LABOR DAY: Labor in the Pulpits
LABOR in the PULPITS, on the BIMAH, in the MINBAR
Planning a Labor Day Weekend service focused on worker justice issues
Organizing a service on worker justice over Labor Day weekend is a great opportunity for your congregation to recognize the sacred work of all its members and support low-wage workers’ struggles for justice. If there is a local Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) group in your area, that group can connect your congregation with a union member or labor leader who can talk about the connection between his or her faith and the struggle for justice in the workplace. Labor Day speakers receive special training and sample reflections to help them develop their presentations. Congregations organize Labor Day services on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before Labor Day or special services on Labor Day Monday. (In some cases, congregations organize services, or reflect on worker justice issues, in the week or two after Labor Day.)
If there is not an IWJ group in your area, consider identifying a Labor Day speaker from your congregation or community or discussing workplace justice in the pastor’s homily. If there is an IWJ group but your worship service or congregation tradition does not accommodate outside speakers, you could use these speakers before or after mass or at adult or teen education classes, or your pastor could incorporate a worker justice theme into the worship service. Think creatively about how best to plan a Labor Day service that will provide support to those struggling for justice on the job and lift up everyone’s spirits in the process. IWJ provides a variety of worship resources that will help you plan a successful Labor Day weekend service.
If you are interested in organizing Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar at your congregation, please sign up here so we can count you as one of the hundreds of congregations around the country lifting up worker justice issues over Labor Day weekend. Getting an accurate count will enable IWJ to publicize the faith community’s concern with worker justice in the national media, which will help bring worker justice issues to an even wider audience. Congregations and religion-labor groups organizing Labor in the Pulpits will receive a sample press release before Labor Day with the number of congregations planning to participate for use in publicizing the program locally.
Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar is a joint project of Interfaith Worker Justice and the AFL-CIO.
If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas for a Labor Day service, contact Renaye Manley (rmanley@iwj.org) at Interfaith Worker Justice, 773-728-8400 x15.
- wpeltz's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Bill Thank you!
Thank you for this Bill! We should perhaps consider doing something as CrossLeft.org... will bring the idea up to the board.
Labor Day and legislative advocacy
Every year since Interfaith Worker Justice's "Labor in the Pulpits/Bimah/Minbar" started in 2000, each local affiliate of the NYS Labor-Religion Coalition has selected a current labor issue to tie-in to Labor Day services and other events. Last year, we all chose the NYS Minimum Wage bill; the previous year it was a NYS bill to extend labor law coverage to farm workers. Some years, we've supported specific union strikes or organizing campaigns.
This year, in coordination with another national labor advocacy group with which we're affiliated, Jobs with Justice, and with our local CIO-AFL Area Labor Federation, my local Labor-Religion Coalition has chosen the Employee Free Choice Act.
It's a contentious issue, with a strong attack being mounted by business interests: I've recently seen a very well-produced, well-acted, and maliciously twisted TV commercial that plays on the theme of 'union thugs' destroying workers' democratic choice to vote for or against union representation. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a link to it -- it's quite a production.
There are good arguments in support of the bill, however. From my point of view, the real 'thugs' who intimidate workers are, surprise!, their employers and their hired union-prevention law firms.
I'll post some details later. This is just to throw in the idea of linking Labor in the Pulpits with specific worker justice campaigns.
Thank you, that is helpful
Thank you.
great idea
Bill,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. While connections between labor and faith communities have been an ongoing theme in our history its great to see the renewed effort to connect our faith values with the concerns of working people, in particular the working poor.