Weekend, we have an opportunity to honor those who do the work necessary to keep our communities and our society going, and how work has come to be an experience of both pain and promise for many in our society.

Pain: we have seen the stresses and dangers faced by workers in a time of pandemic, from front-line workers at hospitals to those involved in transportation, to those working in the fields, in grocery stores and at food processing plants, and those who educate our children, or care for our elderly and infirm.

Promise: we have also seen critical gains for workers at such places as a Frito Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, where, after a 20-day strike, the management agreed to a key demand and a guarantee for one day off a week. Some workers there had to work seven days a week, including what they called “suicide shifts” and the company called “squeeze shifts”— back-to-back 12-hour shifts with only eight hours off in between. The new two-year contract eliminates those shifts. And we salute workers who have bravely taken on mega-corporations, from Amazon warehouse workers to Starbucks baristas, trying to join unions.

Continue reading "Labor Day and Rosh Hashana Greetings!" »

August 17, 2021: Westfield, NJ - Marty Schwartz, New Jersey JLC Coordinator, wearing a blue mask, stands with healthcare workers on strike at the Complete Care Nursing Facility in Westfield. To his left is brother Clauvice St. Hilaire, Vice-President of 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers. (Photo courtesy Bryn Lloyd-Bollard, 1199SEIU)

Please sign our letter calling on Complete Care Management (CCM) to bargain in good faith with the unions representing its staff at nursing homes they recently bought in New Jersey. Instead of honoring the contracts negotiated with the previous owners, CCM has cut heath insurance benefits, educational and retirement benefits, and paid time off. These essential workers have been on the front lines during the pandemic, putting themselves and their families at risk. They should be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Workers at several facilities throughout the Garden State owned by Complete Care Management are calling on CCM to bargain in good faith and to divulge information about how they are allocating the millions of dollars of additional Medicaid funds provided by the state due to the pandemic that were earmarked for increased salaries and benefits.

Now it's time to support them. Please sign our letter!

Richard Trumka Addressing Human Rights Dinner of the JLC, New York City, October 27th 2009.

August 5, 2021 - On learning of the death of AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka earlier today, Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Jewish Labor Committee, issued the following statement.

"We were shocked to learn of the untimely passing of our friend and colleague, Rich Trumka, and send our deepest condolences to his family on this tragic day.

"He was committed to working men and women, their families and communities, from his early days as a third generation coal miner in Pennsylvania to his leadership of the United Mine Workers of America, and, for over a decade, as President of the AFL-CIO.

"He was an inspiration, and an ally. And the Jewish Labor Committee was fortunate enough to have him as a friend, and – on a personal note – I was as well.

"His work not only on behalf of the 12.5 million members of the 56 unions of the federation but on behalf of all workers, in fields and factories and schools and workplaces across the country, was deeply meaningful and important in the struggle to build a society that lifts us all up.

"We commit ourselves to continuing his work, and that of the larger labor movement that he headed and championed, and to building a more just, a fairer, and more equitable society.

"May his many achievements, and his dedication to securing better lives for working people over the years, serve as an inspiration to all who come after him. As it is said in Jewish tradition, may his memory be a blessing, and may his family know no more sorrow."

May 27, 2021 - As supporters of a two-state solution to the conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people, the Jewish Labor Committee opposes the continued Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza. We support calls for meaningful peace negotiations between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority toward a negotiated end of that control and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State alongside the State of Israel.

We are heartbroken by, and care deeply about the tragic loss of innocent lives on both sides – falling heaviest on civilians in Gaza. Yet, anyone who condemns the deaths of Palestinian civilians must also condemn the intentional launching by Hamas and related forces of rockets in densely-populated neighborhoods, in close proximity to schools, hospitals and other institutions. The escalation of violence between Gaza and Israel earlier in May was the result of Hamas forces firing what eventually amounted to over 4,000 rockets indiscriminately over the border into Israel. Hamas knew that its assault on Israeli civilians would bring a swift and harsh response.

East Jerusalem must not continue to be a flashpoint between its Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers attempting to take over property there. We oppose the attempts to forcibly evict Palestinian families from homes that they have lived in for as long as 60 years in Sheikh Jarrah, in East Jerusalem. We support a fair and just examination of the competing claims to the land upon which those homes were built. Eviction orders are now under appeal before Israel’s Supreme Court.

We call on the United States to reassert a leadership role to assist in finding a just and equitable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the same time, we oppose recent calls for actions that will make it harder for forces in the peace camp and the democratic left within Israel to gain support for opposing continued Israeli control of the West Bank. Such measures would hamper the work of Israelis who call for respecting the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and within the State of Israel itself.

We also reject demands on the Biden Administration to “stop aid to Israel.” We call for the U.S. to make certain that aid to Israel does not end up bolstering the settler movement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the massive infrastructure of military control that has been developed over the years. At the same time, we support the Biden Administration’s efforts to assist in repairing the extensive destruction and damage in Gaza resulting from the recent conflict.

Since Israel came into existence as an independent state, the Jewish Labor Committee has supported the right of the State of Israel to exist and to defend itself, consonant with international law. Furthermore, we strongly support all efforts to secure equal civil and human rights for all Israeli citizens, including Palestinian Arabs and other ethnic and religious minorities. And we support the right of the Palestinian people to live freely in an independent Palestinian state that would respect the civil and human rights of Jews and other minorities in that country.

Workers Memorial Day, April 28th, has been commemorated since 1970, to honor the victims of workplace injury and illness and to keep fighting for the promise of safe jobs for all workers. This year, Workers Memorial Week contains a range of programs and activities across the map. See here and here and here, for instance.

The Jewish Labor Committee Invites you to a

VIRTUAL WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY PROGRAM
Marking the 50th Anniversary of OSHA – The Occupational Safety & Health Act

“UNIONS MAKE A DIFFERENCE”

Thursday, April 29, 2021, 4:00 p.m. (ET)

Speakers Include:
Marcy Goldstein-Gelb
Executive Director, National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

Armando Elenes
Secretary-Treasurer, United Farm Workers

James Shackelford
Southeast Council, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union

Moderator:
Arieh Lebowitz
Executive Director, Jewish Labor Committee

To Register, click here: https://form.jotform.com/211055781180046

March 25, 2021 - This year, Passover will take place during a historic moment in the labor movement. Thousands of votes have already been cast by workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama seeking to bring the first union to an Amazon warehouse in the United States.

We’ve received an outpouring of requests on how to express solidarity with the Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama this Passover. Here’s one way.

During the Passover Seders we will be holding at home and online this year, the JLC recommends the following as an addition to traditional and contemporary Seder observances, as you say a blessing over a piece of matzah:

Just as matzah symbolizes the hardship of slavery and the Jewish people's hasty transition to freedom; in the modern day, it also symbolizes the difficult working conditions and treatment of working women and men at AMAZON warehouses everywhere and their fight for change, dignity and respect.

If you’d be interested in a haggadah that focuses on labor history and labor issues, you can download a copy of the Jewish Labor Committee Passover Haggadah by clicking on the text in blue, or here: https://bit.ly/3tSxUJf

As Passover and Easter overlap this year, we wish our members and friends observing these holidays a sweet and meaningful Passover and a happy Easter.

March 23, 2021 - The Jewish Labor Committee joins in solidarity with those who condemn the killing of eight women at Atlanta-area spas, six of them Asian American and Pacific Islanders, one week ago. We extend our condolences and sympathy to the families of those who were murdered. And, in this time of escalating hate crimes, we extend a message of solidarity to the Asian American and Pacific Islanders, our neighbors, friends and fellow workers, across the United States.

The statistics are sobering, and yet we know that this kind of crime is seriously under-reported. That a disproportionate amount of these vicious attacks against Asian American and Pacific Islanders are against women, only adds to the crisis confronting so many broken families and grieving communities.

The massive increase in anti-Asian violence during the past year comes at a time when white supremacist propaganda has been pumped out in record amounts. Shamefully, it has been aided, abetted and stoked by repeated comments by former president Donald Trump and his supporters.

That Asian American and Pacific Island workers and their families feel, and indeed often are, unsafe at work and in the street is appalling. It is part and parcel of a larger trend of racism expressed in diverse ways, from hate crimes to “jokes” and subtle slurs. This must be condemned from the highest political offices to the most local, from pulpits, in the press, in schools, and around the dinner table. That President Biden and Vice President Harris have both spoken out forcefully to condemn violence against Asian American and Pacific Islanders is to be lauded. But much more needs to be done.

Asian American and Pacific Islander communities feel targeted, and they are. They need to be supported, to be listened to, and to be respected and acknowledged as valuable members of our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society.
The ugly underbelly of American culture that is not new, that surfaces with violence and bigotry against Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Latinx, Jews and other minorities, must be exposed, and delegitimized. Those who express hatred and prejudice must be met not with silence, but with condemnation. As Jews, we know all too well what this can lead to; with our allies, we have fought it before. That fight must continue.

JLC President Stuart Appelbaum Speaks Out.

NOTE: This article, by Arno Rosenfeld, originally appeared in The Forward, dated February 9, 2021.

The union election at an Amazon warehouse in central Alabama, which began Monday and will last for seven weeks, is being closely watched by both supporters and foes of organized labor. Workers at the facility have come closer to forming a union than any others in Amazon’s history, and a victory could have ramifications well beyond a single fulfillment center in the Birmingham suburbs.

“The importance of this campaign transcends this one facility,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU), which is organizing the workers in Alabama. “It’s really about what the future of work is going to look like.”

Appelbaum, 68, climbed the ranks of the retail workers union starting in 1987, after working for the Democratic National Committee and Michigan AFL-CIO. He has been president since 1998. He is also president of the Jewish Labor Committee, and sits on the executive committee of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, as well as the national advisory board for J Street, the liberal pro-Israel group. The son of a postal clerk in Bloomfield, Connecticut, Appelbaum said he would read union newsletters cover-to-cover as a child. The family attended a Conservative synagogue where the rabbi’s sermons made an impression.

“I remember my rabbi telling us all work is honorable, regardless of whether or not you have a job that requires a college education,” Appelbaum said. “That’s normally not a message you’d hear in Jewish synagogues — you’d hear, ‘Everyone has to go to college.’”

I spoke with Appelbaum about the stakes of the Amazon organizing drive and the changing role of Jews within the American labor movement. Appelbaum is, unsurprisingly, hostile to the e-commerce giant and that is reflected in the interview. We have also reached out to Amazon to request an interview with incoming CEO Andy Jassy, who is Jewish. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Many Jews came to the United States as working-class immigrants but their descendants have since ascended to the professional class: doctors, lawyers, business people. Is it harder to convince the Jewish community to support organized labor these days than it was 30 or 40 or 50 years ago?

I’d say that the approach is different. Rather than talking about people’s individual experience or their parents’ individual experience, I think that we turn to those core principles that make us proud of our heritage. I’m incredibly proud that the Jewish community voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden, I’m incredibly proud that the Jewish community has been at the forefront of so many social- justice battles, and I am confident that the Jewish community will continue to support working people.

Continue reading ""A Jewish labor leader on his union’s battle with Amazon"" »