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Gearing up for immigration reform

This week lawmakers announced plans to make immigration a serious issues in 2013. A group of eight Senators (four Democrats and four Republicans) developed outlining principles for comprehensive immigration reform. While all their policies don't reflect the values IWJ and our affiliates support, we are encouraged by the nod that serious discussion around immigration reform would be underway.

As people of faith, we honor the economic contributions made by immigrant workers. The faith community is preparing to push Congresspersons across the country to support comprehensive immigration reform and call for stronge labor laws and enforcement around the abuse of undocumented workers.

"Immigrants come to the U.S. to work, and yet when they are kept in the shadows without a path to citizenship, they are easily exploited and undermine standards for all workers," said IWJ's Executive Director Kim Bobo. "Thus, it is right morally and economically to create a clear and quick path to citizenship for immigrants.  We should “welcome the immigrant” now."

IWJ and our affiliates are developing resources to help allies, congregations and denominations talk about immigration and what faithful reform should look like.

As a member of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, IWJ affirms the coalitions policy reccomendations, including:

• Address the cause of migration
• Create a process for undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship
• Keep families together
• Enact the Development, Relief, and Education for Minors (DREAM) Act.
• Protect Workers' Rights, including agricultural workers
• Place humanitarian values at the center of enforcement policies
• Protect refugees and migrant survivors of violence

Click here to offer your prayers for lawmakers in D.C. as they prepare to begin the process of reforming our broken immigration system.

National network celebrates Wage Theft win in Chicago

IWJ and interfaith worker advocates across the country are celebrating a major win for Chicago workers thanks to the amazing work of IWJ's Chicago affiliate ARISE Chicago and their members! 

On Thursday, Jan. 17, the City Council in Chicago unanimously passed an anti-wage theft ordinance. Recognized as one of strongest wage theft ordinances in the country, and the second of its kind nationally, the new ordinance could revoke business licenses for businesses found guilty of wage theft. Worker advocates attest that this new ordinance will protect vulnerable and defend ethical business.

As a collaboration between Arise Chicago and Alderman Ameya Pawar of the 47th ward, the new ordinance provides a much needed tool to crack down on wage theft in Chicago and ensure employers are obeying labor laws on behalf of their employees or face the consequences. It is estimated that $7.3 million of workers' wages are stolen by employers every week in Cook County alone according to the University of Illinois-Chicago's Center for Urban Economic Development. 

 "When workers receive their full paycheck, they spend more in their local communities, the government collects more taxes, and law-abiding businesses do not suffer from unfair competition," said Adam Kader, worker center director, in a press release this week.

This passed anti-wage theft ordinance was endorsed by the National Employment Law Project and approved by the Committee on License and Consumer Protection earlier this week and it makes Chicago the largest city in the country with an anti-wage theft legislation. Mayor Rahm Emanuel who helped co-sponsored the ordinance has pledged to sign it.

Join IWJ in thanksgiving for this amazing victory. Be sure to share a big "THANK YOU" with ARISE Chicago on social media!

Pray in thanksgiving for Sec. Hilda Solis; Pray for another worker champion at DOL

I just learned that Hilda Solis has submitted her resignation letter to the president. She has been a tireless champion for low-wage and immigrant workers.  We thank her for her work, dedication and passion. She will be deeply missed by faith and worker advocates around the country.

Now we need the President to appoint another worker rights champion to follow in her footsteps –and quickly. There is so much work to be done and the Department of Labor needs someone with Secretary Solis’ passion and vision. We need a fighter and a prophet. We need someone who will push forward regulations designed to bring the nation’s labor laws into the current century, like the caregivers regulation that provides minimum wage and overtime coverage to professional home care workers. IWJ would also like to see the paystub transparency regulation moved forward quickly. This would require every employer to provide a paystub explaining clearly (yes, clearly) how workers are paid. This would help workers who are routinely cheated by their employers who pay in cash, offer direct deposit with no accounting for hours or take unusual (and illegal) deductions without explanations.

We need a Secretary who will fight for resources for enforcement. In the current budget-cutting frenzy, there is bound to be efforts to cut enforcement. With only one enforcement staff person for every 135,000 workers, we can’t afford any cuts.

We need a Secretary who will push for job creation. Job training is good, but it isn’t enough. We need investment in job creation. Despite the declining unemployment figures, for which we are grateful, there are still millions of workers without jobs and millions more who’ve given up looking for jobs. We can do better as a nation and the Secretary must lead us in finding ways to invest in and create new jobs.

We need a Secretary who will champion immigration reform. Every worker in the country is affected when 11 million workers do not have the protection of citizenship. Employers know they can exploit workers without documents, and too many unethical employers do so, driving down wages and standards for all workers in the nation.

And, we need a Secretary who will keep the concerns of working men and women on the front of the public dialogue. There are many advocates of corporate interests in the Cabinet and Congress. Not nearly as many advocates for workers. We need a Secretary who recognizes the power of and is not afraid to use the bully pulpit.  

Today, we give thanks for all Secretary Hilda Solis has done. Tomorrow, we pray for a new leader who will champion the nation’s workers.

What characteristics are you looking for in the new Secretary of Labor? What policy should the new Secretary of Labor push? Who should fill the position? What advances made by Sec. Solis are you most thankful?

Faith communities support amazing worker rights campaigns

Workers, labor leaders, unions and allies pushed for some really awesome worker justice campaigns in 2012, according to an article published by AlerNet on Dec. 31.

IWJ supporters and allies, clergy and people of faith stood beside workers in a number of the struggles highlighted by AlterNet.

Walmart

IWJ is working closely with organizers from Making Change at Walmart to develop close relationships among faith leaders in communities across the country and workers and groups supporting better pay and working conditions at Walmart stores and across the supply chain. People of faith hosted more than 100 prayer vigils, flash mobs and letter delegations to local Walmart stores on Black Friday calling for Jubilee at Walmart and urging the corporation's executives to start listening to workers' concerns rather than punish or bully them for speaking up.

In 2013, IWJ organizers plan to beef up their support for Walmart workers and connect more faith leaders and people of faith to their local Walmart work by reaching out to more congregations across the country.

You can get involved with IWJ's Walmart campaign by joining out Walmart action team as an e-advocate. You will receive special emails and updates about how to support the campaign.

Chicago Teacher's Union

In September, Chicago teachers stood up to the Chicago Board of Education. More than 30,000 teachers and thousands of supporters called for better working conditions, more fair evaluation processes and drew national attention to the privatization of public school systems. People of faith stood beside the CTU as organizers pushed for grass-roots and community supported actions. IWJ's Chicago affiliate ARISE Chicago activated members and supporters to join the teachers in the first strike since 1987. IWJ Chicago staffers also joined the picket lines in the morning before heading into the office for work.

Check out AlterNet's Seven Amazing Fights for the Rights of Workers.

Interfaith Worker Justice and affiliates worked on other amazing campaigns for workers in 2012. Together we look forward to 2013 as we begin work strengthen the rights of workers.

Joy for all the People

What is there to be joyful about as the end of the year draws closer and the bearded men in the red suits dominate the television channels and the malls and merchandise flies off the shelves of stores all across the nation?

On Dec. 22, people of faith hosted prayer vigils for workers all along the supply chain, but especially the 112 Bangladeshi workers who died in a fire at a garment factory that produces clothing sold in Walmart stores in the U.S.

The Dec. 22 vigils followed more than 100 vigils on Black Friday—part of more than 1,200 actions at Walmart stores across the country supporting retail workers in the third largest workforce in the world. Many courageous workers walked off their jobs to protest low pay, stolen wages, manipulative scheduling, expensive benefits, the risk of losing a job when sick, and retaliation for speaking and standing up for their rights. 

Threats to workers and the labor movement have intensified as the number of states enacting and planning “right to work for less laws” grows. Incredibly, Michigan and Indiana are on that list. 

This holiday season has come to represent giving and hope for us all. Our government should take seriously the needs of workers whose labor makes any celebration possible and provides the resources for families to thrive?

We've got to push lawmakers and corporations to hear that cry! This work is not possible without the generous support of people of faith and worker advocates like you! Click here to make a gift to IWJ today!

So what is there to be joyful about during this Christmas season? 

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people—Luke 2:10

As the year ends we can celebrate the growing movement of people that, despite the challenges, remains committed to the struggle for worker justice, both here and abroad.

We can celebrate the steady gains in employment numbers and excitement among those who champion immigration reform in the United States. A changing electoral demographic will make a path to citizenship more likely in the coming year. The lives of millions of low-wage workers will benefit from meaningful and comprehensive reform.   

The labor movement is intensifying efforts to protect workers from state and federal legislators and unethical corporations who conspire against working people and the unions who work on their behalf. A vigorous worker center movement is growing as a new force for the empowerment of the American worker. Workers are taking to the streets and the state houses and demanding justice. 

People of faith are a growing part of labor and community partnerships supporting workers and raising their voices for fundamental change in the way workers are treated in our nation. Interfaith Worker Justice is an integral part of the work to raise the minimum wage, broaden benefits to workers like paid sick days and pay-stub transparency, and advocate on behalf of and alongside retail workers in work to bring justice and fairness to Walmart. 
           
This Christmas season, we celebrate hope. And we celebrate it with you! Click here to celebrate Christmas with a gift to IWJ.

Honoring workers along Walmart's supply chain

People of faith are remembering the victims of the tragic fire at Tazreen Fashions in Bangladesh at candle light services across the country this weekend. It’s one small way we can affirm to workers the dignity of a safe workplace and urge corporate leaders and lawmakers to put people’s lives ahead of profit.

The factory fire at Tazreen Fashions, which produced Faded Glory brand clothing, is a grave concern to many of us, as consumers and as people of faith. In the fire 112 workers lost their lives due to management's negligence.

Walmart is not acting responsibly nor ethically when it allows working conditions that put the lives of workers in danger. All faith traditions affirm the dignity of work. As people of faith we stand with workers and ask Walmart to support a full and transparent investigation, to publish all audit reports relating to the factory fire, and to adopt meaningful measures to prevent future incidents all along its supply chain.

In the faith community, we are extremely concerned about the corporation’s poor labor practices in the U.S. and abroad. We demand that the company's executive leadership make the necessary changes to make Walmart an ethical employer that honors the lives and dignity of all its workers. The factory fire was just one example of the difficulties Walmart workers suffer because of the corporation’s unethical labor practices.

Worker advocates are also pushing Walmart to work with local and global unions and labor rights organizations on a safety agreement that would allow for independent inspections with public reporting, mandatory repairs and renovations, and a central role for workers and unions in both oversight and implementation. The agreement would call for supplier contracts with sufficient financing and adequate pricing, and a binding contract to make these commitments enforceable.

People of faith and worker advocates are delivering a letter to store managers on Saturday, Dec. 22, asking managers to pray with them in honor of the lives lost and to support a safety agreement that would make working conditions safer all across the supply chain.

Click here to for all the tools you need to set up and register a prayer vigil near you, or see if one is already organized in your community.

People of faith on so-called "Right-to-work" laws in Michigan

Today, people of faith across the country are crying out to Michigan lawmakers demanding justice for workers. Lawmakers passed so-called "right-to-work" legislation this month making it harder for public and private employees to work with unions and stick together for better working conditions, pay and benefits. "Right-to-work" laws continue to lower the bar for worker standards.

By Bishop Thomas Gumbleton

“We firmly oppose organized efforts, such as those regrettably now seen in this country, to break existing unions and prevent workers for organizing.”

My brother bishops and I wrote that more than a quarter-century ago in our 1986 letter Economic Justice for All. Regrettably, it rings true still today.

The right-to-work legislation that was passed by the House and the Senate in Michigan just this month is designed to break unions. It is designed to prevent workers from organizing. And we must oppose it as firmly as we did during the 1980s.

Click here to learn Why Unions Matter and What Faith has to do with it.

As Catholics, we believe that if the dignity of work is to remain protected, then the basic rights of workers must be protected – fair wages, freedom from discrimination and the right to organize and join unions. We believe in justice. We believe in the common good.

Right-to-work laws go against everything we believe.

Economists tell us that right-to-work laws devastate economic justice. They lower wages for all workers. They lessen benefits for all workers. They increase poverty for all people.

Workers tell us that these laws decrease cooperation, collaboration, love and solidarity.

This legislation should not just offend Catholics, but all Christians and members of all faith traditions. At the core of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and all great religions are the values of dignity and respect, values from which economic justice and the right to organize can never be separated.

Governor Rick Snyder’s Presbyterian tradition “affirms the rights of labor organization and collective bargaining as minimum demands of justice.” Similar statements have been made by the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, to name but a few.

However, we do not need statements from on high to understand what we know to be true on the ground. Right-to-work laws do not help the least among us. Rather, they profit those who already hold more power and wealth than is their fair share. They foster extreme inequality, inequality that can only lead to extreme disparities and extreme division.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet proclaims, “Woe to those who make unjust laws.” Indeed, woe to those in the Michigan state legislature who voted in favor of these laws. Woe to Governor Snyder whose pen is at the ready to sign these bills.

Just as Catholic bishops united in 1986 to speak against organized efforts to break unions, it is now time for Michigan citizens of all faiths to unite against an unjust law, passed in great haste, which will do great damage to our state. Each of us must take responsibility for speaking out and taking action to prevent a terrible injustice from occurring in Michigan.

This reflection originally appeared in the Burlington Free Press. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is a retired auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. Infographic courtesy of our friends at the AFL-CIO.

Let's Light our Souls

On December 8th, many Buddhists around the world celebrate the Bodhi Day -- the day that Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha achieved enlightenment under a Bodhi Tree.

Buddhists usually celebrate by eating a bowl of rice and milk, putting a string of lights throughout their house, potting or buying a live ficus tree for their home, and retaking the Buddhist vows.

This is a great opportunity to think about Buddha’s achievement: enlightenment (“to have woken up and understood”).

Although I constantly think about the importance of awakening and understanding, I am in no way searching for enlightenment, especially now that I find myself very grounded to this world.  You see, I have a son and I can't imagine detaching myself from him.  It also helps that the achievement of such a grandiose act is one in bazillion (don’t quote me on that, the number might be slightly off). Let’s say that earlier on I decided to stick around this world to make sure that, if I can’t be enlightened, I am bringing light to those around me.  This Chinese proverb always reminds me that change starts from the inside out:

If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

And with the stress of the holiday, I must say that I am a little behind on this task.  The more stressed I get, the dimmer my light gets and the uglier I look.  That is why today I invite you, in celebration of Buddha’s enlightenment, to join me and my fellow IWJ colleagues in the practice of mindfulness and try to light our souls.  It can be as simple as leaving a chocolate treat for your colleague who is working a lot this season or helping IWJ build this amazing social justice movement. It is all compassion. So today we might not illuminate the whole world (not yet), but we will for sure bring light to some dark places.

May the light in your soul brighten your face and those around you.

Your fellow half-light-at-the-moment-but-sure-to-be-bright-soon sister.

Black Friday was a Sacred Space

By Stephanie Kimec

As I reflect on my experience at the Walmart  in Paramount, Calif. on Black Friday, I find myself thinking of sacred space. Surrounded by workers, activists, clergy and media, eight advocates and I sat in the street to call attention to the immoral ways Walmart treats its employees. We were all arrested.

The holding cell I shared with two Walmart employees was transformed into a sacred space as they shared their experiences working at Walmart. Both have looked for other jobs, but have yet to find any. Both of them spent Thanksgiving Day at work, away from their families, after Walmart decided to stay open on Thanksgiving Day. One of the workers said she spent the holiday dealing with angry customers. Because Walmart never closed on Thanksgiving Day and night, certain items went on special sales at special times, which caused a lot of frustration for the customers and tension for the staff. The woman was clearly exhausted. She did not get the opportunity to spend the day with friends or family, or eat turkey. Both women shared stories of coworkers who had been at Walmart long enough to remember that there was a time, not more than 15-20 years ago, when Walmart valued its workers and treated them with respect. That time is long gone. These days, Walmart employees do far more work for far less pay. All these workers want is a Walmart that’s a place where employees matter, earn fair wages, have opportunities to care for and support their families, have access to health benefits, and a regular work schedule. As I sat there listening to the two women’s stories, I couldn’t help but feel humbled and inspired by their courage and sense of hope. They and thousands of Walmart employees are putting their livelihood on the line. What they’re doing could change the working conditions and standards not only at Walmart, but throughout the retail industry.

Through my Black Friday experience and from supporting the campaign to bring change at Walmart, I’ve also become more aware of the injustice Walmart-contracted warehouse workers struggle with.They work in unsafe conditions, are offered low wages and threatened if they try to speak out. Walmart workers and advocates were risking arrest in hopes it calls attention to Walmart, and the corporation decides to listen to its employees and finally begin treating them as human beings, people with rights.

I pray that Walmart repents, and as the Hebrew word for repent means “turns back from sinful ways.” I pray Walmart becomes a place that cares about and for its employees, shares its vast wealth with the very people who have allowed it to become so wealthy, and becomes a place that fosters love instead of greed.

Black Friday Solidarity on the Ground

On Black Friday, thousands of people of faith and workers advocates stood with Walmart workers calling on the corporation to treat workers more fairly with higher wages and safer working conditions at stores and along its supply chain and to end illegal retaliation against workers who speak out. On the busiest shopping day of the year, workers walked out in cities across the country and advocates proudly held solidarity actions in support.