Rabbis Arrested in a Rally for Dreamers at U.S. Capitol

JLC Executive Director Jonathan D. Rosenblum and JLC New England Co-Chair Rabbi Barbara Penzner were arrested on January 17, 2018 in a rally for Dreamers at the U.S. Capitol. Rosenblum and Rabbi Penzner’s arrests—which occurred while they and more than 80 rabbis and other Jewish community activists sang “We Shall Not Be Moved”— were broadcast live by MSNBC, with commentary from reporter Andrew Rafferty. The noontime Capitol report has some half million daily viewers. http://www.msnbc.com/…/protesters-take-to-capitol-hill-to-f…

These and other rallies for Dreamers led to a three-day government shutdown, a short-term extension to February 8, and another likely showdown in Congress for a “clean” vote on Dreamers legislation.

Photo courtesy of Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Delegation of Faith Leaders and Airport Workers Deliver a Letter to JetBlue

 On December 21, a delegation of faith leaders and airport workers delivered a letter to JetBlue at Boston Logan Airport. The letter from the faith delegation (including Imam Abdul-Malik Merchant from Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center; Pastor Dieufort Fleurissant of Voice of Gospel Tabernacle, Mattapan; Rabbi Michael Rothbaum of Congregation Beth Elohim, Acton; Reverend Norm Faramelli, Father Bob Kennedy, Alan Comeau and Sister Tess Browne from Massachusetts Interfaith Worker Justice; and xx from Catholic Labor Guild) read in part:

“We have heard that, as you are working to make our city one of your biggest travel hubs, you are also allowing your contracted FSS and ReadyJet to unjustly hurt working families in our city… We need an airline that will hire responsible contractors that respect people in your travel hubs, whether they are your passengers or the workers who keep your airport running."ReadyJet and FSS, the two biggest aviation service contractors for JetBlue at Logan Airport, both have a long record of wage theft, violations of labor laws, and health & safety violations. Employees like Sadia Mohammed are fighting for respect and a union at Logan Airport, and have even gone on strike to protest unfair labor practices.Thanks to faith allies for standing up for justice for workers at Logan!

Support a $15 Minimum Wage and Paid Leave!

This year, the New England Jewish Labor Committee is collecting signatures on two key legislative issues as a member of the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition:

• Raising the minimum wage to $15/hour
• Creating a statewide paid family and medical leave system to provide access to 12-16 weeks of paid leave for over 1 million workers in the Commonwealth

We are less than three weeks out from the end of the campaign, and we need your help to reach our goals. We have two major days coming up, and countless other opportunities if you can’t make it to these. If you’re interested in volunteering with us, email our Program Associate at elie.nejlc@gmail.com.Our first day is Sunday, November 5th will be an opportunity to collect signatures at locations across the Boston area. If you are interested in having fun collecting signatures with folks from Dorshei Tzedek at some shopping areas in Watertown or in Newton locations, contact Amy Mazur, at acmazur@comcast.net. If you want information on collecting signatures in other areas, click here.Our second major opportunity to collect signatures is on Tuesday, November 7th.  It is election day and therefore the most important day of the campaign!  If you can, join us in collecting signatures at a polling location near you.  We especially encourage you to collect from 7am to 9am, when many people are voting before work. To sign up to collect signatures, email our Program Associate Elie at elie.nejlc@gmail.com.

New England JLC Director Marya Axner Speaks on Antisemitism

Earlier in October, our Director Marya Axner spoke at a session at the AFL-CIO national convention in St. Louis. She was asked to speak about the nature of antisemitism and its implications post-Charlottesville. She spoke about how antisemitism has been used to divert workers from uniting to fight for their rights and address the problems of economic inequality.We are proud to be a representative of the Jewish community when it comes to speaking on justice, racism, antisemitism, and labor in the United States and beyond.

Northeastern Dining Hall Workers Win a Contract with Guaranteed Minimum Salary of $35,0000

We supported the Northeastern Dining Hall workers of UNITE HERE Local 26, who were able avert a strike and win a contract with a guaranteed minimum yearly salary of $35,000 and affordable health benefits.From UNITE HERE, Local 26 website:"Boston, MA—Today UNITE HERE Local 26 members on Northeastern University’s campus ratified a 5-year agreement just hours before they were scheduled to begin a strike.Workers voted 316 to 2 to authorize a strike on October 4 over a set of demands that was inspired in part by the 22-day strike at Harvard University. A key issue was workers’ low incomes, leading many to rely on public assistance to survive, even if they worked full-time. Health care was the other main rallying point, as workers demanded affordability, citing lack of funds to seek medical care, or reliance on government health care.The agreement includes wage increases that will bring full-time workers to $35,000 annually by 2019, and a dramatic increase to the number of full-time schedules available. The new contract will provide a total of $5.65 in hourly wage increases to all workers, across-the-board.On health care, the agreement now provides an insurance plan that is paid for by the employer at 97 percent. In addition, workers were able to maintain access to a platinum level plan with no takeaways...."

In Our Care: Celebrating Domestic Workers

On September 10th, the Jewish Labor Committee joined with our partners at Matahari Women Workers' Center and Smith College to share an oral history project two years in the making.

Together, we had a dialogue about the daily experience of domestic work, both for workers and their employees.  Workers, many of whom have worked in homes or families for decades, shared their stories about the challenges and gifts of working in a family's home.  We also discussed the experience of employing a domestic worker, and learned together about the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, which was passed in Massachusetts in 2014.  We look forward to continuing the work of educating employers so that people are more aware of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and how it might affect them.

Don't hesitate to contact us at the Jewish Labor Committee, New England, (NewEnglandJLC@jewishlabor.org, 617 227-0888) if you want to host a living room talk or a synagogue presentation on this topic.