Brothers and Sisters,

Now, more than ever, our worker-led movement needs to find avenues to reach more people.  Far too many Californians are not aware of the moral need to protect collective bargaining, stand up for immigrant workers or to fight for everyone’s right to healthcare.  However, we have historically had a key ally in our fight for dignity, justice and respect for all workers: The faith community. 

The relationship between faith and labor goes back a long time, and this coming Labor Day represents an opportunity for our two communities to come together again and uplift working people. 

To that end, the California Federation of Labor Unions is seeking members who are active in their local congregations to reach out to their faith leaders and encourage them to allow for a union member to briefly address the congregation and share worker stories. 

Are you active in your church, temple, synagogue or mosque? We want to hear from you!

We are looking for people willing to speak to their congregation, or to get their faith leader to speak out – on the right to organize, the importance of healthcare and/or immigrants’ rights – during the weekends right before, during or after Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 1 this year. 

That includes the weekends of Aug. 22-24, Aug. 29-Sept. 1 and Sept. 5-7. 

There has never been a more important time to speak out about the right to economic justice and collective bargaining, especially as it is being quietly stripped away in many workplaces. 

Healthcare is a basic human need, and yet Congress is poised to gut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid – and thus, Medi-Cal – which will impact not just low-income working families, but also the entire healthcare system; hospitals and clinics could close, healthcare jobs could be eliminated, and the cost of medical care could skyrocket. 

Immigrant workers are embedded in the foundation of this nation, and are critical to California’s economy. We need to protect their right to speak up about bad working conditions without fear of reprisal from their employers. We need to protect their right to organize and join unions. This doesn’t just affect immigrant workers; when employers underpay or silence immigrant workers, it drives down wages and working conditions for ALL workers. 

If we don’t speak out about these issues, who will? 

If you are willing to engage your local congregation, please let us know ASAP! Contact Diamond Brandon at [email protected]. 

In Solidarity, 

Lorena Gonzalez