Voice of the People: Faith Working for Justice

Chicago: This Labor Day weekend, many people will spend time at outings, picnics, and ball games. This Labor Day weekend, speakers will be addressing the sacred link between faith and worker justice at more than 90 Chicago-area congregations through the Labor in the Pulpits program, coordinated by the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues and the Chicago Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO). Most of these speakers are members of local unions and people of faith themselves.

Many faith traditions – including the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions – lift up social and economic justice, equality, and the dignity and respect of all people as mandates from God. Fulfilling these mandates extends far beyond our weekend services to our communities and workplaces.

As a future priest, I believe that I am called by God to work alongside the poor and the oppressed in their struggle for daily bread, as well as their long-term struggles for living wages, benefits and respect. As an organizer and an activist, I have witnessed the positive effects that organizing can have in the lives of low-wage workers.

This summer, the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues put together a delegation of Christian and Muslim clergy to support workers at a laundry facility who were trying to organize in order to increase wages, improve their working conditions, and guarantee health benefits for themselves and their families. The clergy delegation met with the owner and manager of the laundry facility, wrote and publicized a report on their visit, and participated in rallies and other campaign activities.

Ultimately, the workers were able to negotiate their first union contract with the owner and management. This contact will improve the lives of more than 100 workers and their families. This victory, though it may seem small, was a step forward in the struggle for worker justice.

Justice on Earth will not be brought about all at once, with one grand rally or organizing drive. It will be brought about step by step. Communities of faith in Chicago participate in this ongoing process by supporting the efforts of local workers to organize; providing living wages and benefits to maintenance and clerical staff in our own congregations; and advocating for a living wage, amnesty for undocumented workers and other pro-worker public policies. These actions help us to fulfill the mandates of our faith and improve the lives of our friends, families, and neighbors.

This Labor Day, let us celebrate the sacred link between faith and work and put our faith to work for justice.

Teresa Mithen, Seminary Summer Organizer for the Interfaith Worker Justice and a Postulant to Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church. Teresa was an intern with the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues during the Summer of 2000, thanks to a grant from the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago.