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Worker Rights Scroll down for actions Weblog Updates |
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Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign—Support $10 in 2010
The Pennsylvania Council of Churches has long been part of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, a coalition of faith and community voices against poverty.
The campaign is calling for Congress to respect the dignity of all workers by moving the federal minimum wage closer to a real living wage—$10 in 2010. We believe this is necessary for the following reasons:
· $10 in 2010 is necessary if we are to make up the ground lost in real wages since 1968. · $10 in 2010 will bring us closer to the goal of the "minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers" articulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established the minimum wage 70 years ago. · $10 in 2010 will bring us closer to the day when all workers are paid a living wage.
The minimum wage has been losing ground in terms of spending power since 1968. If the minimum wage had been pegged to inflation beginning with 1968, it would now be at $10.08! Even with the increase passed in 2007, the federal minimum wage will only rise to $7.25/hour on July 24, 2009.
Please sign on with your support for the $10 in 2010 campaign NOW. Our elected officials need to know that we, as people of faith, believe that this is an issue of justice—helping vulnerable persons to achieve better lives.
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Employee Free Choice Act
Write to Senator Specter to urge his support for the Employee Free Choice Act
Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) reminds us that the right to form and join trade unions is a basic human right and long-standing U.S. policy; it is also a right affirmed by most religious denominations as essential for upholding human dignity.
However, companies frequently launch massive, well-funded campaigns to fight organization efforts. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would ensure that when a majority of employees in a workplace decide to form a union, they could do so without the harassment, intimidation, illegal firings, and other tactics that employers now use to block workers' free choice.
The EFCA does not eliminate the secret ballot process for choosing union representation. What it does do is amend the National Labor Relation Act by putting the choice of how to form a union in the hands of workers rather than employers. For a fact sheet on this issue, click here.
Learn more about the Employee Free Choice at http://www.iwj.org/template/page.cfm?id=23.
Resources to aid in education and organizing are available at http://www.iwj.org/template/page.cfm?id=200.
To send a letter urging Senator Specter to support the EFCA, click here. |
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Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar
In the richest country in the world, more than two million full-time, year round workers live below the poverty line, struggling to pay for necessities such as food, housing, healthcare, transportation, and childcare. Since 1996, thousands of congregations have focused 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.
Celebrate the sacred link between faith, work, and justice. Invite a union member or labor leader to be a guest speaker on Labor Day weekend, or focus your Labor Day weekend service on worker justice issues.
Labor in the Pulpits/on the Bimah/in the Minbar is a joint project of Interfaith Worker Justice and the AFL-CIO.
To learn how you can participate and download resources, go to http://www.iwj.org/template/page.cfm?id=13. |
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· Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (http://www.cbpp.org/pubs/ui.htm) · Coalition on Human Needs (http://www.chn.org/issues/labor/) · Interfaith Worker Justice (http://www.iwj.org/) · Jobs with Justice (http://www.jwj.org/) · Keystone Research Center (http://www.keystoneresearch.org/)
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· National Partnership for Women and Families (http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/PageServer) · Sweatfree Communities (http://www.sweatfree.org/) |
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ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE FEDERAL Help Build Support for Nationwide Industry Partnerships Calling on People of Faith to Support Principles on Jobs Let Justice Roll (click on links to the right) Support the Employee Free Choice Act (Interfaith Worker Justice)
STATE Let Your Pennsylvania Legislators Know That Earned Sick Days Are Important To You! Protect PA Women from Discrimination Related to Marital or Motherhood Status
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