Jews, labor movement still a good fit

boston | Ties between American Jews and the U.S. labor movement have deep historical roots that continue to play out.

Like when a Boston-area Jewish labor leader recently played a key role in defeating a divestment fight concerning Israel.

David Borrus, a union organizer and co-chair of the New England chapter of the Jewish Labor Committee, was the go-to guy recently when the Boston Jewish community needed the support of local labor unions. The fight: a campaign in the suburb of Somerville to force the city's municipal retirement funds to divest their holdings in Israel Bonds.

The fact that union organizers stood at a public meeting behind Israel's consul general to New England "delivered a message to aldermen that this issue was not only important to Israel but to their own constituents," said Alan Ronkin, deputy director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.

This particular divestment effort was defeated, but the larger battle is ongoing: Divestment proponents renewed their efforts to put the issue on a Somerville city ballot later this year.

"I don't think there has been greater proof in recent memory of why our community needs the Jewish labor community," said Ethan Felson, assistant executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, who has been active in the divestment fight. "They've been heroic in this divestment battle."

The union's view "is that the worst thing for peace and for workers is divestment and isolation," says Phillip Fishman, the AFL-CIO's assistant director for international affairs and the point person on the divestment issue for the past decade.

Campaigns to fend off divestment efforts in many areas in the country, including San Francisco, shed light on the historic relationship between Jews and organized labor. Jews were a vital part of the labor movement during the early- and mid-20th century, when the movement was one of the strongest political forces in the United States.

The Jewish Labor Committee's board of directors is made up of some of the most influential labor leaders in the country, including Morton Bahr, the recently retired president of the Communications Workers of America, and Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union.

Stern sent shock waves through the labor movement this summer when he led a bitter revolt in the AFL-CIO and pulled his 1.3-million member union out of the labor federation. Several other unions followed suit.

However, Lyons, Bahr and Stern have all said the split will not affect the workings of the Jewish Labor Committee, which is not taking sides in the issue.

While the U.S. labor movement is not as powerful as it once was, labor has "tremendous political influence in many segments, and we shouldn't take it for granted," Felson said. Jews and labor movement still a good fit.