Long Before Politicians Backed Wage Increases, Talmudic Sages Argued the Cause

Throughout 2014, few issues have occupied more space in the public square than income inequality and the concentration of wealth. When else has a 700-page book about the inexorable concentration of wealth under modern capitalism—by a French economist, no less—made the New York Times best-seller list?

The large and increasing U.S. income gap jockeys for space in political races throughout the country, but the clearest battle lines are drawn in state and local initiatives to raise the minimum wage above the federally mandated level of $7.25/hour. Many of those initiatives will be put to the test on election day. That’s when voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota will decide on modest minimum wage increases. In California, voters in Oakland and San Francisco will decide whether to increase the minimum to $12.25 and $13 respectively.

Organized Jewish support of such increases has made a difference in several successful recent campaigns, including Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and various jurisdictions in Maryland. Minnesota’s Union Advocate noted that the statewide Jewish Community Action organization “proved critical in generating support in areas where unions don’t have a lot of membership.” Vic Rosenthal, the JCA director, notes that the group was particularly effective in efforts to lobby a pivotal Jewish legislator: “Part of the discussion was why this was an issue that Jews should be concerned about. We could argue the case in textual terms. It was also about the history of the Jewish community and its relationship with labor unions.”

The increase in Minnesota from the federal minimum of $9.50 in 2016 includes a future cost of living index, a key but difficult-to-win demand of many local proposals. Even where Jewish advocacy is more individual than organized, there is often a distinctly Jewish voice in the crowd. In SeaTac, a working-class suburb of Seattle, the Airport Workers Campaign (AWC) successfully promoted a city referendum in late 2013 that raised airport wages for permanent and subcontract employees alike to $15 plus paid sick days. As part of the organizing effort, Jonathan Rosenblum, AWC director and an active member of Seattle’s Kadima Congregation, addressed churches and gatherings of Muslim workers. Referencing Nachshon, whom midrash credits with braving the first steps across the Red Sea, Rosenblum told them: “Faith alone is not going to deliver justice; you also need to act.”

And in San Diego, where a City Council-passed increase has been successfully delayed by a business coalition, Rabbi Laurie Coskey leads a key coalition partner, the Interfaith Center for Worker Justice: “People understand that we are going to change the framework of the conversation from the marketplace to one of human values of creation in the divine image, and dignity and respect.” If sanctioned by the 2016 referendum, the San Diego initiative will raise the minimum wage to $11.50 by 2017 and then index it, affecting 172,000 workers.

Earlier this year a statewide Massachusetts coalition to raise the minimum wage included two Jewish advocacy groups—the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action and the Jewish Labor Committee. About 50 representatives from 15 synagogues collected 9,000 signatures that were submitted to the state legislature as part of a successful effort to increase the state minimum. (The statewide coalition collection 360,000 signatures in all.)Synagogue outreach efforts met no organized opposition, said JALSA Director Sheila Decter, but neither was support always easy to come by: “Some of the Conservative synagogues worried about the impact within the synagogue. They focused on shalom bayit (peace in the house),” among congregants with opposing views on wage increases. Dechter continued, “That can sometimes become an excuse for not dealing with the substance of the issue.” But Jewish Labor Committee Director Marya Axner assesses a general level of support: “It’s written so many times—the source texts are really not kidding,” she commented, “This issue makes sense to people, even Jews who are not sympathetic to the labor movement.”Perhaps the most advanced level of organized Jewish involvement has been a trifecta of campaigns involving Jews United for Justice, based in Washington, D.C. Through the end of the statewide effort in May 2014, JUJ was a key player in organizing mass support for minimum-wage bills in the district (to $11.50 plus index and sick days); in adjacent and significantly Jewish Montgomery County (to $11.50); and as a secondary player in a legislated increase for the state of Maryland (to $10.10).“Thousands of people participated in these campaigns through JUJ,” says Jacob Feinspan, the organization’s executive director. JUJ grounds almost every campaign talk in a religious text and finds that the response among congregations to their message is generally warm: “Most people are surprised and excited to learn that the tradition has been grappling with these issues throughout its history,” says Feinspan.And so it has. Jewish source texts exhort the community to “champion the poor and needy” and mandate that employers “do not oppress” employees by manipulating wages and conditions of work. One discussion among three Talmudic commentators even illustrates the difference between “oppressing” employees and “robbing” them. And Meir Tamari, founder of the Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem and probably the most recognized scholar of halakhic economic law, has written that “market forces must be constrained by consideration of justice and righteousness,” including some regulation of profits and prices.More specifically, the minimum wage was itself a hot topic among the Talmudic sages.The rabbis expected that employers would naturally attempt to minimize their labor costs. The Talmudic commentator Rava might be interpreted to argue rhetorically against a wage floor itself when he asks, “Has it ever been forbidden to reduce one’s hire to the lowest level?”Yet in the context of his other commentaries, it’s obvious that Rava is actually sympathetic to the hardship that low wages cause. He notes that the livelihood of low-income workers must be protected, even for those who break serious laws: “In the case of a laborer whose wage is small the rabbis did not impose a penalty.” Another commentator, Rav Yehoshua, holds that a new worker should be paid no less than the lowest existing wage.Most Talmudic opinions, though, are even more worker-friendly and find that the lowest existing wage is still insufficient, explicitly rejecting such a wage as too low if a new worker is hired. Rather than paying a just-arrived employee “as one or two of the (lowest-wage) townspeople” are paid, the sages say that “an average (of wages in effect for that job) must be struck.” The math suggests that the Talmudic logic lifts all boats steadily if slowly; add a minimum-wage worker to the average and it goes down. Add an average wage worker to the pot and the average increases.The sages considered a bottom-level wage disrespectful, inviting discontent and resistance. Efforts to deliver quality work underlay the difference in wages for a given job, even when menial jobs like filling and stacking bags of dirt on a dyke are at issue. The Talmud uses the example of workers complaining to a foreman who tried to reduce their wages: “Since you told us (the job) was for four zuz (not two), we took the trouble of doing the work particularly well.”In the current environment, minimum-wage levels have become politicized. The 2014 wage-increase initiatives range from $8.50 to $15—differences that often reflect the balance of local forces more than comparable local living costs. That’s one reason that many economists who favor increased wage levels like to talk about a “living wage” concept rather than the minimum-wage level alone.One way to assess a true living wage: Take the federal poverty line and multiply it by 130 percent—the maximum level allowed to receive food stamp assistance. Then add on the value of the food stamps themselves. The total works out to about $32,300 per year, or about $15.50/hour—precisely the minimum wage being targeted in high-cost cities like Seattle, New York, and San Francisco.Economist Lawrence Glickman has articulated the living wage as “. . . a wage level that offers workers the ability to support families, to maintain self-respect, and to have both the means and the leisure to participate in the civic life of the nation.” Before him, Maimonides described the living wage in a commentary on how to compensate scribes. He asks, “How much are they paid?” and then concludes: “Ninety maneh a year. If this is not sufficient, they are given—even against their will—an additional amount sufficient to meet their needs, those of their wives, their children, and the other members of their household.” No race to the bottom there; rather, in the Jewish tradition, a living wage—enough to take care of a socially viable household—is required.

By Jonathan Brandow | November 3, 2014 at Tablet. A New Read on Jewish Life

Jonathan Brandow is the author of The Just Market: Torah’s Response to the Crisis of the Modern Economy.

Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Victory for the "Hyatt 100"

Five years ago, three Hyatt Hotels in the Boston area abruptly fired 98 housekeepers. The hotels brought in replacement workers, paying them roughly half the hourly wage. The fired housekeepers had been told to train these new housekeepers who turned out to be their replacements.

The fired workers didn't belong to a union, but they quickly approached a local of UNITE-HERE. A nationwide boycott of Hyatt hotels and then a global boycott were among the results. The Jewish Labor Committee, its regional offices and members jumped in to support the workers. An historic settlement was reached with most Hyatt hotels, but not the ones in the Boston area. So the New England JLC kept up its activism.Right from the beginning, the NE JLC was in the fight with both feet. Rabbi Barbara Penzner of Temple Hillel B'nai Torah and a co-chair of NE JLC along with our regional director Marya Axner, mobilized congregants, rabbis and JLC members. to support the boycott of the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Boston Harbor and Hyatt Regency Cambridge.Rabbi Penzner drafted a petition signed by Jewish clergy around the country and worked to keep religious groups from holding events at Hyatt hotels. She traveled to Chicago to confront Hyatt executives and rallied clergy to disrupt shareholder meetings. The NE JLC participated in rallies, arranged for letters to be written and helped keep the issue in front of the public.Finally, a few weeks ago, the Boston-area Hyatts gave in, agreeing to pay $1 million to the fired housekeepers and offering them hiring preference at future Hyatt-operated hotels.All of us at the JLC are proud of the work that the NE JLC did on behalf of the housekeepers and of the fact that the Boston Globe story and editorial in particular highlighted Rabbi Penzner's activity, which were so important to this victory.Read more from 'The Jewish Advocate'       

Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Signed Into Law

Since December of 2012, the NE JLC has been working to pass the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (DWBR), which would establish basic workplace rights for nannies, housekeepers and caregivers employed in private homes. For example, the NE JLC mobilized people to go the State House to advocate for the DWBR, organized living room talks to raise awareness of conditions for domestic workers among those who employ them, and spoke about the DWBR at several synagogues. Through the advocacy of the NE JLC, the Somerville Board of Alderman voted unanimously to support the DWBR.The DWBR passed in the State House and was signed by the Governor on July 2^nd, 2014. NE JLC will continue to work to educate the Jewish community and help implement the bill.

JLC Advisory Board Meeting Report: June 24, 2014

[gallery type="square" ids="396,397,398,399,400,401,402,403,404,405,406,407,408,409,410,411,412,413,414,415,416,417,418,419,420,421,422,423,424,425,426,427,428,429,430,431,432,433,434,435,436,437,438,439,440,441,442,443,444,445,446,447,448,449"]Attendees: Representative Ruth Balser, Representative Marjorie Decker, Sheila Decter, Mark Erlich, Mike Felsen, Abby Flam, Joanne Goldstein, Jim Green, Matt Hills, Phil Katz, Rabbi Allan Lehmann, Rabbi David Lerner, Aliza Levine, Bob Ross, Jerry Rubin, Rich Rogers, Dahlia Rudavsky, Enid Shapiro, Eugene Sheppard, Neil Silverston, Senator Dan Wolf, Susan Webber, and Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu.JLC Board members in attendance: Stephanie Ainbinder, Marya Axner, Dick Bauer, Dave Borrus, Maydad Cohen, Nicole Decter, Monica Halas, Corey Hope Leaffer, Rabbi Barbara Penzner, Jacob Schlitt, and Don Siegel. Also Volunteer Consultant to the Board Martin Abramowitz.Additionally Darlene Lombos of Community Labor United attended as a guest speaker.We were thrilled with our second annual Advisory Board meeting which took place June 24^th at the New England Carpenters Union Hall. As was true of last year’s event there were many bright and powerful people in the room. The approximately 40 people who attended were thoughtful, experienced, savvy leaders who work in the labor movement, are elected officials, or are Jewish community activists.Rabbi Barbara Penzner, Co-Chair of the New England Jewish Labor Committee (NE JLC), shared with us the teaching that we are not required to complete the task, but we need to start the work. She thanked the Advisory Board for the thinking, sharing and support that help our organization set priorities and build working alliances with labor, government and academia.Rabbi Penzner also spoke about our accomplishments this year, highlighting passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, winning union representation for the workers of Le Meridien Hotel in Cambridge, and reaching a national agreement between UNITE HERE and Hyatt Hotels. She noted that, while this improved working conditions for Hyatt workers across the country, it did not address the situation of the workers of the Boston Hyatt Hotels, so the boycott continues here in Boston (see attached, “NE JLC Report of Activities July 2013-June 2014” for a full report of NE JLC accomplishments)Darlene Lombos of Community Labor United and Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu spoke about the problem of wage theft and the underground economy as well as plans to respond to these serious structural issues. Councilor Wu will be introducing an ordinance addressing wage theft to the Boston City Council this year.This presentation was the start of a larger conversation in which we asked people to think about and discuss areas which the NE JLC should focus on in the next year.We divided into groups and addressed these questions:

• In addressing wealth and income inequality, what issues should the NE JLC focus on in the coming year?
• How can we best support workers?

Following is a summary of what people said in small groups:

• Income inequality is a topic that people are currently interested in. People in our community need more education about income inequality and the forces that continue to cause inequality to grow. For example, people need to learn about wage theft and the underground economy, as these fuel the economic divide. Educating the Jewish community about these issues is a role the NE JLC can play. People need to understand how these issues affect their local communities. People in the suburbs may be affected differently and that needs to be taken into account in our outreach.

• We can appeal to the conscience of Jewish employers and their Jewish values. For example, we could meet with a group of Jewish developers.

• We should have a discussion about the impact of poverty:

o       Whose responsibility is poverty?

o       What is the impact of poverty and corresponding low wages?

• While we celebrate the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (DWBR), we need to continue supporting domestic workers by helping to implement the bill. We can organize the Jewish community in the Boston area around implementation, as the Jewish community has done in New York.

• We should continue supporting hotel workers and other private sector workers. Increasing union density is key to increasing the effectiveness of unions.

• The adjunct professors campaign is a good issue for outreach to the Jewish community. There is a Jewish presence among adjuncts, and Jewish families with children in college will resonate with this campaign.

• People who try to promote social justice work in synagogues are often up against resistance to any action that might be “political.” Those people need support. The NE JLC community could help provide that support. It could help bring synagogues together on these worker issues. The NE JLC can play a role in Tzedek Reflections, which is a newly formed group of people from different synagogues, (but not representing different synagogues), who are organizing around a variety of social justice issues.

• With two Jewish candidates in the Governor’s race, we could host a candidates’ forum.

• We need to help people understand that worker issues are part of our core Jewish values. For example, to pay a living wage is a Jewish value.

• We should stay connected to the “Raise-Up” coalition and partner with synagogues on its goals.

All of these issues will be brought to the next meeting of the NEJLC Board as we begin to set priorities for the coming year.

Boycott the Harvard-owned Allston DoubleTree Hotel

On Thursday, March 27th a boycott was launched at the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Hotel in Allston. The New England Jewish Labor Committee is supporting this worker-intiated boycott of the DoubleTree. We are supporting  hotel workers who have asked Harvard to grant them a fair process in deciding on unionization. Harvard has thus far refused to meet with hotel workers. A boycott is a serious step for the DoubleTree workers because it could mean fewer hours for them.More than 200 people came to the march and rally at the DoubleTree to show their support. There were DoubleTree workers, New England Jewish Labor Committee members, UNITE HERE members from other hotels, union leaders, Harvard students, Cambridge City Council members, and others who came to show their support for the workers.We ask all Jewish community organizations and individuals to observe this boycott and have their events and celebrations in other hotels. For a guide to hotels in Boston, click here.

Governor Patrick praises outgoing Labor Secretary Joanne Goldstein at 14th Annual Labor Seder

Governor Deval Patrick kicked off the Fourteenth Annual Labor Seder last Tuesday at Temple Israel in Boston by saying that former Secretary of Labor Joanne Goldstein “was the best Secretary of Labor the Commonwealth has ever had.” The New England Jewish Labor Committee (NE JLC)  honored Goldstein with the Clara Lemlich Shavelson Award for  lifetime commitment to workers in Massachusetts.

“How fitting that we are gathered here for a Seder, the quintessential Jewish expression of freedom, which includes for me economic and social justice and the human right to life, free of poverty and complete with dignity,” Goldstein observed.

The Labor Seder draws parallels between the liberation of Jews from slavery and current issues facing workers. This year, the NE JLC recognized the Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers and their effort to get the proposed Domestic Workers Bill of Rights passed. The NE JLC also recognized workers of the Harvard-owned DoubleTree Hotel in Allston who are asking the hotel for a neutrality agreement on deciding on union representation. Additionally, the Pathways Pre-apprenticeship program was recognized for helping people in underserved communities get good jobs in the trades.

Rabbi Barbara Penzner of Temple Hillel B’nai Torah in West Roxbury and incoming Co-Chair of the NE JLC led the Labor Seder. “The Labor Seder celebrates its 14th anniversary this year. In Hebrew letters, 14 spells the word ‘yad’ which means hand. That's what this event is all about--giving a helping hand to lift people up with better jobs, and to join hands together as allies to bring liberation to our world, just as our ancestors were liberated from Egypt.”

Yehuda Yaakov, the new Consul General of Israel, attended the Labor Seder even though workers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including all consuls around the world, is on strike. The NE JLC asked him to come despite the strike so that the participants could express solidarity with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs workers.

Every year, Jewish community leaders, labor leaders, elected officials, and community activists gather at the Labor Seder to celebrate the holiday of Passover. The story of Passover tells how Jewish slaves in Egypt broke the chains of oppression and fought together for liberation and freedom. The Labor Seder is a unique interfaith event where we build bridges that enable us all to pursue justice with greater strength and commitment. We hope you will join us next year!