Labor & Religion: Working Together for Common Goals
All around the country, in the pulpit and on the picket line, labor unions and religious groups are joining forces to make the world more just for working men and women.
Whether to promote a “living wage” for low-paid workers, seek an end to garment “sweatshops” or set workplace rights for more than 200,000 people who toil in the poultry processing industry, unions and the religious community have rediscovered the strength that comes from working in tandem.
One of the newest manifestations of this relationship is Labor in the Pulpit, a joint effort between the AFL-CIO and the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (NICWJ), a Chicago-based network of 45 religious organizations of various denominations throughout the country.
Begun in 1996 as a pilot program in Chicago, Labor in the Pulpit now encompasses more than 37 cities. Its goal is to educate congregations about the ties between faith and work, and to expand union/religious alliances. Last year, it was held during the Labor Day weekend. Union speakers in more than 80 cities addressed an estimated 100,000 worshipers at more than 600 services in 450 congregations.
Then, last October, religious and union activists met in a first-time joint conference co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO and NICWJ called “Forging Partnerships for the New Millennium.”
The result? Commitments to fight to enact living wage laws, increase the national minimum wage and support workers’ rights to organize.
“For most people in the religious community, doing economic justice is part of their faith,” explains Kim Bobo, executive director of NICWJ. “It’s what they believe they ought to be doing as a human being.”
STRENGTH IN UNION. From coast to coast, religious groups and labor unions are proving there is power in cooperation.
In California, for example, the Los Angeles-based Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice worked successfully with labor to defeat California’s Prop 226. The “paycheck protection” proposition would have barred unions from spending member dues for political activities without their written permission — a measure intended to discourage union- represented workers from participating in the political process.
“We worked with African-American churches in the southern part of Los Angeles to turn out the African-American vote, and they were very successful at that,” says Karleen George, organizing director for Council 36.
On the East Coast, DC 37 worked successfully with religious groups to block New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to privatize Coney Island Hospital.
Religious leaders opened churches and synagogues for meetings and gave speeches from the pulpit. “There was loud and effective opposition from both workers and their unions, and the religious leaders in the community,” says Deborah Bell, the council’s policy coordinator.
Working with the clergy last year to fight a privatization plan in St. Paul, Minn., “broadened our argument,” says Local 1842 (Council 14) Pres. Robin Madsen. “It wasn’t just a union thing. It was a community thing. It was a fairness issue.”
BONDED IN BLOOD. The ties between religion and labor are long and soaked in blood. “Our darkest hour” was on April 4, 1968 when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee told a congregation at the Ward A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, prior to the AFL-CIO’s annual convention there.
King was in Memphis, Tenn., that day to support striking sanitation workers — members of AFSCME Local 1733.
“Dr. King lost his life living his faith and helping his union sisters and brothers find justice and equality at a time when there was precious little in this country,” McEntee said. “He taught us that, no matter who or what we face, we must keep the faith.”
CONTINUING THE LEGACY. The Rev. Jesse Jackson is one of many religious leaders carrying on King’s commitment to labor. Last August, Jackson led a march in Godfrey, Ill., to support striking AFSCME employees of Beverly Farm, a state-supported home for mentally and developmentally disabled adults.
Jackson urged nonstriking workers to join the picket line. “Your dignity is worth more than a dollar,” he said.
The strikers won. On Nov. 21, four months after they went on the picket line, the workers (members of Local 3784, Council 31) approved a two-year contract that included an 11 percent average pay increase in the first year, plus other benefits.
Jackson’s personal support had given the strikers a significant morale boost in their long quest for higher wages, says Council 31 Regional Director Peter Schmalz. “It makes them feel more confident in the righteousness of their cause and it also helps to build broader community support.”
By Clyde Weiss
