Interfaith for Worker Justice

From Wiscopedia

1 Mission
2 Issues
3 In the News
4 Contact Information

[edit] Mission

Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) calls upon our religious values in order to educate, organize, and mobilize the religious community in the U.S. on issues and campaigns that will improve wages, benefits, and working conditions for workers, especially low-wage workers. Interfaith Worker Justice:

Protects Worker Rights IWJ believes workers should have the right to organize and to engage in collective bargaining. Because many U.S. workers are being denied these rights, IWJ has a joint partnership with the Department of Labor to help guarantee and enforce these basic rights.

Builds Relationships Too often the religious community and the labor communities have worked in isolation from one another. IWJ promotes opportunities for labor leaders and people of faith to work together, including workshops and field placements for seminarians, novices, and rabbinical students. For more information, contact Jessica Vazquez Torres.

Develops Resources IWJ develops resources on worker justice issues for congregations. Materials such as Faith Works, Why Unions Matter, Living Wage resources, What Faith Groups Say About the Right to Organize and more can all be downloaded. To order quantities of materials, e-mail admin@iwj.org .

Engages Religious Employers Religiously-affiliated non-profit institutions, such as hospitals and nursing homes, should model the highest standard of employer-employee relations. Unfortunately some religious institutions hire union-busting "consultants" and engage in unethical, and sometimes illegal behavior toward workers when they attempt to form a union. IWJ has developed resources to educate people of faith about this issue.

Organizes Local Interfaith Committees Most low-wage worker concerns require local religious involvement and assistance. IWJ works with interested religious leaders to form ongoing local organizations to help educate and involve the religious community on worker justice issues, and to support the work of the network of local committees and Religion-Labor groups. For more information, contact Charese Jordan.

Supports Poultry Workers More than 200,000 workers are engaged in poultry processing, mostly working in small towns scattered from Delaware to Texas. These low-wage workers, primarily African American and Latino, often toil in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, with few benefits and no union representation. IWJ organizes people of faith in poultry communities to support poultry workers, coordinates fact-finding delegations to meet with workers and management in poultry plants, and develops ethical standards for employee relations in poultry plants.