Gravediggers are not sufficiently sensitive to the “needs of the religious community,” Rabbi Moshe Sherer, Executive President of the Orthodox Agudath Israel of America said here today as a strike of gravediggers in the metropolitan area began. Rabbi Sherer said he was speaking not only of the strike, but of the insufficient awareness the gravediggers have of the religious implications of their actions throughout the year. He cited the policy the cemetery workers have of no burials on legal holidays, which, he said, causes great anguish to Orthodox Jews, who are supposed to bury their dead within 24 hours. The Rabbi added that he did not deny the economic rights of the strikers, who are members of Cemetery Workers and Green Attendants Local 365. They are seeking a $60 a week wage increase over their now average $126.50 a week, in addition to improvements in fringe benefits.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
