Featured • Posted in Uncategorized

Immigration Reform Actions, May 22, 29, 31; June 26

Stand with JALSA and our allies  in working for comprehensive legislation

 May 22; Noon, Creative Story-telling Action; Quincy Market.. Join JALSA, Workmen’s Circle, the New England Jewish Labor Committee, Bend the Arc, JOIN for Justice, and Moishe Kavod House as we dress up as the Statue of Liberty or in Jewish religious garb (kippot, tallitot, tefillin, etc), and invite passersby to share their family’s immigration stories and place their families on our world immigration map.   Reserve your crown and sheet to dress like the Statue of Liberty and help visibility; contact Elana Kogan at ekogan@bendthearc.us

May 29, 7AM;  Creative Story-telling Visibility in Newton;  In planning stage.  Call JALSA office for information updates, 617-227-3000) .  Join JALSA supporters as we gather at a Newton event to continue this immigration story gathering — urging special guest Sen. Elizabeth Warren to become a champion on this issue.  To be kept informed of plans, write jalsaoffice@gmail.com.

May 31, 12:30PM; JLASA Office, Jewish Text Study and Legislative Update; Eva Millona, MIRA and Rabbi Andrew Vogel, Temple Sinai.. Join a conversation on the intersection of immigration policy and Jewish teachings with Rabbi Andrew Vogel of Temple Sinai and Eva Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), one of our state’s leading experts on immigration reform.  RSVP (if possible) to jalsaoffice@gmail.com.

June 26, 7PM Stoddards; Tzedek Salon on Immigration for 20s-30s Activists with Sarang Sekhavat, MIRA (48 Temple Place).  Join Sarang Sekhavat, the Federal Policy Director for MIRA, at a Tzedek Salon. Before joining the organization in 2008, he was a longtime immigrants’ rights activist in New York City. We look forward to an enlightening and inspiring evening. Refreshments will be provided along with a cash bar. RSVP (if possible) to jalsaoffice@gmail.com.

Thank you for personally participating in this effort, Sheila Decter,  Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action

Featured • Posted in Uncategorized

$8.165 Million spent by NRA on 45 Senators who Blocked Sensible Measures to Reduce gun Violence

91% of Americans Support background checks.  Yet 45 Senators blocked that legislation.  How much did it cost to buy their votes?

Please visit http://DemandAction.org/Receipt, a website of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, to see a receipt of the campaign contributions paid to those 45 senators by the gun lobby, totaling $8,165,490.  91% of NRA members — support criminal background checks for all gun sales.  But these senators ignored the will of their constituents and gave in to the money and influence of the gun lobby.

Featured • Posted in Economic and Social Justice • Full Equality and Civil Rights

Immigration Reform – Write to Senator Rubio

 When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; love him like yourself, for you were a stranger in the land of Egypt. I am Adonai your G-d.(Leviticus 19:33-34).    Jewish tradition teaches that we must identify with the struggles of immigrants, and welcome them into our communities. JALSA urges our members to join us in supporting comprehensive immigration reform.

May 1, is International Workers Day across the Globe.  Throughout the U.S., groups that consistently support the condition of workers highlighted immigrants this year because it is these workers that are often subject to exploitation in the workplace.

  Action Needed: Write to Senator Marco Rubio (R FL), one of the members of the Gang of eight in the Senate who prepared S. 744, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and immigration Modernization Act”.  Senator Rubio has ……….opened a comment page on his website to reach out nationwide to get feedback on the bill.  This is a unique opportunity for JALSA members to reach out to him to reinforce our priorities in the bill.  1 – If you have a Florida address or can write along with a Florida resident, be sure to mention that.  But, he is interested in people throughout the country, so don’t let your MA residency stop you from writing.  2. Thank the senator for his work on immigration reform.   We want him to know that we think the bill goes in the right direction (Some of his constituents do not want any path to citizenship.).  3.  If you have time to go further, please raise one of these issues of concern as ways to improve the bill as it goes forward:   a.   Under the conditions of the bill, undocumented immigrants could pay taxes for 10 years and still not have access to benefits like food stamps and preventive health screenings if needed.  The extension of the current 5 year ban that keeps new green card holders from accessing means-tested federal programs plus the long road to citizenship in the bill makes this limitation on benefits too long.  b. The exclusion of LGBT people from the definition of family means that bi-national same sex couples and their families can be separated for years because family unification laws won’t apply to them.  c. The elimination of the sibling visa category is not right.   Fill in your name, email address and comment directly on the Senator’s website.

Let us know you wrote and we can post your comments on our JALSA website.  Let us know if you want to work on JALSA’s Immigration Reform Team.  Click here.

Featured • Posted in Uncategorized

Garment Working Conditions

For recent developments see May 19 NY Times article ” H&M Led Labor Breakthrough …”

http://nyti.ms/10dc5je

The recent event in Bangladesh is an unfortunate reminder of the importance of government regulations for working conditions in factories. The collapse of the factory is the latest in a long line of disasters at Bangladeshi factories. Last year, more than 100 people died in a fire at Tazreen Fashions in the Bangladeshi town of Ashulia.  M.T. Anderson, earlier this week in an excellent article in the NYTimes, reminded us of the similar tragedies in American garment factories until regulations were enforced.   The collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh was not given the attention it deserved in the media due the coverage of the domestic Boston Marathon bombings and West, Texas factory explosion. But, it is important to reflect on the calamity that took place in the town of Savar in central Bangladesh where the death toll has now exceeded 500 according to Reuters. Much of the clothing we buy comes from places like Savar, and the conditions for the workers who make that clothing are dangerous and inhumane. We must educate ourselves and show as consumers that we are conscious of the treatment of those who make the products we buy.

Action Needed.     The Gap and other American stores that buy from Bangladeshi garment factories should be pressured to join the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement to make immediate safety improvements in supplier factories. Writing to the CEOs of these companies is a very effective means for pressuring them into changing their policies on what working conditions they expect from the factories that they buy from.  Loblaw (Joe Fresh clothing) and Primark have said they will compensate the victims’ families, (Boston Globe, May 1, 2013) but they, Benetton, Children’s Place, and Mango need to improve worker conditions.  Gap products were involved in the earlier fire.

Here are corporate addresses listed for these companies. Primark Stores   Limited  Primark House 41 West Street Reading Berkshire RG1 1TZ ; Childrens Place Corporate Office Headquarters; 500 Plaza Drive, Secaucus, NJ 07094 USA; Loblaw Companies Limited, 1 President’s Choice Circle; Brampton, Ontario, Canada L6Y 5S5 ; Mango Mercaders 9-11 Poligono Industrial Riera de Caldes Apdo de correos; 280 Palau Solità i  Plegamans; Barcelona 08184 Spain; Gap; 2 Folsom Street; San Francisco, CA 94105; Villa Minelli (Benetton); Via Villa Minelli, 131050 Ponzano Veneto; Treviso, Italy

Sincerely,  Sheila Decter,  Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action

 

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/opinion/bangladeshs-are-only-the-latest-in-textile-factory-disasters.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

Featured • Posted in *ABOUT JALSA*

JALSA: Major Priorities

**Common Sense Gun Laws: Background checks on all gun purchases, including gun shows; Prohibition on sales or ownership of military style assault weapons and clips/magazines/drums that hold 30, 50, 100 rounds of ammunition; buy-back programs of guns.  (Volunteers Needed.  Email jalsaoffice@gmail.com if you wish to help encourage state and/or federal legislation. )

**Protecting Immigrants: Protecting Immigrants from Attacks on Benefits and Civil Liberties (Help us move to comprehensive immigration reform.  Call 617-227-3000 or email jalsaoffice@gmail.com to join our efforts to help immigrants have a path to citizenship.)

**Worker Justice: Working against outsourcing of sub-contracts to avoid paying benefits to long-time workers; Earned Sick Time Advocacy  (Join our efforts to get business leaders to support our work for earned earned sick time.  Write Bgutman.jalsa@gmail.com)

**Food Justice: Improving Access to Nutritious Food for Low Income Populations. Implementing the Public Health Trust established by the MA legislature.  (Help us get neighborhood groups to seek funds under the new Public Health Trust to improve access to healthy food in their neighborhoods.  email jalsaoffice@gmail.com)

**Mortgage Crisis: Adequate and Improved programs to save homes during this mortgage crisis.  (The resolution on mandatory mediation that passed the Brookline Town Meeting is a model for which needs to be passed state-wide.  email jalsaoffice@gmail.com if you want to help.)

**Education: Supporting programs which enhance public education, equity of resources for disadvantaged communities, opposition to privatization of public education or diversion of public funds from public schools.(Legislation pending at the State House will help improve assessment and accountability with less impact from high stake tests. To help, write jalsaoffice@gmail.com.)

**Revenue: Closing of tax loopholes and increase of  revenue necessary for the whole range of vital government operations, infrastructure, education, health.  (Come join our Revenue Committee to work on federal and Massachusetts revenue issues.  To help, write jalsaoffice@gmail.com.)

Want to Help make our communities more just?
Contact the JALSA office via email (jalsaoffice@gmail.com) or phone (617-227-3000) or  Join our Mailing List.

Posted in Uncategorized

May 31, 12:30PM, JALSA Office, Immigration Reform – Text and Action

JALSA invites you to join us for a special discussion and Jewish text study on the current state and federal efforts for immigration reform.  We are excited to be joined by:

Eva Millona

Executive Director, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

Co-chair, Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants

Guiding us through a conversation and purview of current legislative efforts to reform immigration policy

 Rabbi Andrew Vogel

Temple Sinai, Brookline

Guiding us through an exploration of Jewish textual sources on the importance of progressive and just immigration policy

We come from a tradition that teaches us to welcome the stranger, not simply because it is right to do so but because we too were once strangers in an unfamiliar land.  For most of us, this is a question, not only of Torah, but of our own family history. The lives of our parents and grandparents, if not ourselves, have been narratives of immigration. We have benefited when policies of citizenship and entry have been progressive and we have suffered greatly when they have been driven by xenophobia.  Our tradition teaches the importance of study that leads to action. We hope you can join us as we look to that tradition’s texts and learn what they say about how a state must treat its immigrants and how we are called upon to act.  If you are on our email list (can sign up on this page, left side) you’ll also be receiving an email with a list of upcoming actions that you can take to advance comprehensive immigration reform.    Please RSVP (if possible) to jalsaoffice@gmail.com.  Sincerely, Sheila Decter, Executive Director

Posted in Protecting Civil Liberties

Immigration Reform Needed Now
JALSA letters The Jewish Advocate and the Jewish Journal of the North Shore

The Jewish Advocate, Vol 204, No. 19.  Sivan 5773, May 10, 2013

Rational Immigration Reform must be Passed.

On May 12, 2008, the largest immigration raid in the United States to date, in which  389 persons were arrested, occurred in Postville, Iowa. The company that was raided, Agriprocessors, was the largest kosher meat packing plant in America and owned by a Hasidic family. As in 2007, after an army of federal agents descended on a New Bedford textile factory and arrested 361 immigrants, strong calls for comprehensive immigration reform were heard. Despite advocacy by then-President Bush and President Obama, it has not been accomplished.

As Jews committed to social and economic justice, we found the Postville raid doubly painful. First, it tore hundreds of families apart, often with a mother or father suddenly imprisoned for months and then summarily deported. Most of the deportees had no prior criminal records. Second, we were distressed that the raided workplace was a site for production of kosher products that we would normally have been confident to purchase and serve our families. Kosher insignia on food products convey high standards of preparation and, perhaps naively, we would not have expected exploitation of immigrants to be a factor in their production.

After Postville, Jewish groups and kosher consumers engaged in awareness and advocacy campaigns. They raised funds to help workers’ families caught up in these raids and spurred enforcement of worker rights within the kosher food industry. The Conservative movement created a new Magen Tzedek certification, indicating that food products have been prepared in keeping with Jewish ethics, including workers’ rights.

Now, on the fifth anniversary of Postville, Congress should pass rational immigration reform that includes a reasonable and clear path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and inclusion of bi-national same-sex couples. This is a human issue and an economic issue on which it’s high time for Democrats and Republicans to find common ground.

Sheila Decter,  Executive Director;  Jeff Stone,  Board Member

Jewish Journal of the North Shore
VOL 37, NO 21, MAY 16, 2013 – 7 SIVAN, 5773
 Still Fighting for Immigration Reform

Five years ago, the small town of Postville, Iowa, was torn apart when 389 undocumented workers at Agriprocessors, America’s largest kosher meat packing plant, were arrested, detained for five months and finally deported to Guatemala, where many had fled violence and poverty.
Everyday, Homeland Security and ICE take mothers, fathers, children and friends away from their loved ones.

Our community has a special responsibility to remember Postville, and not simply because the food prepared there by the exploitation of immigrant workers was labeled kosher and served in our stores and on our Shabbat tables. We are called to remember Postville and the deportations because not so long ago, it was we who were strangers. We were the ones denied entry and shuffled back and forth across borders as we fled from violence. We were the ones who were unwelcome.

Many of our parents and grandparents were luckier than immigrants today. If a path of citizenship had been as unavailable as it is for many today, we would perhaps not be here today. JALSA believes it is a Jewish duty to work for just immigration reform in this country. We believe in including same sex partners, older children and siblings in the category of family members who can apply for a green card. We remember Jewish families divided by immigration policies, and what that meant for those left behind.

Five years after Postville, and millions of other detentions and deportations, our nation can wait no longer. We need comprehensive immigration reform now.
Jeremy Wood and Sheila Decter,   Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action

Posted in Economic and Social Justice

NY City Council Approves Mandating Sick-Day Pay (45-3); MA needs more business supporters

On Wednesday, May 8, the New York City Council approved Sick-Day Pay (LINK) Please  support our friends and colleagues who fought so hard for years to win this important victory!  

JALSA needs your help with recruiting more business supporters who will come out to the Earned Sick Time Bill hearing to neutralize the big business organizations. If you own a business or know of one that supports providing earned sick time for their employees, please contact Barbara Gutman (bgutman.jalsa@gmail.com) as soon as possible.

The following appeared on Bostonglobe.com:  Headline: Proposal to mandate paid sick days gaining momentum – The Boston Globe
Date:     Apr 15, 2013 A nearly decade-long effort to require Massachusetts employers to offer paid sick days to workers is gaining new momentum as similar proposals get enacted into law across the country. At least five cities and one state, Connecticut, have mandated that employers provide the benefit in recent years with New York City poised to join them after the City Council recently reached agreement to enact legislation requiring businesses with 20 or more employees to offer five paid sick days a year. Similar proposals are under consideration in Philadelphia and Vermont. In Massachusetts, supporters say these victories are giving new life to legislation that was first filed in 2005, but has foundered in the face of opposition from businesses. Even opponents say the tide may be turning.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/04/14/proposal-mandate-paid-sick-days-gaining-momentum/8whRYPA3yNN8TgZgIrEFLL/story.html?s_campaign=8315