American labor does not support the State Department’s policy on the Middle East, Roy Siemiller, of Chicago, AFL labor leader, declared here today. Mr. Siemiller is one of seven prominent American trade unionists–representing unions in both the AFL and CIO–who have been touring Israel as guests of the Histadrut, the Confederation of Jewish Labor here.
“We assure you that, upon our return home, we will explain the situation here to millions of workers,” Mr. Siemiller declared. The labor leaders were guests here today of the Haifa municipality. More than 1,000 guests attended the reception in their honor. Among the speakers who greeted them were Mayor Abba Hushi, and David Pinsky, well-known American-Jewish writer now residing here.
“During our tour of the borders of this land,” Mr. Siemiller said at the reception, “we saw that your enemies are ready to attack Israel at any moment. It is tragic that your peace-loving settlements must dedicate part of their energies, so badly needed by the land, to purposes of defense.”
Another of the labor leaders, a CIO man, Albert Lunceford of Chicago, spoke of the favorable impression upon the visiting trade unionists made by the work of Histadrut. One of the purposes of the visit here was to study Israeli labor practices and labor-management relations. Mr. Lanceford said that the Histadrut work “could well serve as an example not only to the Middle East but to American labor as well.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
