The Schubert Bath (Schubert Pool today - 3950 St. Laurent), built in 1932.
Photo Credit : Archives of the City of Montreal
Joseph Schubert election flyer, ca. 1934.
Photo Credit : Jewish Public Library - Archives
Portrait, Joseph Schubert, 1928.
Photo Credit : City of Montreal Archives
Joseph Schubert (third from right) and the Gouin School Commission in 1924.
Photo Credit : Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives
Joseph Schubert election flyer, ca. 1934.
Photo Credit : Jewish Public Library - Archives
1889 - 1952
Joseph Schubert
Joseph Schubert was a popular labour organizer, public health advocate and City Council alderman in the 1920s and 30s, who represented the interests of Montreal’s “downtowner” immigrant Jewish community during its formative years.
After arriving from Romania, Schubert worked as a pants maker before quickly rising to prominent positions in labour, the Jewish community and civic administration. A defender of workers’ rights, he condemned exploitation in clothing factories and later became secretary of the Cloak Pressers’ Union. Needle trade unions were often Jewish organizations, initiated by Eastern European immigrants who arrived with ideas inspired by the socialist ideas of the Bund (the East European General Union of Jewish Workers), as well as the Workmen’s Circle (founded by East European Jews in the United States).
Various disputes, including the 1912 strike against the Clothing Manufacturers’ Association of Montreal, pitted “uptowner” Jewish factory owners against “downtowner” Jewish immigrants. A passionate speaker and effective organizer, Schubert helped negotiate a compromise of a 49-hour, rather than 55-hour, work week.
Up until 2012, Schubert was Montreal’s highest-ranking Jewish official in the history of its municipal government. Elected to Montreal’s City Council in 1924 to represent the predominantly Jewish St. Louis ward, he advocated for workers’ rights during his 15 years in office. One success was the attainment of an eight-hour day and a $0.50 hourly minimum wage for municipal employees. During a 1925 strike, Schubert disputed rumours that the strikers were all Jewish, as pervasive anti-Semitism discredited the workers’ efforts.
A socialist, Schubert promoted the unpopular stance of higher taxes to improve social services. He battled rumours of communist affiliations stemming from his sympathy for allegedly communist Russian Jews barred from immigration and from his position as Montreal’s only Labour Party alderman. Despite such accusations, Schubert retained popular support, leading the opposition to the powerful Liberal administration from 1924-30 and criticizing their dealings with the underworld.
Schubert’s advice was sought during the 20s “Jewish School Question.” He was appointed by Premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau as one of three Jewish representatives to sit with Protestant and Catholic leaders on a Royal Commission called the “Committee of Nine.” Schubert voted for a separate Jewish school system.
As alderman, Schubert addressed the spread of diseases due to overcrowding and unsanitary working conditions. During the Depression, he was commissioned to write a report on unemployment and relief distribution across North America. His recommendations struck a chord, as public spending on Montreal’s public health was the lowest proportionally in North America, an embarrassment given that the city had the highest infant death rate on the continent, and the largest number of tuberculosis patients. The report resulted in a Public Health Commission, in which Schubert was active in creating measures to prevent the spread of disease. In a 1931 public health initiative, Schubert built the Schubert Baths (Bains Schubert), a public bathhouse for immigrant families lacking access to hot water, which today is a public pool on the corner of Bagg and St. Lawrence.
Special thanks to the Museum of Jewish Montreal.
