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THE JEWISH PRESS
OP ED
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Jewish Call For Employee Rights By DANI PASSOW and MICHAL BRICKMAN
Last May, our organization, Uri L’Tzedek, officially launched the Tav HaYosher – “ethical seal” – to certify kosher restaurants that uphold three basic employee rights: the right to fair time, the right to fair pay, and the right to a safe work environment. As an Orthodox organization guided by Torah and dedicated to combating suffering and oppression, we are motivated by the Torah’s prohibition “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brothers, or of your strangers who are in your land inside your gates.” We hear the call in Tractate Bava Metzia that “all who withhold an employee’s wages, are as if they have taken a life.” We are inspired by the example of the Amora Rav, who instructed another sage to pay his employees even though they negligently broke a barrel of wine. In America today, employee rights are egregiously violated; current enforcement structures simply do not work. Consider the results of a recent study of employees in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles: 76 percent did not receive overtime as required by federal law; 26 percent received below minimum wage; 86 percent of workers did not receive full meal breaks, and a full 69 percent received no breaks whatsoever or had their breaks shortened by their employer. When trying to stand up for these rights, nearly half, 43 percent, were the victims of illegal retaliatory measures: their employers fired or suspended them, cut their wages, or threatened to call immigration authorities. The Jewish community cannot sit idly by pretending it is not our responsibility to uphold employee rights. In his landmark responsa, Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, permitted drinking milk produced under the government’s watch since we can rely on the government to ensure no milk from a non-kosher animal is mixed with cow’s Dani Passow is chief compliance officer and Michal Brickman is chief operations officer for the Tav HaYosher.
milk. Certainly Rav Moshe would never have done so if government oversight were seen as ineffective. Since we cannot rely on the government to ensure restaurant employees aren’t oppressed we must find alternative mechanisms to guarantee that we aren’t mesayei l’yidei ovrei aveirah – assisting moral misconduct – when purchasing our food. The Tav HaYosher provides such a mechanism. The Tav HaYosher’s mission, though, is to help all sides of the restaurant business. In these difficult economic times, employees and employers alike are struggling to find financial security. We work with restaurant owners as partners, because we recognize that abuse of rights has become such common practice that many owners fail to view their treatment of workers as unethical. Moreover, paying all employees minimum wage and overtime can be expensive. For this reason, we work to publicize those restaurants with our Tav HaYosher ethical seal and encourage members of our community to patronize these restaurants. A positive campaign, we say absolutely nothing about restaurants we don’t certify. A growing number of Jewish organizations are committing to having their lunch meetings and conferences catered by restaurants with our seals. As one kosher restaurant owner in New York reported back to us, “The Tav HaYosher is a tremendously effective marketing campaign. Since joining the Tav, we have received close to ten catering jobs we otherwise wouldn’t have had.” And as the popularity of the Tav HaYosher seal continues to grow, the added business generated by having the certification will only continue to increase. In addition to bringing about practical change, another one of our goals is to publicly reaffirm the Jewish community’s understanding that ethical practices, in addition to ritual, are at the heart of Torah. Keeping kosher is one of the most public of Jewish actions. Through the Tav HaYosher, we proclaim, in an act of Kiddush Hashem, that worker treatment is also a core Jewish value, and we fulfill our Jewish obligation to abide by the law of the land (dina d’malchuta dina).
DIREEMERGENCY CHOMETZ U’MATZOH
CAMPAIGN DIRE EMERGENCY
With the worsening of the worldwide recession, poverty and need in Israel have multiplied to record levels.
CHOMETZ
Myriads of the unemployed, unpaid Rebbes and teachers, struggling Kollel families, impoverished seniors, and hundreds of newly destitute families, as well, as those already living in squalor; all are struggling for their daily bread.
UMATZOH These Jews cannot even begin to afford Pesach! This year, more families need more help than ever before.
CAMPAIGN
Our 36 Gmach branches across Israel are flooded with Pesach loan and Maos Chittim applications, besides those for year-round and Dira loans. When repaid, your support will be recycled to become a perpetually revolving Gmach loan.
Only with your exceptional generosity will they have Pesach! PLEASE HELP, TODAY! Here is my gift to be used as a Pesach loan, then a revolving Ozer Dalim Gmach loan. I will sponsor a loan for __$1100. (a family) __$550. (a couple) __$350. (one person) OR Co-sponsor a loan __$200 __$150 __$100 __$72 __$54 __$36 __$18 __$ __ (other)
Name______________________________________________________
OZER City____________State___Zip_____ DALIM Address_____________________ Donations are tax deductible Ozer Dalim 1301 Avenue K z
z
Brooklyn, NY 11230
z
(718)434-2228
Since its inception less than a year ago, the Tav HaYosher has expanded exponentially. We’ve signed establishments in five states: New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois and Pennsylvania, certifying more than 35 restaurants. In New York City alone we currently certify 23 eating establishments. We’ve received overwhelming support from many Jewish organizations, activists, and thousands of individuals who are committed either to buying exclusively from Tav-certified restaurants or to convincing their restaurants of choice to join the Tav As part of the leadership team for the Tav, we are fully aware of how much time and effort has been volunteered to this important project. The Tav HaYosher is offered absolutely free to restaurants to ensure that our intentions remain l’shem shamayim – for the sake of Heaven. And we will remain a free service because of countless individuals who are dedicated to the Torah’s declaration V’asita et hayashar v’et hatov – You shall do what is righteous and what is good. Yet the success of our project depends not only on our volunteers but on the community as a whole. We call on those who share these values to contact their favorite restaurants and ask them to sign onto the Tav HaYosher, to patronize restaurants that already carry the seal, and to spread the word about the critical role the Tav plays in upholding the Torah’s statues regarding the ethical treatment of employees. In celebration of reaching 35 restaurants and expanding nationally, we will have an exciting event open to the public Wednesday, March 10, at Café 76 in the JCC in Manhattan. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin will be our featured speaker as we reflect on the progress of the past year and conduct a communal conversation about the future of the Tav. Through communal commitment, may we see continued success in fulfilling our calling to be a mamlechet kohanim v’goy kadosh – a kingdom of priests and a holy people. You can learn about the Tav HaYosher by visiting our website – www.utzedek.org/tavhayosher.