Bring Labor Day into Sunday Services

Jobs with Justice urges all union members to bring the Labor Day message into their churches on August 31 in keeping with the national "Labor in the Pulpit" program. Jobs with Justice is currently working with the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. Our next meeting is at 10 AM Saturday, September 13, at 2218 E Main in Grand Prairie. Please join us.

The following quotes come from the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice:

The Lord told Moses: "Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:33,34)

Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee. --Deuteronomy 24: 14-15

"Verily I say unto you, iasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." St Matthew 25:40

Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. -Jeremiah 22:3

"You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. You must pay him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and urgently depends
upon it." Deuteronomy 24:14-15

If one member suffers, all suffer together with it, if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. I Corinthians 12:26

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Listen! the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. James 5:1,4

Labor and work honestly with your own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Ephesians 4:28

"...Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Romans 13:10

Southern Baptist Convention: "We recognize the right of labor to organize and to engage in collective bargaining to the end that labor may have a fair and living wage, such as will provide not only for the necessities of life, but for recreation, pleasure, and culture."

Jewish: "We believe that the denial of the right of workers to organize and to form group
associations so that they may treat as economic equals with their employers is tantamount to a curtailment of human freedom. For that reason, we favor the unionization of all who labor."

Lutheran: "It is the right of every man to organize with his fellow workers for
collective bargaining through representatives of his own free choice."

Presbyterian:"Labor unions have been instrumental in achieving a higher standard of living and in improving working conditions. They have helped to obtain safety and health measures against occupational risk; to achieve a larger degree of protection against child labor; to relieve the disabled, the sick, the unemployed; and to gain a more equitable share in the value of what they produce. These and other gains which labor unions have done much to win have reached far beyond their own membership and have benefited those who have not shared in the activity."

William Penn, Quaker leader: "To help mend this world is true religion."

Catholic: "Labor can have no effective voice as long as it is unorganized. To protect its rights it must be free to bargain collectively through its own chosen representatives."

Billy Graham: "Jesus Christ was a laborer and He would be a union member now. He would belong to the Carpenters' Union. The fact that He was a laborer gives dignity to the working man.

Pope John Paul II: "Unions are good for working people."

Here is the proud endorsement list:

ACORN

American Postal Workers Union

Dallas AFL-CIO

Delaney Drive Christian Church in Dallas

Dallas Peace Center

Familias Unidas de Dallas

Green Party of Dallas/Ft Worth

Guatemaltecos Unidos en Dallas

Jobs with Justice

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

Los Altos Community Organization

Dallas NAACP

North Dallas National Organization for Women (NOW)

Pax Christi Dallas

Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 100

Teamsters Local 767

Service Employees Union Local 100

Dallas Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Texas Public Workers Association

United Aerospace Workers (UAW) Local 848

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1000

United Transportation Union # 965

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(Please download the form below, fill it out, send it in, and join the campaign!)

Organizational Endorsement Form

The Dallas Living Wage Campaign is a coalition uniting low income people, working people, union, local small businesses and the religious community in Dallas around a vision of a fair-wage economy that provides access to decent paying jobs for all who want them and, thus, increases local spending power. The Campaign seeks passage of a City ordinance that fosters corporate responsibility where businesses who receive loans, subsidies or contracts with the City pay a wage which is at least enough to bring a family of four above the poverty level. In addition, it insures use of community-based hiring for jobs at companies that receive City subsidies, loans or contracts.

Coalitions all over the country have passed similar ordinances and this living wage is also needed here in Dallas. If your organization is also willing to mobilize around a shared vision of decent jobs for all Dallas residents, please return the attached endorsement form and join the campaign.

For more information or to invite a speaker to your meeting, contact Liz Wolff at ACORN 214-823-4580 or Paula Love at Local 100 SEIU at 214-823-2001.

Name of Organization ____________________________________________

Contact person _____________ ____________________________________

Mailing Address ________________________________________________

Phone _______________________ Fax _________________ E-Mail ______

Yes, my organization/institution is willing to endorse the campaign ________

In addition, we are able to make a donation toward the campaign. (Please make checks payable to Dallas ACORN and attach it to this endorsement form.)

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