Throughout history, Jews have been both workers and employers, working alongside Jews and non–Jews and employing both Jews and non–Jews. Yet about a third of the way through the 20th century, a significant economic and cultural shift took place in the American Jewish community. Whereas the majority of Jewish workers until 1940s had been either skilled or unskilled “blue collar” laborers, after that time the majority of Jews became “white collar” professional workers. Many Jewish parents who worked in the factories and shops of the Lower East Side watched their children go to college and move into the professional class.

In 21st century America, Jews join all sides of the debates regarding labor and the role of unions. Today, many Jews still identify with the values of the Labor Movement, even if they are not personally involved with it as owners or workers. Some consciously advocate as Jews on behalf of oppressed workers; others, however, do not feel that the historic relationship between American Jews and the Labor Movement has any relevance to labor conditions today or to their own position on labor relations.

Many of today’s Jewish labor activists—both religious and secular—recall not only their historical predecessors but also the texts of the Jewish tradition that address fair labor practices. In the Torah, for example, Deuteronomy 24:14–15 states: “You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. You must pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and urgently depends on it; else he will cry to the Lord against you and you will incur guilt.” The Talmud also touches on labor issues in commentaries about the meaning of work—whether some kinds of work are more valuable than others, for example—and how the customs of a place should inform the treatment of its workers. A dissenting opinion preserved in the Talmud suggests that even more important, perhaps, than the custom of a place can be “the inherent dignity of the workers [which can transcend] any entrenched customs.”¹ If the custom of the place is ungenerous to or abusive of workers, the dignity of the workers may be the higher standard to which employers should be held. (Additional examples of labor–related traditional Jewish texts can be found in Jewish Time Jump: New York—Judaism and Labor (Module #3).)

There are many examples of contemporary campaigns in which Jews have advocated in solidarity with workers who are struggling against unfair labor practices. Many of these campaigns target industries that predominantly employ immigrant (sometimes undocumented) workers who are particularly vulnerable to the unjust demands of their employers. The New York–based Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) has organized employers of domestic workers—those employed to work in homes, often to clean or provide childcare—and other allies in the New York Jewish community in solidarity with Domestic Workers United (DWU). By galvanizing Jewish legislators, community organizations, and synagogues, DWU and JFREJ helped pass the first–ever Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in the country, “a tremendous win not just for domestic workers but for women, immigrants, people of color, low–wage workers, the Jewish community, and many more.”²

In addition to working in partnership with workers, Jews have also leveraged their power as consumers to fight for labor justice. Jewish allies targeted their fellow Jews who patronize hotels that treat workers unfairly, asking them to boycott the companies and withhold their business until the hotels changed their practices. The Jewish Labor Committee and the Central Conference of American Rabbis issued petitions and appeals to Jewish organizations to boycott Hyatt hotels in particular until the hotels ceased unfair practices, such as using staff members to train new staff who then replaced them at a lower pay rate³. Through the Fair Food Program organized by the Coalition for Immokalee Workers (CIW), rabbis and Jewish communities have learned about the unfair treatment of people picking tomatoes in Immokalee, FL and then put pressure on businesses they patronize (including Trader Joe’s and Wendy’s) to buy tomatoes at a higher price so higher wages could be passed to the workers.

Jews have also used traditional Jewish legal forms to encourage fairer labor practices within the Jewish community. For example, Rabbi Jill Jacobs wrote a teshuvah (responsum) regarding paying workers a living wage, which the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement adopted⁴. Rabbi Jacobs argued that Jewish organizations need to do more than pay the minimum wage to their employees, and she finds Talmudic support for going beyond the letter of the law regarding fair business practices. Rabbi Jacobs's living wage teshuvah reminds Jewish organizations to examine their own employment practices in light of Jewish values and Jewish law.

Consumer–driven activism through boycotts and lobbying is one way to achieve justice for workers. Another approach is to build and run businesses that attempt to address these issues from the outset. One example is Costco, which pays workers $17/hour on average (42% higher than its closest competitor, Sam’s Club) and also provides health care for its employees⁵. When a fire broke out in Malden Mills (the company that invented Polartec) in 1995, no one was killed, but many workers could not work and the town of Lawrence, MA was devastated. Jewish owner Aaron Feuerstein had some tough decisions to make. Should he take the opportunity to move his factory overseas where labor was cheaper? What should he do about the hundreds of Malden Mills employees who were suddenly out of work? Feuerstein decided to rebuild the factory in Lawrence and to pay all of his workers their full salaries while the plant was under construction—two decisions that earned him the title “The Mensch of Malden Mills.”⁶

Sadly, Jewish businesses do not always follow ethical practices. Agriprocessors, Inc. is an extreme example of a Jewish, privately–owned company that not only violated Jewish law regarding the humane treatment of animals, but also in their appalling treatment of undocumented employees. The largest supplier of kosher meat in the United States, Agriprocessors, Inc. was at the center of a massive human and animal rights scandal that came to light in 2008. Hundreds of Agriprocessors, Inc. workers were not legally allowed to hold jobs. Because of this, and because many were also undocumented immigrants to the US, organizing or making demands for fair pay and safe working conditions was virtually impossible (because they could be reported to immigration authorities or simply fired). As the story unfolded, a more complete picture of their experience evolved, including information that “the workers had been paid some of the lowest wages in the nation, and were allegedly forced to work up to 17–hour days with 10–minute lunch breaks in a freezing–cold, dirty hallway. Workers as young as 16 were said to have been operating meat grinders and power shears, often without any safety training.”⁷

Other, non–Jewish–owned businesses have recently been called out for unjust labor practices as well (as referenced in the game Jewish Time Jump: New York). One is Foxconn (a supplier for Apple), whose factories in China make most of the world’s iPads and iPhones. Foxconn was cited for poor working conditions and long overtime hours that were blamed for causing several workers to commit suicide in 2010. In 2013, the now–infamous Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed, killing over 1,100 workers. Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of clothing in the world and the tragedy brought attention to the terrible conditions that run rampant in Bangladeshi garment factories and continue to be investigated.⁸

American Jews play a wide variety of roles in today’s labor economy. As such, there are myriad opportunities for Jews to perpetrate injustice or fight for just and dignified work opportunities for all people. Traditional Jewish texts and historical stories provide many ways for contemporary Jews to understand our roles as workers, employers, or consumers.

<sup>1. Jacobs, Jill, There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Law and Tradition (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2009) 108.↩
2. Jews for Racial and Economic Justice website, “Campaigns” “Shalom Bayit: Justice for Domestic Workers” page, http://www.jfrej.org/shalom-bayit-campaign↩
3. The Jewish Chronicle online, http://thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/4977004/article-Jewish-Labor-Committee-calls-for-Hyatt-boycott?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column↩
4. Jacobs, Rabbi Jill, “Work, Workers and the Jewish Owner,” JSpot.org, May 30, 2008. Full text is now available online: http://bit.ly/1rv5Rht↩
5. Greenhouse, Steven. “How Costco Became the Anti-Walmart.” The New York Times. July 17, 2005. ↩
6. Leung, Rebecca. “The Mensch of Malden Mills.” CBS. July 3, 2003, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-mensch-of-malden-mills/↩
7. Dwoskin, Elizabeth. “The Fall of the House of Rubashkin.” The Village Voice. December 3, 2008, http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-12-03/news/the-fall-of-the-house-of-rubashkin/↩
8. Yardley, Jim. “After Disaster, Bangladesh Lags in Policing Its Maze of Factories.” The New York Times. July, 2 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/world/asia/bangladeshi-inspectors-struggle-to-avert-a-new-factory-disaster.html?pagewanted=all.↩</sup>