1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., 4th Fl., Chicago, IL 60660
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about us > organizing philosophy

Interfaith Worker Justice works with the following philosophical and organizing approaches:
  • Workers deserve to earn living wages, receive family benefits, and be treated with respect and dignity in the workplace.
  • The U.S. faces a national crisis in terms of the rapid increase in workers earning poverty wages, and the vast number of workplaces that routinely violate workers' rights. This crisis requires a broad-based approach to the work.
  • All religions believe that workers should be paid fairly and treated respectfully.
  • People of faith want to help low-wage workers, but generally do not know how to get started. Getting people involved is an organizing challenge, not particularly an ideological one.
  • The majority of people of faith want to help low-wage workers, but do not see unions as vehicles for economic justice. The negative stereotypes can not be changed by talking. Rather, people of faith must get to know workers who are struggling for unions, and union organizers who are on the front lines of justice, which is why building the local interfaith committees are so important.
  • The religious community must form partnerships with government agencies charged with protecting workers' rights as another important vehicle for seeking justice in the workplace. Partnerships can be formed to educate workers about their rights, file complaints, and challenge sweatshop industries.
  • Trust between the religious community and unions and government agencies is formed through relationship-building and working together with and on behalf of workers.
  • There are various organizing models for building the relationships and working together that seem to work. Dialogues about which models are most effective are healthy.
  • The role of the national organization is to encourage the development of new groups, support and nurture the existing groups, develop resources that can be used by all but that no group alone could develop, and foster dialogues among groups to further the work.


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