LABOR EDITOR, FORMER ILCA PRESIDENT MARTIN FISHGOLD DIES AT 70

NEW YORK (PAI)--Labor editor and former International Labor Communications Association President Martin Fishgold, longtime editor of The Unionist in New York City, died Aug. 12, aged 70, AFSCME District Council 37 and Local 371 reported. Cause of death was not reported. Data about survivors and arrangements was unavailable.

Fishgold was known for his bluntness, including criticism of labor movement inaction on many issues and his agitation to make the labor press more independent. Local 371 called him “an outspoken advocate for union democracy and workers' rights.”

Typical of Fishgold was his 2004 letter to the New York Times, written while he was ILCA president, about then-GOP Gov. George Pataki’s declaration of a “statewide day of prayer and remembrance” -- and closure of state offices -- to honor former GOP President Ronald Reagan. The Times identified Fishgold as ILCA’s chief.

“While I appreciate the fact that Mr. Pataki, personally, would want to pay his respects to a former Republican president, he dishonors the working people of this state by including them in his actions,” Fishgold wrote. “Mr. Reagan was no friend of the working people. In fact, he turned his back on workers whom he once championed as president of the Screen Actors Guild when, in one of his first official acts, he fired the striking air traffic controllers. Clearly, closing down New York State to honor Mr. Reagan is inappropriate and smacks of political partisanship.”