Call for workers' rights

National Catholic Reporter, July 17, 1998

The Chicago-based National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice sponsored nationwide hearings June 24 and released a theological statement in support of workers' right to organize.

A statement by the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, citing a Cornell University researcher, said that 10,000 workers are fired each year for exercising their "right to organize"; 50 percent of all employers threaten to eliminate workers' jobs if they join a union; and 75 percent of private sector employers aggressively work against organizing drives.

The interfaith group, a network of 37 local interfaith committees, educates and mobilizes the religious community on issues and campaigns to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for low-wage workers. Its 45-member hoard includes Catholic Bishops Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., and James W. Malone, retired bishop of Youngstown, Ohio.

Right-to-organize rallies sponsored by the interfaith committee took place in Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.