February 2, 2004

EPI mourns loss of labor, union organizer

Jack Sheinkman, the former president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union who died Thursday, was an “outstanding American labor leader” who tirelessly fought for American workers and jobs, said Jeff Faux, co-founder and former president of the Economic Policy Institute.

Faux, a former colleague and friend, praised Sheinkman’s many efforts, which included heading labor’s efforts to help impoverished workers and embattled trade union leaders in Central America.

“Jack was imaginative, effective, and farsighted, and had a deep understanding that the fate of the American worker is linked to the fate of workers all over the world,” Faux said. “His family has lost wonderful man, and all American has lost a tireless champion of justice. We will miss him.”

From 1987 to 1995, Sheinkman was president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union – the nation’s largest union of clothing workers. A major labor strategist, Sheinkman’s many accomplishments include successfully unionizing some 4,000 workers at North Carolina textile company J.P. Stevens. The company initially resisted union organizers before signing a contract in 1980 with a merged union that Sheinkman organized.