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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H eadlines
Camps Continued from Page 1
campers 12 and over were
above 90% at most camps, and
at the start of the summer,
COVID cases, hospitalizations
and deaths were relatively low
across the U.S.

So, camps throughout the
Philadelphia region hosted full
seasons. Kids smiled, laughed
and just hung out. Counselors
motivated them to participate
in the various activities. Head
staffers oversaw the operation.

It was exactly what the kids
needed after a summer away
and a year of virtual schooling.

“Utopia,” said Rabbi Joel
Seltzer, director of Camp
Ramah in the Poconos.

Sideman’s JCC Medford
team started planning 2021
in March 2020. Most area day
and overnight camps began
preparing their summer
sessions around the same time.

Day camps built plans
around checking people for
COVID symptoms at the start
of each day. That way, if direc-
tors spotted even minor signs,
they could send kids home to
quarantine. Overnight camps built a
“controlled environment,” as
they called it. They mandated
tests before the summer
started, on the first day and
within the first week. They
eliminated out-of-camp trips
from the schedule. They even
required counselors to stay in
camp on off days.

Southampton Summer
Day Camp in Bucks County
canceled 2020 after 47 consecu-
tive summers. It reopened this
year with only 350 campers,
instead of the normal roster
of 500. The goal, according
to owner Rick Blum, was to
keep bus loads small and bunk/
activity cohorts at 12-15 kids
each. Southampton parents had
to answer a COVID question-
naire, via text, every day at
6 a.m. Then counselors took
kids’ temperatures before they
allowed them onto buses.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Camp Nock-A-Mixon in Kintnersville, summer 2021
Courtesy of Camp Nock-A-Mixon
Only one camper got
COVID all summer, and it
came from his sister’s day care
center, not Southampton.

“It was amazing to see all
the smiling faces out there,”
Blum said of the 2021 season.

Camps Saginaw, Green Lane
and Nock-A-Mixon, overnight
camps in the suburbs, canceled
2020 because directors didn’t
know enough about the virus
and wanted to maintain trust
with families after almost
a century of continuous
operations. In 2021, though, all three
camps hosted full loads of
between 300 and 500 campers.

Once they got through their
final testing period early in the
summer, directors let every-
body take their masks off.

Saginaw campers and staff
members gathered on the upper
field and threw their masks in
the air. The owners, Mike and
Jessica Petkov, recorded the
moment with a drone.

“We’ve made it this far,”
Mike Petkov said. “Let’s keep
going.” All three camps finished the
summer with no COVID cases.

Gary Glaser, the director of
Nock-A-Mixon, said fighting
and homesickness were down
this summer, and that campers
seemed happy just to be out of
their houses and together.

But Glaser and the Petkovs
called their counselors the
heroes of the summer.

Nock-A-Mixon allowed
12-hour off days, where
counselors could only go
home, not out and about. They
also had to be accessible via
FaceTime. Saginaw, like other
overnight operations, required
counselors to stay in camp on
off days.

Counselors knew this situa-
tion going into the summer
and accepted it.

“They had to make sure the
kids were having a good time,
and they excelled,” Petkov said.

Some day camps, like
Achdus in
Northeast Philadelphia and the JCC of
Medford, were open in 2020.

But Achdus cut its camper
quota from about 90 to 60. JCC
Medford dropped its total from
roughly 1,300 to 200.

This year, both places
opened in full and finished
their seasons. Achdus staffers
just kept their eyes open for
symptoms, according to
Director Moshe Segelman. JCC
counselors kept kids in cohorts
and enforced masking when
different groups interacted.

“Families were so ready to
come back,” Sideman said.

Camps lost money last year,
but in 2021, they learned that
their families remained loyal.

So going into 2022, they
are confident. They aren’t too
worried about the new delta
variant, either, nor the recent
increase in cases and restric-
tions. Even if the COVID era
continues, directors now have
systems in place to handle it.

Blum turned Southampton’s
approach into a 20-page
handbook. The Bucks County
Health Department recently
asked for it to use as a guide-
book for local recreation
programs. “These are things we’re
going to continue to do,” Blum
said. “I don’t see that we’ll
eliminate that until COVID is
out of here.” l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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