//features//
Fall 2018
"If you're not going to fight for yourself, who will?":
The Struggle over Jewish Values at the JTS Construction Project
Maya Bickel
In the midst of a snowstorm that blanketed the city on November 15th, a construction worker with the company SLG Construction, two union organizers, and ten people affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (including undergraduates, Rabbinical students, and alumni) gathered in a room in Barnard Hall to discuss retaliatory actions taken by SLG, a subcontractor to Gilbane Building Company, the General Contractor on JTS’ 21st Century Campus Project.
The 21st Century Campus Project is the name for the construction of a new library, auditorium and residence hall for JTS. In comments to The Forward about the project in January 2015, JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen said “This is a chance to say, we are here, we are going to be a conversation center for many years to come. These halls are going to hum with conversations that are rooted in Torah and engaged with the issues of the contemporary world.”
Two years after the announcement of the project, JTS was beset with conversations about Jewish values and issues of the contemporary world, but not necessarily of the type Chancellor Eisen anticipated.
To realize their vision, JTS hired Gilbane Building Company. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, since 2008, Gilbane, a Rhode Island-based company, has been steadily increasing its presence in New York City. Gilbane operates according to a model known as “open-shop,” or “merit-shop,” in which various types of subcontractors bid for jobs, and contractors choose between them, instead of relying exclusively on union labor. Local contractors have typically relied on union labor, influenced by the union culture that is dominant in New York City, but other big construction companies have begun to follow Gilbane’s lead. In response, unions across the city are waging an attack on Gilbane in the form of rallies at construction sites, and various efforts to help non-unionized employees bargain for better conditions.
Students, alumni, and labor organizers highlight that in the past few years Gilbane and their subcontractors have been cited for a wide range of violations. Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers Lo- cal 46 created a whole website called Gilbane Exposed, which compiles many of the articles and lawsuits against Gilbane. These include an indictment of the Gilbane subcontractor Parkside Construction for more than 1.7 million in wage theft by the Manhattan District Attorney, sexual harassment complaints filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and violations for hazardous construction. Gilbane has also been charged with public ethics violations more than once.
Student Efforts
The November 15, 2018 meeting is just the latest episode in a long running battle. JTS students and labor rights advocates have been lobbying JTS to ensure workers safety and rights and prevent abuses by Gilbane since early in 2017. In February 2017, Lee Kallman, a community organizer with NYC Community Alliance for Workers’ Justice, a group that fights for workers’ rights in the construction industry, heard about JTS’ decision to hire Gilbane. She reached out to JTS affiliated students, staff and recent grads to get their support to pressure JTS. On February 28th, 125 protesters, a mix of building-trades workers, mainly from Laborers Local 79 and Ironworkers Locals 46 and 580 (various construction worker unions), and students, gathered near the school’s entrance on Broadway and 122nd, to rally against Gilbane in general (not in regards to specific incidents at the JTS site).
Throughout March and April of 2017 people affiliated with JTS and community and union organizers worked to put pressure on JTS to either terminate the contract with Gilbane, or put in place stringent measures to ensure that Gilbane hires union workers or ensures safe working conditions and fair wages with the presumption that the practices seen at other Gilbane sites were likely to occur in the JTS project. More than 100 alumni of the seminary signed a letter outlining these concerns. Undergraduate students formed a group, Just Labor at JTS, and began trying to raise student awareness of these concerns.
Noa Rubin, a junior in the double degree program between List College (JTS’ undergraduate school) and Barnard College, helped start Just Labor. Rubin’s grandfather was a working-class Bronx Jew who was always a part of labor unions. She believes she has a Jewish imperative to help. “On an ethical and moral level I consider this a Jewish issue,” she says.
On May 1, 2017, International Workers’ Day, JTS students, members of local trades unions, and of NYC Community Alliance for Worker Justice gathered and marched from in front of JTS to urge JTS and Gilbane to select subcontractors for the JTS project who are either unionized or have good safety records. Many of the activists had accepted that JTS was not likely or not able to end their contract with Gilbane, but they still believed that JTS was in a position to modify the contract. “JTS already hired Gilbane. We can’t change that anymore. We can get JTS to twist their [Gilbane’s] arm to get them to do certain things,” says Rubin.
The efforts by current and former students were not only about treating workers fairly, they were about the underlying Jewish values. The main student organizer who spoke at the November meeting said in an interview with The Current “What feels so central to us is that JTS touts itself as the forefront of the Conservative Jewish movement. It bodes really poorly when a pioneering Jewish educational and religious institution is so blatantly disregarding human life and consequences and ignoring the illegal business practices of their contractor.” Especially because “from within the walls of JTS they released a teshuva [a binding legal opinion or responsum] saying there is a Jewish religious, ethical imperative to hire union labor when they can. And they can, but they chose not to.”
The Teshuva
On May 28, 2008 the Committee on Law and Jewish Standards (CJLS), which sets halakhic policies (policies pertaining to Jewish law) for the Conservative movement, approved a responsum by Rabbi Jill Jacobs titled “Work, Workers, and the Jewish Owner.” Every approved responsum represents official halakhic positions of the Conservative movement, although local rabbis still have discretion and are considered the primary decisors of their communities.
Jacob’s responsum was intended to serve as a guideline for Conservative institutions and Conservative Jews in regards to the workers they hire in accordance with Jewish law. In the introduction, she explains that, “Jewish communities in general, and Conservative Jewish institutions in particular, generally at- tempt to live our values in the ways in which we care for members of our communities, in our choices about how to spend time and money, and in other aspects of our communal lives.” “Low-wage workers” she continues, “are also members of our communities.” The guidelines in the responsum include treating workers with dignity and respect, paying a living wage, not putting workers at risk of injury, and allowing workers to make their own decisions about unionization without threats, and to “hire unionized employees when possible.”
After the CJLS adopted the responsum, Marc Gary, a non-voting member, submitted a paper to the committee, in part concurring and in part dissenting. In his paper, titled, “On Expressing Compassion for Workers and Respecting their Choices,” Gary explains that while he supports parts of the teshuva that urge Conservative Jews and their institutions to treat workers fairly, he finds that “conclusions that Jewish employers should discriminate against workers who choose not to join unions...to be utterly unsupported by our tradition, politically motivated, ethically questionable, and contrary to the principle that we should protect and respect workers’ choices.”
In September 2013 Marc Gary was appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer of JTS. He now oversees the 21st Century Campus Project and has been the author of statements released in response to student and alumni pressure. His earlier dissent meant that labor and student activists viewed the administration’s decisions and statements with more suspicion.
The key issue here is whether the open-shop model used by Gilbane complies with the responsum. After the protests, on May 3, JTS published a letter on their website that had been sent to the whole community. In the letter, Gary justified Gilbane’s open-shop model. “This model allows the selection of subcontractors on the basis of merit and allows all construction firms—union and non-union—who meet the necessary requirements (including safety and wages) to participate in the project.” In regards to the teshuva, Gary writes, “JTS is holding itself to the high ethical aspirations reflected in the responsum on workers and labor relations.” "We have consulted with our halakhic experts, Rabbi Daniel Nevins and Rabbi David Hoffman, both of whom are members of the Law Committee and were on the committee when the responsum was approved. They have assured us that our actions are fully consistent with the guidance of the responsum,” he added.
Rabbi Jacobs weighed in on the situation the day after the letter was released. In a public facebook post, she wrote, “I believe there is still an opportunity for JTS to do the right thing in its current construction project. But we are not there yet.” She explained that JTS was not adhering to the responsum: “The teshuva requires hiring union labor “whenever possible.” This formulation does not leave room for JTS to go first to non-union labor without making an effort in good faith to hire union firms.”
Not all of the teshuva’s signatories agree with Rabbi Jacob’s interpretation of the language with regard to union labor. Nevins and Hoffman, the two rabbis Gary mentioned in his letter, posted a comment to Jacob’s post: “Union membership is not itself a halakhic mandate—it is associated with halakhic concerns but is not identical to them.”
The Jewish ethical questions in Spring 2017 revolved around whether Jewish Conservative institutions had a halakhic obligation to try to hire specifically union labor or to ensure that the companies hired, union or not, complied with Jewish law regarding fair treatment of workers. But as the year continued, students and organizers alleged that a Gilbane subcontractor had retaliated against workers who tried to bargain for higher wages and better benefits.
SLG
According to an organizer for Local 79 (who requested to remain anonymous) the SLG employees are contending that in early October 2018 SLG employees at the Brooklyn Navy Yard construction site approached one of the owners of SLG’s son with a petition signed by approximately 50 SLG employees across a number of SLG sites (now the petition has around 70 signatures, a majority). The petition was for a 40 dollar pay package so that they can afford health insurance and retirement contributions. The goal here was to open negotiation, but to date SLG had not come to the table. On October 18th, SLG employees and other members of local unions, students with Just Labor at JTS and other people affiliated with JTS protested across the street from the Seminary, demanding higher wages and better benefits for the SLG workers, some of whom work at the JTS site. SLG declined to comment for this article.
Three weeks after the protest on November 8th, Michael Negron, one of the workers who submitted the petition, was temporarily suspended on charges of stealing time and not wearing appropriate equipment. Darnell Harper the other worker who had handed in the petition was suspended on November 12th. At this point, Laborers Local 79 got more involved, filing an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Review Board, flyering outside SLG job sites, office buildings, and going to Gilbane to bring the situation to their attention.
Just Labor posted about SLG’s retaliation on their Facebook page and urged students to call the JTS administration, and demand that JTS pressure Gilbane and SLG to listen to the worker’s petition. They also organized the Thursday November 15 community conversation with an SLG worker and two union organizers. At the meeting, an SLG employee explained the importance of the pay increase. “It would afford me not to feel like I’m struggling. Every check I get is out the door as soon as I get it.” Despite the retaliation, this worker affirmed his support for the petition: “If you’re not going to fight for yourself who will?”
The organizing worked to some extent, and on November 15th Negron was reinstated and Harper returned to work on the 20th. Nevertheless, the union organizer at the meeting said SLG still refuses to negotiate and has continued its attempts to intimidate workers. According to him, SLG met with foremen at multiple construction sites to offer them raises and deter them from joining the petition. “It’s a sign that organizing does work...but a lot of workers are scared after what happened [to Negron and Harper],” said the organizer.
A JTS student organizer at the meeting emphasized that there is still work to be done on behalf of the SLG employees. “JTS already paid Gilbane for the job site. There’s nothing they can lose from putting pressure on Gilbane and SLG to listen to the petition.” This student urged the people in the room to call the SLG office and to talk to their fellow students, professors, and administrators.
Rubin emphasized that Just Labor is not trying to defame JTS. “We’re JTS students. We love JTS. We’re here to defame Gilbane.” Still, Rubin says, “I feel strongly that JTS is responsible because JTS hired them [Gilbane]. When you hire in general it is on you to treat the people you hire well and make sure the people they hire are treating their workers well.” If JTS does pressure Gilbane and advocate for the SLG employ- ees, “that could be huge for setting a model and a standard for Jewish institutions,” Rubin says.
JTS Response
After the rally in May of 2017 and the delivery of the alumni letter, JTS responded in a statement emailed to the community. The statement, signed by Gary, explained the reasoning behind hiring Gilbane: “We have selected a construction management company that has been widely recognized in the construction industry as having one of the best safety records and safety protocols in the business...its OSHA (the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recordable incident rate and its Experience Modification Rate (which the insurance industry applies to determine insurance rates)—is far better than industry norms.” There also may not have been better options that met the selection criteria developed by JTS which included a commitment to sustainability, diversity, hiring locally, and ability to complete the project within the budget and time constraints.
The project’s safety record reflects the administration’s commitment to safety. In a written response to The Current, JTS wrote, “Since our project began, and after more than 160,000 labor-hours, we have had no lost days due to injury—a key measurement for construction safety."
JTS also took direct steps to address student and union concerns and said in the letter, “We are hiring a full-time, New York-licensed site safety professional whose only job will be to oversee the safety of our workers on the construction site and in the community,” which they explained they were under no legal obligation to do. In the letter Gary informed the community that the demolition, excavation and foundation were all union subcontractors.
After meeting with Gary, Rubin expressed appreciation for steps JTS had taken to address more recent concerns. “We pushed a lot for transparency and this big JTS website about the project was created. That was a huge accomplishment because it had a section where you could ask questions and directly contact the administration,” says Rubin. She added that after that meeting, JTS released a statement saying they would be using union labor when possible moving forward.
The letter Rubin refers to is an email sent out to the JTS community in September of 2017 where Gary writes, “we will continue to reach out to union subcontractors.” In a conversation following their written statement to The Current, JTS administration explained in more detail that they reached out to a leader in the labor movement to convey a message to union subcontractors to bid on this project. For one part of the project, the superstructure, when no union subcontractor bid, JTS actively sought union subcontractors and then chose one for that phase.
With regards to SLG, the JTS administration indicated that retaliation would be of concern, but that no one had notified them about this incident. If someone reached out to JTS, they would participate in meetings with Gilbane, SLG, and any workers who wanted to come forward to investigate the issue.
Student and alumni activism on these safety issues has stimulated substantial action from the administration. Given the administration’s demonstrated openness, further collaboration and progress are likely if they continue to communicate specific concerns as they arise. Far from resenting the student activism, JTS said in the conversation that it is very proud of all its students who are interested in issues of workers’ welfare. Still, one might well ask why it took this intervention for JTS to live up to its stated Jewish values.
The 21st Century Campus Project is the name for the construction of a new library, auditorium and residence hall for JTS. In comments to The Forward about the project in January 2015, JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen said “This is a chance to say, we are here, we are going to be a conversation center for many years to come. These halls are going to hum with conversations that are rooted in Torah and engaged with the issues of the contemporary world.”
Two years after the announcement of the project, JTS was beset with conversations about Jewish values and issues of the contemporary world, but not necessarily of the type Chancellor Eisen anticipated.
To realize their vision, JTS hired Gilbane Building Company. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, since 2008, Gilbane, a Rhode Island-based company, has been steadily increasing its presence in New York City. Gilbane operates according to a model known as “open-shop,” or “merit-shop,” in which various types of subcontractors bid for jobs, and contractors choose between them, instead of relying exclusively on union labor. Local contractors have typically relied on union labor, influenced by the union culture that is dominant in New York City, but other big construction companies have begun to follow Gilbane’s lead. In response, unions across the city are waging an attack on Gilbane in the form of rallies at construction sites, and various efforts to help non-unionized employees bargain for better conditions.
Students, alumni, and labor organizers highlight that in the past few years Gilbane and their subcontractors have been cited for a wide range of violations. Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers Lo- cal 46 created a whole website called Gilbane Exposed, which compiles many of the articles and lawsuits against Gilbane. These include an indictment of the Gilbane subcontractor Parkside Construction for more than 1.7 million in wage theft by the Manhattan District Attorney, sexual harassment complaints filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and violations for hazardous construction. Gilbane has also been charged with public ethics violations more than once.
Student Efforts
The November 15, 2018 meeting is just the latest episode in a long running battle. JTS students and labor rights advocates have been lobbying JTS to ensure workers safety and rights and prevent abuses by Gilbane since early in 2017. In February 2017, Lee Kallman, a community organizer with NYC Community Alliance for Workers’ Justice, a group that fights for workers’ rights in the construction industry, heard about JTS’ decision to hire Gilbane. She reached out to JTS affiliated students, staff and recent grads to get their support to pressure JTS. On February 28th, 125 protesters, a mix of building-trades workers, mainly from Laborers Local 79 and Ironworkers Locals 46 and 580 (various construction worker unions), and students, gathered near the school’s entrance on Broadway and 122nd, to rally against Gilbane in general (not in regards to specific incidents at the JTS site).
Throughout March and April of 2017 people affiliated with JTS and community and union organizers worked to put pressure on JTS to either terminate the contract with Gilbane, or put in place stringent measures to ensure that Gilbane hires union workers or ensures safe working conditions and fair wages with the presumption that the practices seen at other Gilbane sites were likely to occur in the JTS project. More than 100 alumni of the seminary signed a letter outlining these concerns. Undergraduate students formed a group, Just Labor at JTS, and began trying to raise student awareness of these concerns.
Noa Rubin, a junior in the double degree program between List College (JTS’ undergraduate school) and Barnard College, helped start Just Labor. Rubin’s grandfather was a working-class Bronx Jew who was always a part of labor unions. She believes she has a Jewish imperative to help. “On an ethical and moral level I consider this a Jewish issue,” she says.
On May 1, 2017, International Workers’ Day, JTS students, members of local trades unions, and of NYC Community Alliance for Worker Justice gathered and marched from in front of JTS to urge JTS and Gilbane to select subcontractors for the JTS project who are either unionized or have good safety records. Many of the activists had accepted that JTS was not likely or not able to end their contract with Gilbane, but they still believed that JTS was in a position to modify the contract. “JTS already hired Gilbane. We can’t change that anymore. We can get JTS to twist their [Gilbane’s] arm to get them to do certain things,” says Rubin.
The efforts by current and former students were not only about treating workers fairly, they were about the underlying Jewish values. The main student organizer who spoke at the November meeting said in an interview with The Current “What feels so central to us is that JTS touts itself as the forefront of the Conservative Jewish movement. It bodes really poorly when a pioneering Jewish educational and religious institution is so blatantly disregarding human life and consequences and ignoring the illegal business practices of their contractor.” Especially because “from within the walls of JTS they released a teshuva [a binding legal opinion or responsum] saying there is a Jewish religious, ethical imperative to hire union labor when they can. And they can, but they chose not to.”
The Teshuva
On May 28, 2008 the Committee on Law and Jewish Standards (CJLS), which sets halakhic policies (policies pertaining to Jewish law) for the Conservative movement, approved a responsum by Rabbi Jill Jacobs titled “Work, Workers, and the Jewish Owner.” Every approved responsum represents official halakhic positions of the Conservative movement, although local rabbis still have discretion and are considered the primary decisors of their communities.
Jacob’s responsum was intended to serve as a guideline for Conservative institutions and Conservative Jews in regards to the workers they hire in accordance with Jewish law. In the introduction, she explains that, “Jewish communities in general, and Conservative Jewish institutions in particular, generally at- tempt to live our values in the ways in which we care for members of our communities, in our choices about how to spend time and money, and in other aspects of our communal lives.” “Low-wage workers” she continues, “are also members of our communities.” The guidelines in the responsum include treating workers with dignity and respect, paying a living wage, not putting workers at risk of injury, and allowing workers to make their own decisions about unionization without threats, and to “hire unionized employees when possible.”
After the CJLS adopted the responsum, Marc Gary, a non-voting member, submitted a paper to the committee, in part concurring and in part dissenting. In his paper, titled, “On Expressing Compassion for Workers and Respecting their Choices,” Gary explains that while he supports parts of the teshuva that urge Conservative Jews and their institutions to treat workers fairly, he finds that “conclusions that Jewish employers should discriminate against workers who choose not to join unions...to be utterly unsupported by our tradition, politically motivated, ethically questionable, and contrary to the principle that we should protect and respect workers’ choices.”
In September 2013 Marc Gary was appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer of JTS. He now oversees the 21st Century Campus Project and has been the author of statements released in response to student and alumni pressure. His earlier dissent meant that labor and student activists viewed the administration’s decisions and statements with more suspicion.
The key issue here is whether the open-shop model used by Gilbane complies with the responsum. After the protests, on May 3, JTS published a letter on their website that had been sent to the whole community. In the letter, Gary justified Gilbane’s open-shop model. “This model allows the selection of subcontractors on the basis of merit and allows all construction firms—union and non-union—who meet the necessary requirements (including safety and wages) to participate in the project.” In regards to the teshuva, Gary writes, “JTS is holding itself to the high ethical aspirations reflected in the responsum on workers and labor relations.” "We have consulted with our halakhic experts, Rabbi Daniel Nevins and Rabbi David Hoffman, both of whom are members of the Law Committee and were on the committee when the responsum was approved. They have assured us that our actions are fully consistent with the guidance of the responsum,” he added.
Rabbi Jacobs weighed in on the situation the day after the letter was released. In a public facebook post, she wrote, “I believe there is still an opportunity for JTS to do the right thing in its current construction project. But we are not there yet.” She explained that JTS was not adhering to the responsum: “The teshuva requires hiring union labor “whenever possible.” This formulation does not leave room for JTS to go first to non-union labor without making an effort in good faith to hire union firms.”
Not all of the teshuva’s signatories agree with Rabbi Jacob’s interpretation of the language with regard to union labor. Nevins and Hoffman, the two rabbis Gary mentioned in his letter, posted a comment to Jacob’s post: “Union membership is not itself a halakhic mandate—it is associated with halakhic concerns but is not identical to them.”
The Jewish ethical questions in Spring 2017 revolved around whether Jewish Conservative institutions had a halakhic obligation to try to hire specifically union labor or to ensure that the companies hired, union or not, complied with Jewish law regarding fair treatment of workers. But as the year continued, students and organizers alleged that a Gilbane subcontractor had retaliated against workers who tried to bargain for higher wages and better benefits.
SLG
According to an organizer for Local 79 (who requested to remain anonymous) the SLG employees are contending that in early October 2018 SLG employees at the Brooklyn Navy Yard construction site approached one of the owners of SLG’s son with a petition signed by approximately 50 SLG employees across a number of SLG sites (now the petition has around 70 signatures, a majority). The petition was for a 40 dollar pay package so that they can afford health insurance and retirement contributions. The goal here was to open negotiation, but to date SLG had not come to the table. On October 18th, SLG employees and other members of local unions, students with Just Labor at JTS and other people affiliated with JTS protested across the street from the Seminary, demanding higher wages and better benefits for the SLG workers, some of whom work at the JTS site. SLG declined to comment for this article.
Three weeks after the protest on November 8th, Michael Negron, one of the workers who submitted the petition, was temporarily suspended on charges of stealing time and not wearing appropriate equipment. Darnell Harper the other worker who had handed in the petition was suspended on November 12th. At this point, Laborers Local 79 got more involved, filing an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Review Board, flyering outside SLG job sites, office buildings, and going to Gilbane to bring the situation to their attention.
Just Labor posted about SLG’s retaliation on their Facebook page and urged students to call the JTS administration, and demand that JTS pressure Gilbane and SLG to listen to the worker’s petition. They also organized the Thursday November 15 community conversation with an SLG worker and two union organizers. At the meeting, an SLG employee explained the importance of the pay increase. “It would afford me not to feel like I’m struggling. Every check I get is out the door as soon as I get it.” Despite the retaliation, this worker affirmed his support for the petition: “If you’re not going to fight for yourself who will?”
The organizing worked to some extent, and on November 15th Negron was reinstated and Harper returned to work on the 20th. Nevertheless, the union organizer at the meeting said SLG still refuses to negotiate and has continued its attempts to intimidate workers. According to him, SLG met with foremen at multiple construction sites to offer them raises and deter them from joining the petition. “It’s a sign that organizing does work...but a lot of workers are scared after what happened [to Negron and Harper],” said the organizer.
A JTS student organizer at the meeting emphasized that there is still work to be done on behalf of the SLG employees. “JTS already paid Gilbane for the job site. There’s nothing they can lose from putting pressure on Gilbane and SLG to listen to the petition.” This student urged the people in the room to call the SLG office and to talk to their fellow students, professors, and administrators.
Rubin emphasized that Just Labor is not trying to defame JTS. “We’re JTS students. We love JTS. We’re here to defame Gilbane.” Still, Rubin says, “I feel strongly that JTS is responsible because JTS hired them [Gilbane]. When you hire in general it is on you to treat the people you hire well and make sure the people they hire are treating their workers well.” If JTS does pressure Gilbane and advocate for the SLG employ- ees, “that could be huge for setting a model and a standard for Jewish institutions,” Rubin says.
JTS Response
After the rally in May of 2017 and the delivery of the alumni letter, JTS responded in a statement emailed to the community. The statement, signed by Gary, explained the reasoning behind hiring Gilbane: “We have selected a construction management company that has been widely recognized in the construction industry as having one of the best safety records and safety protocols in the business...its OSHA (the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recordable incident rate and its Experience Modification Rate (which the insurance industry applies to determine insurance rates)—is far better than industry norms.” There also may not have been better options that met the selection criteria developed by JTS which included a commitment to sustainability, diversity, hiring locally, and ability to complete the project within the budget and time constraints.
The project’s safety record reflects the administration’s commitment to safety. In a written response to The Current, JTS wrote, “Since our project began, and after more than 160,000 labor-hours, we have had no lost days due to injury—a key measurement for construction safety."
JTS also took direct steps to address student and union concerns and said in the letter, “We are hiring a full-time, New York-licensed site safety professional whose only job will be to oversee the safety of our workers on the construction site and in the community,” which they explained they were under no legal obligation to do. In the letter Gary informed the community that the demolition, excavation and foundation were all union subcontractors.
After meeting with Gary, Rubin expressed appreciation for steps JTS had taken to address more recent concerns. “We pushed a lot for transparency and this big JTS website about the project was created. That was a huge accomplishment because it had a section where you could ask questions and directly contact the administration,” says Rubin. She added that after that meeting, JTS released a statement saying they would be using union labor when possible moving forward.
The letter Rubin refers to is an email sent out to the JTS community in September of 2017 where Gary writes, “we will continue to reach out to union subcontractors.” In a conversation following their written statement to The Current, JTS administration explained in more detail that they reached out to a leader in the labor movement to convey a message to union subcontractors to bid on this project. For one part of the project, the superstructure, when no union subcontractor bid, JTS actively sought union subcontractors and then chose one for that phase.
With regards to SLG, the JTS administration indicated that retaliation would be of concern, but that no one had notified them about this incident. If someone reached out to JTS, they would participate in meetings with Gilbane, SLG, and any workers who wanted to come forward to investigate the issue.
Student and alumni activism on these safety issues has stimulated substantial action from the administration. Given the administration’s demonstrated openness, further collaboration and progress are likely if they continue to communicate specific concerns as they arise. Far from resenting the student activism, JTS said in the conversation that it is very proud of all its students who are interested in issues of workers’ welfare. Still, one might well ask why it took this intervention for JTS to live up to its stated Jewish values.
//MAYA BICKEL is a sophomore in Columbia College and Deputy Features Editor of The Current. She can be reached at [email protected].
Photo courtesy of http://laborpress.org/nonunion- isnt-kosher-workers-tell-seminary/.
Photo courtesy of http://laborpress.org/nonunion- isnt-kosher-workers-tell-seminary/.