Fight for 15

JLC Summer Hearings Schedule

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Our four key legislative priorities this year are the Safe Communities Act, paid family and medical leave, the $15/hour minimum wage and elimination of the tipped sub-minimum wage, the Fair Share Amendment. An important step in passing these laws is the hearing process.It's critical that advocates for these progressive pieces of legislation show up in force to demonstrate the widespread community support during the hearings and the Constitutional Convention. We hope you will join us.We encourage you to attend these lobby and hearing sessions for any portion of time you can. The length of each hearing will vary and is difficult to predict.If you have personal experience with topics covered by these bills and would like to share you experience publicly through a written statement or testimony, please contact Jenna at jenna.nejlc@gmail.com. Please also contact Jenna with any further questions about timing or logistics.


Safe Communities Act Hearing

When: Friday, June 9 | 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.Where: Massachusetts State House Rooms A1 & A2


Paid Family and Medical Leave Hearing

When: Tuesday, June 13 | Briefing & Lobbying 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. | Hearing 1:00-4:00 p.m.Where: Massachusetts State House | Briefing in Room 327 | Hearing in Room B2We will meet for a briefing and designated time to lobby your elected officials before the hearing time. We strongly encourage you to attend the pre-hearing program and to lobby your officials.


Fight for $15/Minimum Wage Hearing

When: Tuesday, September 19 | Briefing & Lobbying 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. | Hearing 1:00-4:00 p.m.Where: Massachusetts State House | Briefing Room TBA | Hearing in Gardner AuditoriumWe will meet for a briefing and designated time to lobby your elected officials before the hearing time. We strongly encourage you to attend the pre-hearing program and to lobby your officials.


Fair Share Amendment Constitutional Convention

When: Wednesday, June 14 | 12:30 p.m.Where: Massachusetts State House, House Chamber  

Four Questions About Labor Rights

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On March 23, we celebrated the 17th Annual Labor Seder, at which we celebrated the Passover holiday and the struggles of workers, drawing parallels between the liberation of Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt and current struggles of employees trying to win equitable pay and better working conditions.JewishBoston.com invited us to write four questions about labor rights as part of their collection of questions written by Jewish social justice organizations for the Passover Seder.We encourage you to read through our questions (below), to incorporate them into your Seder this year, and to use them to facilitate conversations with friends and family about workers' rights and the values of our Jewish traditions this Pesach.If you'd like to use our haggadah at your Seder, view and download a copy here.


Four Questions About Labor Rights

Like slaves, many workers have no say in their working conditions.Like slaves, workers give up their dignity to serve the bottom line. Passover is an ideal time to engage in the struggle for workers' rights and economic justice. We can look at what is going on with people who work in all kinds of jobs, including our own. This holiday calls us to become involved in advancing the dignity of workers.

Judaism values work and workers. Go around the table: What kind of work do you do, and do you feel respected at work?

We spend much of our lives working, so it's important that people are respected for their work, no matter their position. Respect for one's work is demonstrated in many ways, such as paying workers decent wages, listening to how they think the work could best be done and allowing time and flexibility for people to pay attention to their families and their own health. At the Jewish Labor Committee, we understand that low-wage workers and middle-class workers are often taken advantage of, and that it's important to stand up for all workers. We work in the Jewish community to gather support for workers.

Many people who have jobs don't get paid enough to pay for basic needs or work in unsafe conditions. What are the ways that unions, government policy and consumer demand can help change workers' conditions?

For the better part of a century, the Jewish Labor Committee has worked to engage the Jewish community in supporting union campaigns, legislation and consumer boycotts that have improved the lives of thousands of people. When businesses and legislators see that the Jewish community takes a stand on worker issues, it makes a significant difference. In the past year, the New England Jewish Labor Committee supported Verizon workers, janitors and Harvard University dining-hall workers to win union contracts that improved their wages, provided job security and improved or continued their health-care benefits. Currently, in the Massachusetts Legislature, we are working to pass an increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour, as well as pass the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act to help employees when they or their family members are ill, or when a new child comes into the family.

The story of Passover teaches us that slavery is wrong. Where does slavery currently exist in the U.S. and in the world, and what's being done to stop it?

It's hard to imagine that slavery exists today, but it does, even in the United States-on farms, in prisons and in homes. In recent years, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, whose work the Jewish Labor Committee has been involved with for the past five years, exposed and halted slavery on farms in Florida. There are also domestic workers across the U.S. and in Massachusetts who are not allowed to leave the households where they work because their employers have taken their passports and cell phones to prevent them from leaving. The Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers, along with the New England Jewish Labor Committee, is one of the groups fighting against this.Our criminal-justice system does not protect prisoners from working for nothing or almost nothing, producing large profits for corporations in much the same way African-American slaves worked as slaves in the U.S. before the Civil War. We have many social-action groups in Massachusetts synagogues that are working for criminal-justice reform. There are also organizations, such as the National Council of Jewish Women, who are working to stop the practice of girls and young women being taken into the sex industry against their will.

In our society, people who have different work lives than we do may be invisible to us. What might we gain, as individuals and as a society, by getting to know people who earn their living in different ways than we do?

Part of the reason our country is experiencing such a big political divide is that we don't have much real contact with people of different socio-economic classes than our own. As economic inequality has grown, we have less easy opportunities to build relationships with people who have different kinds of jobs. Reaching out to people and hearing each other's stories will help bridge that divide. This helps everyone feel more connected, hopeful and less alone.


Chag pesach same'ach! Happy Passover!

Action Alert! November 29 Fight for $15 National Day of Action

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The Fight for $15 movement began four years ago to uplift low-wage, exploited workers in field predominated by women and people of color. It has already improved the lives of many families. During this post-election season, you can make a significant difference by standing up for a higher minimum wage.On Tuesday, November 29, local fast-food, airport, and other underpaid workers in over 330 cities are taking action in their largest protest yet to demand a $15 an hour minimum wage and the freedom to form a union for 64 million workers making poverty wages.Sign up today to join this historic day of action!

Please join us for any or all of the November 29 actions

  • 6 AM Fast Food Strike and Picket
    • Location: Central Square McDonald's (463 Mass Ave, Cambridge)
  • 11:30 AM Airport Workers Rally
    • Location: Memorial Park in East Boston (143 Porter St, Boston)
  • 1 PM Jewish Community Meet-Up
    • Location: corner of Park St. and Beacon St. in Boston
    • Co-sponsored by JALSA, the Boston Workmen's Circle, the Moishe Kavod House, and the Harvard Progressive Jewish Alliance. Please email us if you would also like to co-sponsor this event.
  • 1:30 PM  Raise Up Massachusetts Announcement
    • Location: State House (24 Beacon St, Boston)

Thank you for coming to the 16th Annual Labor Seder!

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Thank you for joining us in celebration and song at the 16th Annual Labor Seder! We were proud to honor Attorney General Maura Healey and Rabbis David Lerner and Victor Reinstein of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis for all their work in fighting for workers' rights and dignity. And of course, the ‪#‎Fightfor15‬ in Massachusetts for its incredible work in fighting for a living wage for all workers!To see more photos of the event, see the Annual Labor Seder page on the site, or visit our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/New-England-Jewish-Labor-Committee-149370321806179/We hope your Passover is filled with joy and liberation!

Save the Date: Fight for $15 hearing on Tues. Oct. 13 at the State House

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Join the Jewish community in supporting the Fight for $15.The Jewish community is on board with the Fight for $15. In addition to the JLC's support and involvement, the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis both publicly stated their support for the Fight for $15 campaign. The Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action has made this a priority.Now, we need YOU to come out and make sure these bills actually pass!On Oct. 13, the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development will hear testimony on Fight for $15 bills. These include multiple bills to create a $15 per hour minimum wage for workers; a bill to ensure fair scheduling for workers; and a bill to raise the tipped minimum wage.Join the JLC and our partners from the Raise Up MA Coalition at the State House on October 13th to show your support for these bills.What is the Fight for $15?The Fight for $15 has grown from an effort to raise standards in the fast-food industry, into a broader movement to improve wages and conditions for low wage employees across Massachusetts. In 2013-2014, the state legislature passed the highest State Minimum Wage in the country, as well as Earned Sick Time. But a minimum wage is NOT a living wage. We need to fight for better working conditions too.What will the day look like?Where: Massachusetts State House 24 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02133When: 11:30 am Rally and march. 12:00 pm Lobby - meet with your legislators. Meet in Room 437. 1:00 pm Attend the hearing in Room A-1. 2:30 pm Assemble at Grand Stair Case and proceed to a fast food action.Let us know if you can make it by emailing newenglandjlc@jewishlabor.org or calling 617-227-0888.

Jewish Community Must Join the Fight for $15 Minimum Wage

wages11— by Stuart ApplebaumFrom The Philadelphia Jewish Voice Jewish law and tradition are clear about our duty to fight for the basic rights of all working people.Shantel Walker makes $9 per hour at the Papa John’s restaurant in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood where she’s worked for the for the last 15 years, almost half her life. Because her wages are so low, she often has to choose between eating lunch or buying a Metrocard to get to work. She shares a one-bedroom apartment with family members, but still worries about making ends meet every month.But Ms. Walker is not staying silent and letting her challenges get her down. She is standing up and joining with other fast-food workers across the country in calling for fairness and respect on the job. Since late 2012, fast-food workers have been walking off the job as part of regular one-day strikes and their ranks have recently been supported by home health care aides, adjunct professors, airport baggage handlers and other low-wage workers. Their demand? $15 per hour and a union.The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is nothing close to a living wage. If someone earning the minimum wage is fortunate enough to be able to work full-time hours (and many are not), they would earn only $15,080 per year, which is under the poverty line for a family of two. At the current minimum wage, workers struggle paycheck-to-paycheck, and if they are able to pay all their bills at the end of the month, they are not able to save anything for an emergency, let alone for their retirement.Rising wages will allow millions of people across the country to lift their heads up and look towards the future with hope. But it will also benefit our economy at-large. A $15 per hour minimum wage will inject billions of dollars into local economies as many are finally able to buy new clothing for their children and other basic necessities. It will also ease state budgets, as millions who currently rely on state assistance will finally be able to afford groceries and rent.The history of American Jewry demands that we join with workers in their struggle for justice. When many of our ancestors first came to the United States, they worked low-wage jobs in the garment sector and other industries. Their experiences of struggle and pain encouraged many to organize and form unions that then fought for and won many of the basic wage and safety standards that we now take for granted. These gains enabled our families to raise their standards of living to where they are now, but we must never forget what it took to get here.The good news is that workers’ voices are having an impact. Already, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle have passed ordinances to raise their minimum wages to $15. Even more cities and states have passed smaller minimum wage increases that are an important first step for improving workers’ lives. But our obligation is not over until every working person has the ability to support their family without undue burden.At the very least, Jewish law and tradition means that we need to stand in solidarity with people such as Ms. Walker, who are taking a stand for the chance for a better life. Stuart Appelbaum is President of the Jewish Labor Committee.