H eadlines
Labor Continued from Page 1
The desire for increased
COVID-19 protections in the
classroom is a new demand this
year for AFT Pennsylvania, as
this is the first school year of
managing the pandemic with
in-person learning at the outset.

It’s become a more politicized
issue, making it difficult for the
union to gain traction in some
counties with its argument,
according to Steinberg.

He is not alone in his efforts
to protect Pennsylvania’s
workers. The Philadelphia chapter of
the Jewish Labor Committee
recently came out in written
support of the WHYY Union,
which is organizing with the
Screen Actors Guild - American
Federation of Television and
Radio Artists, promoting its rally
in support of fair contracts. The
chapter also expressed solidarity
with Penn Museum employees,
who complained about low
wages, workplace harassment
and poor job stability.

Michael Hersch, director
of the PJLC, said that these
employers can be paternal-
istic in their approach to the
workplace. “The working people are
not considered,” Hersch said.

Garment workers on strike in
New York City in 1913
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
“There isn’t transparency, and
there’s the notion that, ‘Hey,
you’re lucky to be working
here,’ rather than a sense of
teamwork and collaboration.”
For both Steinberg and
Hersch, advocating for workers
is baked into their Jewish
values. “Judaism has social justice
and social issues embedded in
it,” Steinberg said.

Jews have long been part
of the labor organizing efforts
in the U.S., with Jewish union
participation dating back to
the 19th century.

Though most unions
weren’t Jewish unions, many
had sizable Jewish populations.

First-generation immigrants
who were tailors in their home
countries — and were dispro-
portionately Jewish — joined
garment workers unions.

According to Lila Corwin
Berman, a professor of history
at Temple University and
Arthur Steinberg (center, blue shirt) at Overbrook High School rallies
for school funding on June 11 with members of the Pennsylvania Senate
Democratic Caucus.
Courtesy of Joseph Corrigan
director of the Feinstein Center
for American Jewish History,
Jews were familiar with collec-
tive organizing practices, as
they were often minorities
fighting for workplace protec-
tions in the countries from
which they emigrated.

In the 20th century, unions
didn’t exist in a vacuum. Rather,
they informed a cultural infra-
structure for Jews.

“It was very much connected
to a broad culture of the left,”
said Beth S. Wenger, associate
dean for graduate studies and
the Moritz and Josephine Berg
Professor of History at the
University of Pennsylvania.

“The United Hebrew Trades,
the Workmen’s Circle and the
Jewish press — especially the
Jewish Daily Forward — all
were less common.

Berman believes that
though Jewish union member-
ship is nowhere near its peak
in the early 20th century, the
spirit that drove union efforts
then persists now.

“The political kinds of
proclivities of believing in
supporting workers, paying
them a living wage, treating
workers as whole people ...

people who deserve access to
recreation, people who deserve
access to education — at least
among a sizable subset of
American Jews — did endure
even longer than the cultural
or social infrastructure.”
Hersch hopes Jewish union
participation won’t dissipate
completely. The grandson
of four Holocaust survivors,
Hersch is protective of those in
precarious positions of power.

Though many Jewish people
work in industries that do not
require labor organization,
union involvement is an added
layer of protection for a group
of people that have historically
been ostracized and driven
from their homes and jobs,
Hersch said.

“It’s important for us not to
forget our roots,” he said. l
these were very much part of
the culture that supported labor
and supported unionism.”
Beyond advocating
for better working condi-
tions, unions, such as the
Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America, had labor
banks; the International Ladies
Garment Workers Union had
an education department and
offered classes in English,
economics and history.

Though vestiges of Jewish
labor organizing from last
century remain, such as The
Forward and the Workers
Circle, Jewish union culture
has dwindled. Many Jews,
as they became second- and
third-generation immigrants,
began to climb class ranks and srogelberg@jewishexponent.com;
work jobs where union efforts 215-832-0741
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16 AUGUST 26, 2021
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