Boston Jewish groups sign pledge to remain behind the picket line

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=2765

Jewish groups sign pledge to remain behind the picket line

By Kristin Erekson - Thursday March 22 2007

Organizations show solidarity with hotel workers threatening to strike

If Boston’s hotel workers decide to strike next month, local Jewish organizations are vowing to stand behind them by canceling their multi-thousand dollar events being held at the upscale venues.

Earlier this month, officials at the Rashi School, a Reform Jewish day school in Newton, and Jewish Funds for Justice, a national organization that fights poverty, signed a pledge created by the New England Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) that promises to stay behind the picket line if hotel employees in the area strike.
More than 1,000 workers hired by New York-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which operates Sheraton Boston, Westin Copley Place, Westin Waterfront and Boston Park Plaza, voted on March 14 in favor of a strike authorization. The vote was a result of employees’ disagreement over wages, workloads, healthcare and retirement benefits, and the lack of African-Americans employed at the locales, according to UNITE HERE! Local 26 President Janice Loux.
Loux told the Advocate that “negotiations with Starwood have been very tough.” Consequently, a strike at any of these Boston properties can be called as early as April 1.
“We are heading towards a serious labor dispute,” Loux added. “I absolutely think that the Jewish community boycott will have a huge impact. When you start raising the issue of affecting the profit margin, it has one of the biggest impacts of all.”
While the contract covering the Sheraton Boston, Boston Park Plaza and Westin Waterfront Hotels has expired, the contract at the Westin Copley Place is set to be terminated on March 31.
David Dolev, regional director of the New England JLC, said the committee has engaged in a national campaign over the past year to ensure hotel workers’ rights. But with a strike looming in Boston, Dolev and others have now been scrambling to collect signatures from religious leaders and organizations that back the Hub’s hotel employees.
“I think that we all know that many of our grandparents were immigrants to this county and worked for very, very low wages,” Dolev said, noting that many Jewish organizations have events at these hotels because of their kosher facilities. “I also think that the hotels in Boston are very profitable and the basic minimum they could do is to make sure their workers have basic rights.”
Rabbi Joe Eiduson, head of the Rashi School, said he received a phone call from the JLC last week regarding the strike and immediately wanted to help. He turned in his pledge to the JLC on March 16.
The school is expecting to hold its annual dinner for more than 500 people on May 17 at the Westin Copley Place, where cocktails and a kosher dinner will be served. Though he wouldn’t give an exact amount, Eiduson noted that the educational institution will lose “thousands of dollars” – the cost of the event – if workers strike, since members of the Rashi community won’t cross the picket line. Yet, he added, it’s a risk that’s worthwhile.
“As a Jewish day school affiliated with the Reform movement and since the founding of Reform Judaism, a commitment to America’s workers has always been affirmed,” Eiduson said. “We are hopeful that the workers and management are going to come to a resolution and, hopefully, there won’t be a strike.”

FULL story at link.

[Forkboy]

1. Yeah baby!

Big kick and recommendation!

[bread_and_roses]

2. Good for them! (n/t)

[catnhatnh]

3. This is EXACTLY why I love Jewish people....

...and HATE how often Israel drives me to dispair...
...On edit I suddenly realize this is similar to how I LOVE the American people and Hate how often America drives me to dispair...
...Somewhere in my head, Israel just became the true "Little America"...

[BoneDaddy]

4. WTG

Kudos to the Jewish community.