Religious Leaders Call for Jobs, Decent Wages on Labor Day
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With the economy in crisis, many of the nation’s religious leaders are speaking out in favor of economic policies that create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty and restoring growth is a powerful way to reduce deficits, they say.
In a Labor Day statement, Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committee on domestic justice and human development, says Congress cannot balance the federal budget on the backs of the poor and working people:
Proposed NLRB Rule Change Draws Wide Support
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) modest, common-sense proposed rule to remove roadblocks for workers who want to vote on whether to form a union has drawn praise from working men and women, political leaders and activists around the country. Here’s a sample of the comments:
Electrical Workers (IBEW) President Edwin Hill:
By eliminating delays, the board is not only bringing some balance. It is also saving money for taxpayers who foot the bill because of unnecessary litigation.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen:
Workers at T-Mobile USA and nearly every other company know firsthand how U.S. corporations use delay to keep workers from making a fair choice about union representation. The changes proposed by the National Labor Relations Board are a first and modest step toward ending some of that delay.
Wage Theft: The Crime Wave Nobody Talks About
Every day across the country, millions of workers in low-wage jobs are being robbed of billions of dollars they are owed by their employers. A new video by Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) shows how the practice of wage theft is a national epidemic no one is paying attention to.
IWJ says 60 percent of nursing home workers, 100 percent of poultry plant workers and 90 percent of restaurant workers are denied their fair pay at some time.
One such worker is Ryszard Abucewicz of Chicago, who says on the video his employer refused to pay him at all for three consecutive pay periods.
Dianne Enriquez, also in the video, is one of three San Francisco restaurant workers who did not receive overtime pay and sued their employer. They won more than $7,000 in back pay.
New York State Protects Workers Against Wage Theft
Workers in New York State soon will be protected against wage theft by a new law. The State Assembly yesterday passed the Wage Theft Prevention Act, which will increase penalties significantly and improve enforcement of state laws on wage theft. The State Senate passed the bill in June and Gov. David Paterson (D) has vowed to sign it into law.
Wage theft is a national epidemic that robs millions of workers of billions of dollars they’ve worked for but never see, says Kim Bobo, author of Wage Theft in Americae and executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ), which coordinated the National Day of Action Against Wage Theft last month.
Today: National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft
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At a time when Congress is considering whether to give the nation’s wealthiest people a holiday gift by extending their Bush-era tax breaks, workers, religious leaders, public officials and others will come together in more than 35 cities across the country to fight for those who have been cheated and left behind.
A week before Thanksgiving, we’re taking part in a National Day of Action Against Wage Theft to highlight this ongoing crisis and ways that workers and communities are organizing to stop it.
Wage theft is a national epidemic that robs millions of workers of billions of dollars they’ve worked for but never see, says Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ), the coordinator of the National Day of Action. Speaking at a telephone press conference yesterday, Bobo, author of Wage Theft in America, put it this way:
A week before Thanksgiving, faith communities collect turkeys to give to poor families. Millions of poor families could buy their own turkeys if their wages had been paid as required by law. This Thanksgiving, as a nation we are struggling with how to boost the economy. What better way to stimulate the economy, put more money back into neighborhood businesses, than to assure that workers are paid all their wages?
Join Labor in the Pulpits over Labor Day Weekend
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Labor Day is less than a month away and America’s workers find themselves mired in the worst economic crisis since the 1930s Depression. Some 26 million U.S. workers are without jobs or full-time work. Even if you are working, it’s hard to make ends meet. In the richest country in the world, more than
Each Labor Day weekend, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) and the AFL-CIO sponsor the Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar program, which highlights the shared goals of the faith community and the union movement for a new vision for justice in our communities. (If you need materials for a Labor Day service or want to add your congregation to the list of participants in Labor in the Pulpits, click here or email Cynthia Brooke at cbrooke@iwj.org.)
In Illinois, Wage Thieves Will Pay
Illinois employers who shortchange or don’t pay their employees will face felony charges for repeat offenses and, in all cases, will be forced to pay back wages plus interest and fines under a new law signed by Gov. Pat Quinn (D) last week.
The new law, which experts say is the toughest anti-wage theft law in the country, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2011. It also gives workers more rights to ensure they are paid what they earn.
Chris Williams, executive director of the Working Hands Legal Clinic in Chicago, which led the effort to pass the law, told the Associated Press the law particularly benefits those who are most vulnerable: low-wage, temporary and immigrant workers. Low-wage workers are often paid in cash, making record-keeping difficult, and some undocumented workers fear retaliation if they speak up.
Join National Weekend of Prayer and Action for Immigrant Justice
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Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) has launched a three-part campaign to fight Arizona’s draconian anti-immigrant law, known as S.B. 1070. During the weekend of July 29–Aug. 1—the time the law is supposed to take effect—IWJ is asking workers and other people of faith to join in a national Weekend of Prayer and Action for Immigrant Justice.
Whether through prayer vigils or other actions, people of faith and conscience must make it clear that the way we treat immigrant workers is a moral question, not just a political or economic issue, says IWJ Executive Director Kim Bobo.
Welcoming the immigrant is a clear message in our religious texts. Welcoming is not a theoretical matter. It is practical and day to day. Welcoming demands opposition to Arizona’s approach and fighting for comprehensive immigration reform.
Social Forum Focuses on Workers’ Issues
Workers’ issues were the focus of five days of marches, rallies and workshops at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, which ended over the weekend. Grassroots activists and progressives from across the country came together to build new alliances, create new strategies and put new energy into the movement to turn around the American economy.
Writing in Workday Minnesota, Howard Kling quotes a UAW leader who says the forum was an opportunity for labor to build relationships with other movements and encourage a “strong, fight-back attitude toward the intense corporate agenda that is blocking change on health care, labor rights, fair trade policies and a host of issues that we believe in.”
U.S. Social Forum: Union-Faith Group Partnership Must Be Two-Way Street
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Helen Gonzales on the AFL-CIO staff is attending the U.S. Social Forum June 22–26 in Detroit. She reports from a workshop on the importance of faith, labor and community alliances.
The global economic crisis has created a unique opportunity for the faith community and the union movement to work together to change the culture of greed and create a more just society, panelists said at a U.S. Social Forum workshop on faith, labor and community alliances on Thursday.
Saying the core principle of all major faiths is caring for our neighbor, Kim Bobo, director of Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ), told the more than 60 people in the workshop that principle can be applied to nearly every struggle workers face.
Several speakers also emphasized that partnerships between faith groups and unions must be a two-way street. Often, they said, both sides talk about solidarity and mutual support, until the particular issue is settled, and then the sides go their separate ways.
