Jewish Labour Committee
| Full name | Jewish Labor Committee |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1934 |
| Affiliation |
AFL-CIO (allied group) Change to Win (working relationship) Canadian Labour Congress (until the 1970s) |
| Office location | 140 West 31st Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10001 |
| Country |
United States (current), Canada (1936-1970s) |
| Website | jewishlabor.org |
The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is an American secular Jewish organization dedicated to promoting labor union interests in Jewish communities, and Jewish interests within unions. The organization is headquartered in New York City, with local/regional offices in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles, and volunteer-led affiliated groups in a number of other U.S. communities. It was founded in 1934 in response to the rise of Nazism in Europe. Today, it works to maintain and strengthen the historically strong relationship between the American Jewish community and the trade union movement, and to promote what they see as the shared social justice agenda of both communities. The JLC was also active in Canada from 1936 until the 1970s.
The Jewish Labor Committee was formed in February 1934, in response to the rise of Nazism in Germany, by Yiddish-speaking immigrant trade union leaders, including leaders of established groups such as the Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring, the Jewish Labor Bund, and the United Hebrew Trades. Representatives assembled at a conference on New York's Lower East Side, electing its first president, Baruch Charney Vladeck, and charging it with the following tasks:
At the urging of B.C. Vladeck and Jewish union leaders, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) came out in favor of a boycott of Nazi goods at its 1933 convention. At the 1934 convention of the AFL, Vladeck argued that the Nazi persecution of Jews was part of a general assault on labor rights and political liberty. The AFL agreed and in response it created the "Labor Chest" to aid victims of fascism; in the following years, the Chest funded a host of JLC-inspired educational and aid projects.
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