National Faith Groups Write to Congress to Ask Support of the Employee Free Choice Act

April 27, 2009

Dear Senators and Members of Congress,

As leading religious organizations and denominations representing people of faith throughout the country, we are committed to promoting and uplifting the dignity of working people and particularly low-wage workers. We therefore urge you to support the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will help to ensure the right of all workers to form unions if they so choose, in order to negotiate decent wages, provide for their families, secure fair benefits and decent working conditions, and have a voice in the workplace.

Whenever people stand together in mutual commitment and for the common purpose of promoting and protecting their most essential dignity - a dignity that issues directly from God - then we as people of faith and good conscience have a moral responsibility to stand with them. We have a responsibility to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. We make this appeal to the conscience of every Member of Congress.

The Employee Free Choice Act presents us with an opportunity to pass legislation that is at once economically and morally efficacious for the people of our nation and our economy. Even as unions serve as vehicles by which poor workers lift themselves from poverty and into the middle class, the increased purchasing power of union members provides an effective and consistent stimulus for the general economy. When workers form unions, they have an opportunity to empower themselves and provide security for their families. They have a meaningful voice on the job and participate in a collaborative effort with their employers to fashion mutually beneficial working conditions. At its best, a union is a community of women and men devoted to one another's wellbeing and dignity, working together to secure their rights as employees, as human beings, and as children of God.

The right of workers to freely associate and form unions without fear of intimidation or retaliation is a cornerstone principle of our civil society and our modern economy. It is a principle that promotes and sustains the health of our middle class, ensures quality of life for all working people, and empowers even those in low-wage jobs to achieve dignity and a decent standard of living. Presently, however, this right is fundamentally threatened. Workers who attempt to form unions are too often met with unrelenting opposition from their employers and have little or no effective legal recourse by which to protect their democratic right to organize. The Employee Free Choice Act will provide sound and vitally necessary reforms of current labor law which does not effectively protect workers' rights.

As people of faith, we urge you to stand with us in our support of hardworking families. We urge you to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Sincerely,

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Alliance of Baptists

American Baptist Churches USA

American Friends Service Committee

American Islamic Congress

Apostolic Catholic Church

Catholic Labor Network

Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice

Catholics United

Center of Concern

Church of the Brethren

Church Women United

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ)

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Interfaith Worker Justice

Irish Apostolate USA

Jewish Labor Committee

Lutheran Volunteer Corps

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Muslim American Society Freedom (MAS Freedom)

Muslim Public Affairs Council

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

The Network of Spiritual Progressives

Pax Christi USA: National Catholic Peace Movement

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington Office

Progressive Jewish Alliance

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

Sikh Council on Religion and Education

Sojourners

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Tikkun

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society

Uri L'Tzedek (The Orthodox Jewish Social Justice Movement)

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