For the past 25 years, 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) During his tenure, the union tripled in size and became one of the most influential forces in the country for protecting the rights of freelance writers. During Jonathan’s years as NWU president, 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.

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

Since leaving the NWU, Jonathan has focused on building new, dynamic organizing and political campaigns primarily within the labor movement. He helped launch three organizations--the Creators Federation, American Rights At Work and WalMart Watch--and has, most recently, been at work on a nationwide campaign to organize hotel workers.

For the last twenty years, he 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). He writes a regular column on labor and the economy entitled “Working in America,” which can be seen at www.tompaine.com. He also runs a 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, Yorktown Heights in Westchester County. His parents were both immigrants: his mother was born in Poland and fled the Nazis during World War II; his father was born in Palestine.

In 1971, Jonathan moved to Israel where he spent seven years, completing high school and two years studying psychology and philosophy at Tel Aviv University. In Israel, he was involved in the Histradut, the country’s labor federation’s political activities, as well as the early flowering of a serious debate about peace.

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 is the proud uncle of four nieces, and a lifelong baseball fan who holds Yankees' season tickets.