What's really going on with the Postal Service

If you watch the nightly news, you've probably heard that the U.S. Postal Service has had $20 billion in lost revenue. You've probably also heard some Congressional leaders suggest this means the Postal Service must be slashed to make it more "efficient." But the news stories are leaving out a lot of relevant facts, painting an inaccurate picture of the state of the Postal Service.

Once you've learned more, I hope you will sign this petition from America's postal workers to preserve Saturday delivery. (Scroll down past the petitions you can download, and you'll find an online version you can sign.)

What you need to know about the U.S. Postal Service:

1. The Postal Service does not use any taxpayer dollars, and it has not for the past 30 years. All its funding comes from the sale of products and services.
2. In recent years, the labor productivity of postal workers has doubled.
3. Despite the recession, over the past four fiscal years, the Postal Service has earned a $611 million net profit delivering the mail.
4. The $20 billion in postal losses you've heard about are not related to mail delivery. The real reason behind them is legislation passed by the 2006 Congress that has the ridiculous requirement that the Postal Service pre-fund its future retirees' health benefits for the next 75 years, and that USPS must do this within the next decade. You read that right - Congress is requiring the Postal Service have funding now for retirees who haven't even started working for the Postal Service yet. This is a burden that no other public or private business is required to meet.
5. Lawmakers can fix this mess without taxpayer dollars by passing House Bill 1351, which would give the Postal Service access to the funding it has already set aside for these future benefits.
6. The Postal Service also has tens of billions of earned revenue in surplus funds, which other businesses would tap into during a recession. However, the Postal Service can only draw on this money with Congressional approval.
7. While cutting Saturday delivery represents a 16 percent cut in services, it does not save the Postal Service much money.
8. If Saturday deliveries are eliminated, it will undercut the Postal Service's ability to deliver parcels, which is the fastest growing part of its business right now.
9. Cutting Saturday delivery is likely to drive mailers away, making the Postal Service's financial problems worse.

Please support your postal workers by signing the petition today to keep six day delivery.

Practicing What We Preach: Why WIN Employees Have a Union

by Rev. Rebekah Gienapp, executive director   
    When workers decide to form unions, often their employers go on the rampage. Holding lengthy meetings with workers to talk about the evils of unions, threatening to close the business, and illegally firing union supporters are all too common. But here at Workers Interfaith Network, I welcomed the opportunity for our employees to form a union, even though I am the "manager" around here.

WIN employees celebrate the signing of our first union contract.

   Two weeks ago, WIN signed a union contract with the St. Louis Newspaper Guild, Local 36047 of the Communication Workers of America. Why do we see this as a good thing for our organization and for our employees? Here's a few reasons:

• Our employees deserve to have a voice in decisions made around here. This includes decisions about how their work should be done. A union contract provides a framework for that kind of collaborative decision-making.
• It's not healthy for one person in an organization to have all the power. Everyone has biases, including me. Having a set process for disciplining employees helps limit that bias. And, if an employee, feels like I have made an unfair decision that doesn't follow our union contract, we have a way to work out that dispute.
• The contract makes clear to our employees our commitment to pay living wages and provide health and retirement benefits. These are the things we advocate for every day for workers throughout Memphis. We want to provide the same kind of good jobs we advocate for here at WIN. We were already paying living wages and providing benefits before the contract was signed. But now we can't arbitrarily change those things without negotiating with our employees.
• We're now a formal part of the labor movement, which has done so much for all workers - not just union members. We can thank unions for so many things - the minimum wage, the 8 hour work day, the end of child labor, and much more. Our employees' union membership is a small way to strenghten this important movement.
• Union membership gives WIN access to quality health care and retirement plans at a reasonable cost. Because we're now part of national plans through the Communication Workers, our health care premiums are much lower than they would be otherwise.

    Too many employers see any gain for their workers as a loss for their organization or business. Here at WIN, we see things differently. Treating our employees the way we want all workers to be treated brings integrity to our work. It helps create an atmosphere of loyalty, where WIN employees stick around for the long haul to organize for justice. And as a supervisor, the presence of a union reminds me to check my own actions with employees for fairness. Because I don't know about you, but I always find room for improvement in myself!

Want to take action with workers seeking justice? Sign up for email action alerts from Workers Interfaith Network at http://www.workersinterfaithnetwork.org/index/involved/subscribe.htm

Tennessee Legislative Wrap-Up: One for the Record Books

     The Tennessee General Assembly adjourned on Saturday, after months of attacking workers rights from many angles. The glimmers of hope: our local living wage laws withstood attempts to repeal them, and state workers got their first raise in four years. But the bad news is pretty awful: teachers' rights to collective bargaining were largely shredded; local governments can't prohibit discrimination; and all employers will have to use an incredibly flawed e-verify system to check job applicants eligibility to work.




Rev. Mary Edwards was one of dozens of WIN members who raised her voice for workers at the state legislature this year.


Here are the details on some of the most important bills affecting workers:

Teachers' Collective Bargaining
    Originally, anti-teacher forces tried to take away teachers' collective bargaining rights entirely. At the last minute, a compromise was arrived at that greatly reduces the role that teachers' unions can have in influencing teachers' working conditions.
    School districts are no longer required to engage in collective bargaining in districts where teachers have voted for union representation. Instead, teachers will elect committees of people to represent them. Union representatives can run for positions on these committees, but others will be included as well. The end result of negotiations will be memoranda of understanding, which cannot be legally enforced in the same way that a union contract can. And, while negotiations can include pay, insurance, and benefits, the committees will have no say over job assignments, bonuses, and other issues that are supposed to be related to student achievement.


Immigration
    Fortunately, consideration of an Arizona copypcat bill was delayed until 2012 because of the giant price tag to implementing the bill. So for now, local law enforcement isn't charged with enforcing federal immigration law.
   However, another misguided attempt by the state to take on immigration did pass: requiring employers to use the federal e-verify system to check job applicants' eligibility to work. While this may sound harmless, the Social Security's e-verify system is riddled with errors. It's also possible that the broader use of e-verify could lead to more wage theft. WIN has already seen employers who hire workers and wait to use the e-verify system until after they've done days or weeks of work. Federal law requires employers to pay these workers for the labor they've already done, even if they don't have proper work authorization. But plenty of employers will refuse to pay workers, using e-verify as an excuse.
    Tennessee employers will have to begin using the e-verify system in 2012.

Pay raises for University workers
    The budget passed by the legislature includes a 1.6% for all state workers, including University of Memphis employees. This is a step forward since the vast majority of workers haven't had any raise in four years.
    But if this very modest amount is distributed as a percentage amount, low-wage workers like U. of M. custodians could see only a $10 raise per pay period. As a WIN member, you've been pushing the University administration to distribute the raise as an equal dollar cost of living increase to all employees, so that it makes a real difference to workers who aren't paid a living wage. The University has not yet announced how the raise will be distributed, so we are still hopeful they will listen to the community outcry on this issue.

Criminalizing labor unions
    House and Senate committees passed a terrible bill that would allowed injunctions to be issued again unions for any violence committed by their members, even if the union did not condone the violence. The bill includes “intimidation” as “unlawful violence.”  An employee or employer could claim that asking someone to sign a petition in support of collective bargaining or even a political candidate constitutes “intimidation.” The bill only addressed violence by unions, and deliberately did not address possible violence by company officials against workers.
    Fortunately, this misguided bill was not passed on the House and Senate floor, and instead was sent back to committee for next year.

Repeal of Memphis and Shelby County living wage ordinances
    This bill, which would have invalidated large parts of the living wage ordinances you worked so hard to get passed, has been sent to summer study committee. Bills are often sent to summer study when there is not enough support to pass them. WIN will be monitoring the study committee, but it may be that the bill is not even brought up for discussion over the summer.


Special access to discriminate act
    All people have the right to work, regardless of their sexual orientation. But this bill takes away local governments abilities to stop discrimination among contractors who are funded by taxpayer dollars.

    The special access to discriminate act prohibits local governments in Tennessee from telling their contractors not to discriminate against workers because of their sexual orientation. It revokes an ordinance just passed by Nashville Metro Government which bars discrimination by the city's contractors.
   The bill passed both the House and Senate and has been signed into law by Governor Haslam, but a court challenge by opponents of the bill is expected.

Want to take action with workers seeking justice? Sign up for email action alerts from Workers Interfaith Network at http://www.workersinterfaithnetwork.org/index/involved/subscribe.htm

A Litany for Tennessee's Workers

   Yesterday I saw the inspiring sight of 1,000 Tennesseans rallying together for good jobs, living wages, and an end to the attack on workers rights.

  I wanted to share with you the litany for workers that Rev. Renee Dillard (St. John's United Methodist, Memphis) and Dr. Herbert Lester (Blakemore United Methodist, Nashville) shared with the crowd. You may want to pray it yourself or share it with your congregation. Now is a critical time for people of faith to both pray and act with workers whose rights are being eroded by our state legislature.

Leader 1: Scripture tells us that whenever workers are abused, God hears their cries for justice.

Leader 2: From ancient times through today, our God breaks the chains of oppression and brings good news to the poor.

Leader 1: When the state of Tennessee pays some workers so little that they remain trapped in poverty,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 2: When legislators threaten workers' livelihoods by repealing the living wage and upholding discrimination,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 1: When laws are proposed that would silence teachers' voices,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 2: When those in power try to push working people out of the political process,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 1: When the unemployed search long and hard for jobs that have been promised but not delivered,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 2: When leaders demand sacrifices only from the people who cannot afford to make them,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 1: When immigrant workers are blamed for an unemployment crisis that they did not cause,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 2: God's justice compels us to speak and act for the good of everyone in our communities, not just a few, because we know that

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 1: Despite the many forces we face against us, we stand, in trust and confidence, because here and in every place,

All: God hears the cries of workers.

Leader 2: Thanks be to God! Amen.

Want to take action with workers seeking justice? Sign up for email action alerts from Workers Interfaith Network at http://www.workersinterfaithnetwork.org/index/involved/subscribe.htm

Stand up for workers on Lobby Day

In 2004, WIN members like Rev. Jeff Irwin (left) held a lobby day to successfully stop a bill that would have killed our local living wage laws.

   I hope that you'll consider signing up to join the statewide Lobby Day for Living Wages and Good Jobs on March 15th in Nashville. As I wrote yesterday, there are many important worker rights bills - both good and terrible - that state legislators are considering this session. Now is the time to raise your voice!

   If you're not able to join us in Nashville, you can still speak up with workers as state legislators consider critical bills affecting their rights. Just sign up for WIN's email updates, so you'll know the best times to contact legislators about important bills.

    The Tennessee legislature began meeting yesterday and will wrap up in May, so the winter and spring are key times for you to advocate for workers' rights.

   This legislative session could present University workers with the opportunity for a fair raise, after three years of pay freezes. Advocates must also be prepared to defend workers' rights as legislators introduce bills to take away workers' rights to have unions, and bills that encourage racial profiling of immigrant workers.

Why participate in Lobby Day?

    When someone wants to you to do something, an email might work. A phone call or a letter is more likely to get your attention. But what really gets you thinking about the other person's request is a face to face conversation, isn't it?

    It's the same way with our state legislators. The best way to make sure they hear - and respond - to your concerns about workers' rights is to meet with them in person. That's why WIN invites you to join us in Nashville on March 15th with people from all across Tennessee.

March 15th Lobby Day Schedule

    While some details of this schedule may change, the departure and arrival times from Memphis will not change.

5:30 a.m.                 Vans leave midtown Memphis for Nashville.
9:00 - 10 a.m.         Training and roleplays for legislative visits.
10:00 a.m. - noon    Visits to legislators in teams
Noon - 1 p.m.          Rally for living wages and good jobs on capitol steps.
1:00 - 1:45 p.m.      Lunch break (on your own)
1:45 - 3:00 p.m.      Visits to legislators in teams
3:00 p.m.                 Vans leave Nashville for Memphis
7:00 p.m.                Vans arrive in midtown Memphis


    We'll make sure you have all the training and talking points you need to meet with your legislators. The lunchtime rally will be an energizing time to join with people from all across Tennessee who believe our state can do better for workers. Won't you join us?

   Sign up to participate in the March 15th Lobby Day for Living Wages and Good Jobs!

State legislators prepare slew of anti-worker bills

Legislative session also presents opportunity for progress on

living wage for University workers

    The Tennessee Legislature begins its real work today, February 7th. Usually they wrap up their legislative session by mid-May. That means that the winter and spring are key times for you to advocate for workers' rights.

    University workers in Memphis and across the state have endured pay freezes for the past three years. As workloads have mounted and health insurance costs skyrocketed, low-wage workers have struggled to pay their bills.

   The budget passed by legislators could determine whether University workers move a significant step closer to a living wage. But the only way the state budget will include raises for low-wage University workers is if legislators hear from people like you.

  Your action will also be urgently needed to stop a number of anti-worker bills that have been introduced or are planned (legislators have just two weeks from today to introduce all bills for the session.)

   In the last legislative session (2009), a bill was narrowly defeated that would have repealed the local living wage ordinances you worked so hard to establish in Memphis and Shelby County. It is very likely this bill be introduced again this year.

   A number of proposed bills this year attack the rights of public employees, especially teachers, to have a union. One bill takes away teachers' unions ability to negotiate the terms of teachers' employment with boards of education. WIN members like you know that when workers have a voice in workplace decisions through their union, it creates a more stable, productive workplace.

   Worker rights and immigrant rights' advocates are also very concerned about promises by state Sen. Bill Ketron to introduce a state immigration bill similar to Arizon's controversial SB 1070. Such a law would allow local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law. It would likely lead to racial profiling of Latinos and anyone who police decide seems foreign-born. It could also give employers an incentive to call the police on workers who complain about wage theft or other abuses.

Take Action

1) If you don't get WIN's email action alerts already, sign up now. Once the legislature starts to move, bills can progress very quickly. I'll send you alerts when your urgent action is needed.

2) Tomorrow I'll be posting about how you can participate in the Lobby Day for Living Wages and Good Jobs on March 15th in Nashville.

Photo Slideshow: Why I am Thankful for You

Perhaps without even realizing it, you have changed Memphis this year. You have stood with workers seeking justice in our community. I could write a long post about the many ways you have made a difference, through your generosity and your action. But these photos do a much better job! I hope you enjoy seeing what you've accomplished, as much as I enjoyed putting together this slideshow for you. (And be sure to turn on your speakers to hear the background music.)


Thank you for your steadfast support of Workers Interfaith Network. Have a blessed Thanksgiving, and please know that you are one of the many people I will give thanks to God for on Thursday.

University Employees Hard Work Should Be Rewarded With Fair Pay

    Last night members of Workers Interfaith Network joined together with the United Campus Workers and the Progressive Student Alliance to kick off a campaign for a living wage wage at the University of Memphis. The heart of the community forum we held were talks given by two courageous custodial workers who spoke out about the poverty wages and unfair conditions that come with their jobs.


   As I took part in the forum, I felt a lot of different emotions at the same time. I was angry at the conditions that Emma Davis and Thelma Rimmer described. All workers at the University have faced a pay freeze for over three years now. While a lack of a raise is a challenge for anyone, when your pay is around $8 an hour, it becomes a crisis. Ms. Davis shared how painful it is for her when one of her two children ask her for something that she can't provide. "When you're making $80,000 a year, you don't have to turn your kids away," she said. "I have to because I have to pay my bills.


    At the forum, we talked about Dr. David Ciscel's study produced earlier this year, that shows that a living wage is $11.62 an hour in families of four, where two parents are able to work. But since publishing the study, family health care premiums at the University have jumped 32 percent, to $335 a month.  


   When your pay is just $1,300 a month, this is an unbearable burden. Ms. Davis is now facing a crisis of how to care for her health problems because she makes too much to get TennCare coverage, but she can't afford the University coverage.


   Equally upsetting is the attitude of some supervisors that Ms. Rimmer and Ms. Davis described. They both said that when they have asked about pay raises, supervisors have told them "you should be happy to have a job." Ms. Rimmer put it well when she said, "yes it's good to have a job, but you need a paying job." Supervisors have also told them that they can't do anything about the fact that when they arrive at work at 3:00 a.m., there is no air conditioning, even in the hottest days of the summer.


   There was plenty to be upset about. But I was also inspired at the courage of these two women in speaking out. It would be easy to keep silence out of a fear of losing their jobs in these tough times. But as Ms. Rimmer said, "I'm speaking up for those who are afraid to speak up. I'm standing here to make a way for the next person, for my kids, and for your kids." 


    All of us who care about workers rights need to be prepared to take action with these workers if they experience any retaliation for speaking out at last night's forum.


    And I was inspired by the response of the students, staff, faculty, and community members who took part in the forum. Progressive Student Alliance member Gaby Marquez wanted Mr. Davis and Ms. Rimmer to know that even though their work goes unnoticed, that it is appreciated by students like her. "My mother cleaned houses, so I know some of where you're coming from. I can promise you that when I see President Raines, I will be bringing up the living wage with her."


    While campaigning for a living wage in this economy is an uphill struggle, we also reflected last night on other wage victories in our state. I shared the story of how the campaign for a living wage ordinance with the City Council was long and hard-fought, but successful. Tom Smith, an organizer with the United Campus Workers, shared how organizing at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville significantly raised workers' pay there. When he worked at the UTK Library, he saw his pay raised $3,000 over a three year period because of organizing for a living wage by the union and community allies.


   Even if you couldn't join us, I hope you're inspired to join these workers in taking action for a living wage. 


Ready to join the struggle? You can start by signing our electronic petition to President Raines. And, if you're not already on the list to get email alerts from WIN, sign up now so you'll know about future actions in this campaign. 

Got questions about the living wage at University of Memphis? Get them answered on October 26th

    A couple of months ago, I had the chance to talk with a University of Memphis worker who I'll call Lisa. Now, whenever I step on to campus, I think about her. About the work that she does. About how invisible she is to most people at the University, even while they depend on her labor to keep the place running.


    Each morning, Lisa arrives at work before 4:00 a.m. She and her co-workers make a long walk in the dark from the least expensive parking at the University to the buildings that they clean. Because Lisa makes minimum wage - $7.25 an hour - she has to choose the cheapest parking even though it means an unsafe, lengthy walk to work.

    Lisa knows what it's like to have more month than she has money. "With the money we make, it's impossible to make a living. I really do not want to work a second job, but as a single parent I have to. You have to juggle bills. It is really hard. Something has to change," Lisa says. Yet, because of the odd work schedule the University has for Lisa, she has not been able to find a second job that she can work while keeping her University job.


    But the point is that she shouldn't have to work more than one full-time job just to meet her most basic expenses. Hearing Lisa's story first hand brought home to me the importance of the new living wage campaign that Workers Interfaith Network and United Campus Workers are launching at the University. 


    I want you to have the opportunity to hear from workers first-hand too, so that you can ask your questions and hear what it's like for them to try to make ends meet on what the University pays them. That's why WIN, United Campus Workers, and the Progressive Student Alliance are sponsoring a community forum about the living wage campaign at the University on Tuesday, October 26th at 6:30 p.m. The forum will feature U. of M. workers who are paid poverty wages, students, and economist Dr. David Ciscel, author of "What is a Living Wage for Memphis: 2010 Edition."


     We'll talk about what conditions are currently like for workers, whether the University can afford a living wage (read my take here), what the current living wage rate is for workers in our city, and what it will take to win an agreement to pay a living wage from the University. If you have questions, this is your chance to get them answered! If you have a topic you want us to cover at the forum, leave it in the comments section, and we'll do our best to address it.

Can you join us at the October 26th forum? Sign up here

    The forum will be held in the University Center's Bluff Room. The UC is located off Walker Ave., just north of J.M. Smith Hall. Parking is available in the garage on Zach Curlin, or in the parking lot on the other side of the railroad tracks on Southern. View a map of the campus with all buildings and parking.

    If you can't make it to the forum, but want to launch the campaign, sign our petition to U. of M. President Shirley Raines. 

UT Health Science Center Refuses to Allow Clergy, Laid Off Workers to Enter Administration Building

   In the eight years that I've been director of Workers Interfaith Network, I've been part of numerous clergy delegations that have attempted to talk to managers and owners about working conditions and problems in the workplaces. In a number of cases, we have managed to talk to a plant manager or similar person. I can think of only one occasion in which a company in a small town, which was notoriously unsafe and discriminatory in their practices, would not allow our delegation to even enter the building.     
   
   I certainly expected that when a delegation of clergy joined workers laid off from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) yesterday to talk about the layoffs, that we would be able to speak to someone from the Chancellor's Office. Instead, we were greeted by a security guard and a police officer (we must have looked like an intimidating group!) who would not allow us to enter the lobby because we did not have an appointment. When a representative of the United Campus Workers asked if security could call the Chancellor's office to let them know we were there, because he had already made multiple attempts to make an appointment, the security guard claimed he did not have the phone number of the Chancellor's office. I wonder how we would have contacted them if we had an appointment if he doesn't have the phone number? I guess I am naive, but I expected that a state institution would behave at least as well as the many union-busting private companies I have visited over the years.
     
   The refusal of UTHSC officials to return letters and calls from workers and the union, as well as their refusal to allow us to set foot in the lobby of a state building, are signs of much more serious concerns. Even though UTHSC has received over $30 million in stimulus money from the federal ARRA and state MOE funds, that money has not been used to save jobs. Thirty-three workers were laid off this month, including long-time employees like Michele Burrell, who has posted a you tube video outlining workers' concerns about the way that were laid off, severance, and recall rights. 
   
    Two of the laid-off workers I spoke with on Wednesday are single mothers who were making very modest salaries, leaving them totally unprepared for a layoff. Since workers did not get any advanced notice of the layoffs, not even one day, how could they have prepared? One of the women has a disabled son that she does not know how she will care for; the other asked where she could get health insurance after September 30th because there is no possible way she can afford COBRA. 
   
    The demographics of who was included in the layoffs is also of concern. While Chancellor Schwab is paid $550,000 a year by UT, many laid off workers were making less than $25,000 annually. When 18 of the laid off workers are African-American women, 10 are white women, and 5 are white men, you have to wonder if gender and racial discrimination could have been at work in decisions about who would be laid off. Because UTHSC has not disclosed what methods they used to decide on layoffs (such as seniority or performance reviews), there is no way to check for possible discrimination. 
    
   What do workers want?
1. UTHSC should use recovery money to stop additional layoffs.
2. Laid off workers should have recall rights for new positions that come open, and/or placement into currently open UTHSC positions.
3. Workers deserve severance pay that is equal to that of other laid off state of Tennessee workers. UTHSC workers received less than six weeks severance (with no notice of layoffs) while other state and higher education workers have received up to four months of salary and up to two years of tuition assistance. Because the current severance package only goes through September 30th, workers will not be eligible for any possible bonus money the state may give.
4. UTHSC should fully disclose how layoffs were conducted to verify there weren't irregularities or discrimination based on race, gender, or age.

    You can support laid off UTHSC workers by calling Chancellor Schwab's office at 901-448-4796. Urge him to use federal stimulus money to save workers' jobs, and call on him to meet with laid off workers to hear their concerns. You can also send an email on United Campus Workers' website.

   UT needs to know that the Memphis community wants stimulus funds to be used for their proper purpose: preventing layoffs in a time where it will be incredibly difficult for workers to find new jobs. 



    

Vote in the Faith and Labor Picnic Contest for the Chance to Win a Free Family Ticket!

It's week two in our contest for two free family tickets to the Faith and Labor Picnic, coming up in just two weeks on Labor Day! Six people responded to my invitation to post their best reason for coming to the Faith and Labor Picnic. Now, you can enter the contest for a free family ticket to the picnic (worth $30) by voting for your favorite reason.

How to enter the contest:

1) Read the six reasons below and decide which one gets your vote.

2) Post a comment with your vote and your full name. (For example: My vote is for reason #4, Rebekah Gienapp). If you are not on the WIN email list, please also post your email address so I can contact you if you win. You can choose to post your comment using the "anonymous" profile, but you must include your name to be entered in the contest.

3) One winner will be drawn at random from all those who vote. The other winner will be the person whose reason gets the most votes.

Reason #1

I love the picnic because of the way it brings together good-hearted folks of different faiths, colors and ages. Every year when I look out at the crowd, I feel I'm getting a glimpse of God's kingdom.

Reason #2

I think going to the picnic would be wonderful experience. I would meet and learn so much for regulars. I usually volunteer to help others but it will be a great experience. I'm very interested in helping other get the wages they need in order to support their families. I think having picnic will unite so many different backgrounds to a common goal.

Reason #3

The best reason to attend the picnic is to interact with others who have experienced discrimination in hiring, pay, and job loss. The more people that share their experiences, the more of a 'working force' we become.

Reason #4

Last chance to show off your white summer sandals.

Reason #5

This will be my eighth (8) year of having a freedom holiday, free from labor such as cooking for my family. They all know that on Labor Day nothing is being served at my house, I have attended every Faith and Labor Picnic since its inception. I encourage them to attend also, and most do attend each year. By doing so, they are supporting a very worthy organization, Workers Interfaith Network. The picnic is its most effective fundraiser each year. WIN is consistently working to improve the conditions in which many low wage workers have to endure in their struggle to provide for themselves and their families. I don't know of a more hardworking group of people than the committed Staff and Volunteers of Workers Interfaith Network.

What great fun my family and I always have at these family oriented picnics, there are activities for children, good food and fellowship, door prizes and even entertainment for the whole family. Don't pass us this opportnunity to serve other while you are being served. I encourage you to come see for yourself and leave the cooking to someone else.

Come out and support WIN, and you will be glad that you did.

Reason #6

It is a fun way to support WIN who helps those in need--"one of the least of these."

It Takes a Village to Raise a Social Justice Organization

Parents know what it’s like to see your child one moment and wonder “How did she get so big, so strong, and so smart so suddenly?” As WIN’s founder, I kind of feel that way as we celebrate our 8th anniversary. How did an organization that started with a handful of people and enough donations to last four months become a powerful force for justice in our community?

    Although the exact way things turn out is always a bit of a mystery, what is clear is that you are the ones who have made WIN what is today: you—the active, generous members who have given of your resources and yourselves. God has worked through you to make WIN the place that workers struggling against injustice can turn to.

    Many times, people point to me and the other WIN staff members - Alfredo, Kyle, and James as the reason for our success. And I'll be the first to applaud our staff for their creativity, perseverance, and passion. But the truth is, just like it takes a village to raise a child, it also take a village to raise up a strong social justice organization. 

   So take a moment to celebrate some of the victories you’ve accomplished over the past eight years. And please add your memories, reflections, and hopes for the future - I really want to hear them!

• June 2002: A handful of religious and labor leaders officially launched WIN this month (originally called the Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice) so that people of faith would have a chance to take effective action to raise wages and improve working conditions for low-wage workers in Memphis. I started beating the bushes for interested people soon after, which is when I met many of you who showed up at a picket, sent in a donation, or opened your congregation up to learn about our work.
• September 2003: The Memphis Living Wage Campaign is launched to press the City Council to pay City workers and contracted employees a living wage. Your action, from rallies to prayer vigils to fasting,    result in a city living wage ordinance being passed in 2006, and a county ordinance in 2007, raising the wages of thousands of workers.
• February 2004: WIN members fill up the buses to Nashville to lobby against a proposed legislature bill that would have banned living wage ordinances in Tennessee cities, as well as any other local laws that raise workers' wages like prevailing wage laws for construction workers. You're successful in defeating it (and you defeated it again in 2009 when a similar bill was introduced).
• February 2005: WIN joins forces with AFSCME Local 1733 and Grassroots Leadership in successfully rallying against an effort to turn control of Shelby County's Correctional Facility over to a private, for-profit company. 
• July 2005: Fred’s warehouse workers win their first union contract, raising wages and improving working conditions after years of trying to establish a union. You helped send them to victory through a 40 Day Rolling Fast, picketing at Fred’s stores, and delegations of faith leaders to meet with management. 
• September 2007: Ready to partner with some of Memphis’ most vulnerable workers experiencing wage theft and other violations of their basic rights, you enable WIN to launch the Memphis Workers’ Center. Today the Workers’ Center has partnered with 42 workers to recover more than $177,000 in stolen wages, workers’ compensation, and discrimination settlements.
• April 2008: Action by WIN members leads the City Council to raise the wages of City of Memphis temporary workers from $10 an hour to $12 an hour, to make up for their lack of health care benefits.
• April 2009: The Shelby County Commission passes a prevailing wage ordinance after WIN members join forces with the Memphis Building Trades Council to lobby for its passage. The ordinance ensures that workers on county construction projects are paid sustainable wages, and that the County receives quality work done by trained workers.

What are the significant moments that you think of in WIN's history, that led us where we are today? What lessons can we learn from our past that will help us do our work right now? What is it that drew you to get involved in the worker justice movement through WIN?

Women and Work: Bridging Women's Struggles Across Borders

This Tuesday night, August 25th, you have the opportunity to hear the stories of four amazing women who are struggling for justice in the workplace. WIN is holding a forum called Women and Work: Bridging Women's Struggles Across Borders at 7:00 p.m. at Balmoral Presbyterian Church, located at 6413 Quince Rd.

What's it like to work in the banana plantations of Guatemala as a woman? How do you work with your union to defend your rights, and get your union to focus on protecting women from violence? Carmen Molina knows. Carmen, the first woman to be on the negotiation team of her banana workers' union in Guatemala, will be our featured speaker at the forum. She is touring the United States through a great organization called STITCH, which connects the struggles of women workers seeking justice in Central America and the United States.

What was it like to be the one of the first women sanitation workers in Memphis, and to help cafeteria workers at Memphis City Schools establish a union? Brenda Sheilds, chief steward for the Service Employees International Union Local 205, will share her experiences at the forum.

What are the challenges that immigrant women workers face in the United States? How can we support women's struggles for justice at work? Cristina Condori, a domestic worker orginally from Argentina, and a leader in WIN's Memphis Workers' Center, will also speak at the forum.

Finally, Dr. Keri Brondo, an assistant anthropology professor at the University of Memphis will help us make connection between women's struggles in low-wage workplace. Keri's research includes studying women women's struggles for justice in Central America.

Come talk with the amazing women who are organizing for justice, and find out how you can be part of the struggle! Join us Tuesday, August 25th at 7:00 p.m. at Balmoral Presbyterian Church. For more information, contact me at (901) 332-3570 or rebekah@workersinterfaithnetwork.org

Reform, Not Raids

It's not hard to see that the current immigration system discourages undocumented workers from speaking up for their rights in the workplace and encourages employers to take advantage of immigrant workers' rights. Even though laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, which guarantee workers the right to the minimum wage, cover all who work regardless of their immigration status, in reality many immigrant workers are afraid that if they speak up about stolen wages, they risk deportation. Several workers who came to WIN after not getting paid for their work have told us their employer threatened to call immigration if they asked for their pay again.

As this article in The American Prospect demonstrates, union organizers can tell story after story of how, once union organizing drives began, ICE raids begin to talk place at a company to try to intimidate workers from organizing.

And of course, immigration raids tear apart mothers and fathers from their children. For people of faith, immigration policy must be about protecting the human rights of all and ensuring hospitality for our neighbors.

We must fix our broken immigration system with real reform that includes a path to citizenship for workers already in this country if we want justice in our workplaces. Many of us working for immigration reform had high hopes for the Obama administration changing the misguided immigration policies of the Bush Administration, but a series of actions by DHS Secretary Janet Nopalitano have advocates seriously concerned that the administrations action and rhetoric are not matching up:

- the decision to expand the controversial 287(g) program, which deputizes local police to be immigration agents. Davidson County (Nashville) Police participates in the program, which activists say encourages racial profiling of Hispanics, and has a chilling effect on immigrants willingness to report when they've been the victims of crime. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has criticized the program for not rooting out violent criminal, the supposed purpose of the program. The most disastrous example of the 287(g) program abusing immigrants' rights is in Arizona, where Sherriff Joe Arpaio has arrested thousands of Latinos, many on traffic stops, which has led to lawsuits accusing the department of racial profiling.

- expansion of the E-verify program, an electronic database employers are supposed to be able to use to verify the employment eligibility of new hires. Secretary Nopalitano has announced that all federal contractors will be requiring to use E-verify beginning this fall. Organizations including the National Immigration Law Center have criticized the database for being riddled with errors that would bar many citizens from being able to work.

- ICE continues to carry out harsh and frightening raids, often devastating entire communities like Postville, IA. Raids give the illusion of addressing the immigration crisis without addressing any of the causes of illegal immigration.

It is encouraging that ICE announced last week that it intends to reform the nation's immigration detention system. Human rights organizations have criticized the deplorable conditions of some facilities, and the denial of due process to immigrants detained there. A hunger strike by detainees in a Louisiana facility began last week over unsanitary conditions, and being denied the right to speak to family members.

For those of who care about the rights of immigrant workers, now is the time to lift our voices and call upon the Obama administration to focus on real reform, not raids and other misguided enforcement measures. Change will only come when we push our leaders to live up to their promises.