Machinists Leaders Met with Pope, Discuss Ties Between Faith and Labor
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| IAM President Tom Buffenbarger discusses revitalizing the bond between the labor movement and the Catholic Church with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome. |
This is a cross-post from the Machinists (IAM). The labor movement and the faith community have long held shared goals of equality and opportunity. Each Labor Day, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) and the AFL-CIO sponsor the Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar program, which highlights these shared goals. Click here to find out more.
In a bid to reinvigorate the long-standing ties between labor and the faith community, a delegation of IAM leaders from the United States and Canada met recently with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome.
In addition to the audience granted to the IAM delegation, the pope met privately with IAM President Tom Buffenbarger, who shared a concern of many that Catholic bishops are not as supportive of the labor movement as they once were.
Join Labor in the Pulpits over Labor Day Weekend
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Labor Day 2011 is just around the corner and America’s workers are still suffering through the worst economic crisis since the Depression. Some 25 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed or have stopped looking for work, and wages are essentially flat.
In the richest country in the world, millions of full-time, year-round workers live below the poverty line, struggling to pay for necessities such as food, housing, health care, transportation and child care.
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 contact Ted Smukler at 773-728-8400, ext. 39, or tsmukler@iwj.org.)
Prayer and Public Employees
When AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker spoke Sunday at St. Margaret’s & San Francisco de Asis Episcopal Church in Miami Lakes, Fla., as part of Labor in the Pulpits, the service had just begun when a member of the choir slumped down in her chair and fell to the floor.
The service stopped while the clergy and members called 911 for emergency help. Within minutes, fire, police and emergency medical assistance arrived to give the woman medical care. Each one was a union public servant—the people whose jobs are in danger from state and local budget cuts.
After the medics left to take the woman to the hospital, the service resumed. The ministers led prayers for her swift recovery.
Reflecting on the incident over the Labor Day holiday, Holt Baker said the situation showed that:
Prayer is good and it helps. But sometimes you also need public servants.
Workers Say Obama/Trumka Labor Day Visit Will Energize Voters
Milwaukee AFT Local 2169 member Ashleigh Lund says she hopes that President Obama’s Labor Day appearance with AFL-CIO President AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at the annual Laborfest
can spur people to get to the voting booths in support of worker friendly candidates this November…I am excited because this shows me that the rights of workers are still important to Obama.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will Join Obama and Trumka the Milwaukee Area Labor Council’s Laborfest that draws thousands of working families. Fellow AFT Local 2169 member Sagar Tolani says that
Obama spending his Labor Day with people from the community really lets me know that he understands the issues workers are currently facing.
Milwaukee is just one stop on a busy Labor Day weekend schedule for Trumka and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker will travel to Ohio, Michigan, Florida and California calling for good jobs and a strong, middle class economy and boosting Labor 2010’s get-out-the-vote efforts for November’s midterm elections. Read the rest of this entry »
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.)
Take Part in Labor in the Pulpits this Labor Day Weekend
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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.
As part of Labor in the Pulpits, union members serve as guest speakers in congregations to speak out about their faith, work and the union movement. Some AFL-CIO central labor councils use this program as an opportunity to host a Faith and Labor meeting in which participants discuss important issues facing workers in their local communities and reaffirm their shared commitments to social justice. This year, more than 1,000 faith congregations are participating in Labor in the Pulpits.
Over the years, the Labor in the Pulpits program has helped thousands of congregations focus their Labor Day weekend services on the injustices facing low-wage workers and the religious community’s efforts to support those workers’ struggles for living wages and family-sustaining benefits.
