For the past three decades, Jonathan has been a union leader and organizer, a social activist, and a commentator and writer on work, labor and the economy. From 1990 to April 2003, he served as president of the National Writers Union (United Auto Workers Local 1981); he remains the union’s president emeritus. During his tenure, the union tripled in size, its budget expanded rapidly and the union became one of the most influential voices in the country for the rights of freelance writers.

He was the lead plaintiff in Tasini vs. The New York Times, the landmark electronic rights case that took on Big Media’s assault on the rights of thousands of freelance authors in the electronic age. In a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2001 that Big Media had illegally used the works of writers without their permission. That precedent lead to a series of class action lawsuits (in which Jonathan served as a principle strategist and negotiator) which lead to a mass settlement for authors in 2005 and the creation of an $18 million fund to compensate writers.

During Jonathan’s stewardship of the union, he envisioned a broad coalition of creators groups that could work in unison to further the rights of all creative workers and advance benefits such as health insurance; indeed, his close-up experience with the health insurance crisis for creative workers inspired him to make Medicare For All a central plank of his Senate campaign. To accomplish his dream of a nationwide creators’ movement, he left the NWU in 2003 to found the Creators Federation.

In 2006, Jonathan ran for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in New York, primarily to give voice to the many New Yorkers who opposed the disastrous Iraq War and occupation. After the primary, Jonathan returned immediately to his long-time passion—working to build the labor movement—and was hired as the executive director of Labor Research Association, a non-profit that works with unions and other workers’ movements on strategy, communications and policy.

For the last twenty years, he also has written about labor and economics for a variety of newspapers and magazines including The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Business Week, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of two books: "The Edifice Complex: Rebuilding the American Labor Movement to Face the Global Economy," a critique and prescriptive analysis of the labor movement (1995); and "They Get Cake, We Eat Crumbs: The Real Story Behind Today's Unfair Economy," an average reader's guide to the economy (1997). Jonathan also created, runs and writes every day on his regular blog called Working Life, which explores the economy and the labor movement.

Born in Houston, Texas in 1956, Jonathan spent his early childhood years in New York State, first living in Poughkeepsie (where his sister and brother were born) and, then, moving to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County in 1961. His parents were both immigrants: his mother was born in Poland, fleeing the Nazis with her family during World War II. His father was born in Palestine, which would become the state of Israel.

In 1971, Jonathan moved to Israel where he spent seven years, completing high school and two years of college. In Israel, he was involved in the labor federation’s political activities, as well as the early flowering of a serious debate about peace between Israel and its neighbors. He studied for two years at Tel-Aviv University.

In 1978, he returned to the U.S., relocating to Los Angeles where he finished a degree in political science at the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.).

In the early 1980s, Jonathan was one of the founders of the National Writers Union’s Los Angeles chapter. Upon arriving in New York City in 1985, he became active in the union’s national leadership, focusing mainly on organizing new members.

He has to come clean about one thing that may cost him votes, particularly in the great borough of Queens: he is a Yankees season-ticket holder and has been a pinstripe fan since he was a kid (but, trying to act like a politician, he does point out that New York pride runs deep: he rooted for the Mets in the 1986 World Series and happily wishes the best for the Mets, except during any cross-town showdown in inter-league play or the playoffs).