Thread: Groups unite to benefit immigrant worker rights

http://www.madison.com/tct/business/ind ... 64&ntpid=0
Dec 12, 2006
Groups unite to benefit immigrant worker rights
By Lynn Welch
A new pact between a coalition of interfaith worker justice groups and the AFL-CIO solidifies ties between groups that advance issues of immigrant worker rights.


The Interfaith Worker Justice Board, comprised of 15 faith-based organizations including Madison's Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice, formed the partnership with the national labor group Monday. The agreement will help promote and advance the core principles of social justice in the workplace.

It establishes formal ties between the local coalition's Worker Justice Center on Park Street and the South Central Federation of Labor.

"We've always had strong ties and they've been helpful, but this will improve those connections," said center director Patrick Hickey. "This will allow us to participate and enables the voices of immigrant workers to be heard by the broader labor community."

Under the agreement, the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice becomes an affiliate member of the local labor federation, an umbrella group for unions in Dane, Sauk, Iowa, and Columbia counties now representing 78 unions.

"What this does is make things official," said James Cavanaugh, labor federation president. "Where we've been close all along, this will provide an opportunity for that group to have a closer relationship with organized labor."

About 80 percent of the 450 people served this year by the coalition are Latino immigrants, many undocumented, Hickey said. The volunteer group helps clients with immigrant labor issues such as recovering unpaid wages and receiving care for work-related injuries.

The coalition also works on policy issues, such as a current project focusing on eliminating discrimination based on conviction records.

Hickey said this agreement will allow local immigrants to tap into the stability and deep ties of organized labor here.

The interfaith coalition and its rights center launched in 2002, following publication of a study by The Latino Worker Project highlighting the difficulties and issues faced by immigrant workers in this area.

Joining with the AFL-CIO and its local labor federation makes sense, Hickey said, as the Worker Rights Center increases its client base and prepares to become an independent group next year.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council last August approved a resolution formalizing ties with the worker centers that have sprung up across the country to help marginalized workers, paving the way for a partnership agreement with groups such as the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the nation's largest day laborer association, and now the Interfaith Worker Justice coalition.

This agreement does not make the workers in the Interfaith Worker Justice network members of unions, but provides an organized venue for joint work to ensure workers' rights by the AFL-CIO and faith-based worker centers across the country.

"The core values that drive both our movements are the same: equality, fair treatment, dignity and respect," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a statement. "Too often the religious and labor communities have worked in isolation from one another. It's time we rediscover our common bonds and bring our organizations closer together."

The AFL-CIO and IWJ will work together in addressing workplace discrimination faced by immigrants and people of color, and on litigation and other ways to advance civil rights as well as workplace rights for low-wage workers and building and construction trade workers. They will also work together for comprehensive immigration reform that supports workplace rights and includes a path to citizenship and political equality for immigrant workers.

About 80 percent of the 450 people served this year by the coalition are Latino immigrants, many undocumented, Hickey said.

If the workers are undocumented, they are illegal and committing crimes against this nation and it's citizens. They are foreign invaders and the coalition is complicit in their criminal activity!!!

Illegal aliens don't have the right to work in America. What a hunk of crap. They really like to hide behind immigrants don't they.

Dixie

Originally Posted by IndianaJones

About 80 percent of the 450 people served this year by the coalition are Latino immigrants, many undocumented, Hickey said.

If the workers are undocumented, they are illegal and committing crimes against this nation and it's citizens. They are foreign invaders and the coalition is complicit in their criminal activity!!!

Yes exactly, I often wonder how American can keep us citizens safe from terrorists when it can't even deal with the illegals right under it's nose?

I would like to know just what denominations of faith make up the 15 banded together with the ACLU.

Originally Posted by nittygritty

I would like to know just what denominations of faith make up the 15 banded together with the ACLU.

Yes good question, I would like to know also.

Originally Posted by Crusader01

Originally Posted by nittygritty

I would like to know just what denominations of faith make up the 15 banded together with the ACLU.

Yes good question, I would like to know also.

At their website here is the list of funders, this is long and very interesting.
http://www.iwj.org/aboutus/donors.html
Foundations

Acta Foundation

Arca Foundation

Barry Descendants Trust

Boehm Foundation

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

The Discount Foundation

Ford Foundation

Frame Trustees Limited

French American Charitable Trust

Funding Exchange

Greensboro Justice Fund

Horncrest Foundation

Jewish Fund for Justice

Landau Family Foundation

Malina Foundation, Inc.

Morrow Charitable Trust

Nathan Cummings Foundation

Needmor Fund

New World Foundation - Phoenix Fund

Polk Brothers Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

Sunflower Foundation

Tides Foundation

Tua Sapelo Foundation

U.S./ Labor in the Americas Project

Z. Smith Reynolds
Religious

ACTS, Sisters of St. Agnes

Apostleship of the Sea, Port Arthur, Texas

Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska

Archdiocese of Camden, New Jersey

Archdiocese of Chicago, Illinois

Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan

Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California

Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

Church of St. Peter, Mendota, Minnesota

Catholic Campaign for Human Development

Catholic Charities

Catholic Committee of the South

Catholic Health Association

Church of Our Saviour, Melbourne, Florida

Commission of Social Action of Reform Judaism (UAHC & CCAR)

Community Renewal Society

Congregation Am Shalom, Glencoe, Illinois

Congregation Hakafa, Glencoe, Illinois

Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

Congregation of the Holy Ghost, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania

Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes

Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul

Depaul University Public Service Grants

Diocese of Arlington, Virginia

Diocese of Buffalo, New York

Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina

Diocese of Cincinnati, Ohio

Diocese of Joliet, Illinois

Diocese of Las Vegas, Nevada

Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, Office for Justice & Peace

Diocese of Oakland, California

Diocese of Orange, California

Diocese of Owensboro, KY

Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado

Diocese of Richmond, Virginia

Diocese of Rutherford, New Jersey

Diocese of San Jose, California

Diocese of Savannah, Georgia

Diocese of Sioux City, South Dakota

Diocese of Spokane, Washington

Dominican Sisters of San Rafael

Dominican Sisters of Springfield - Poverty, Justice, and Peace Fund

Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles

Evangelical Lutheran Church of America

General Board of Global Ministries- United Methodist Church: Domestic Hunger/ Poverty and Economic Justice Program

Fadica, Inc.

General Board of Global Ministries - United Methodist Church: Women’s Division

General Board of Global Ministries - United Methodist Church: Office of Urban Ministries

General Board of Global Ministries - United Methodist Church: Domestic Hunger and Povety

The Gross Family Tzedakah Fund of the Shefa Fund

Interfaith Council of Santa Clara County

Little Franciscans of Mary

Loretto Sisters, Special Needs Fund

Maria Anna Brunner Fund, Precious Blood Sisters

Marillac Provincial House- Daughters of Charity

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

The Michael and Alice Kuhn Foundation of the Shefa Fund

Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit

Morrow Charitable Trust

Mother Caroline Fund, SSND Milwaukee

Mother Theresa Fund, SSND, Milwaukee

MRS/PCMR, United States Catholic Conference

National Center for the Laity

National Council of Catholic Women

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

National Pastoral Life Center

Our Sunday Visitor Foundation

Pilgrim Congregational Church, Oak Park, Illinois

Poor and Marginated Fund - Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order, Inc.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Presbyterian Women

Prince of Peace Church, West Bloomfield, Michigan

The Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order

Queen of All Saints Basilica, Chicago, IL

Raskob Foundation

Religious Action Center

Religious Formation Conference

Rivier College

Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany

The S. Irwin Kamin Foundation

Santa Barbara Pastoral Region

St. Augustine University Parish

St. Joseph the Worker Church, Maple Grove, Minnesota

St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Charlotte, North Carolina

St. Scholastica Monastery

Saints Faith Hope and Charity Parish, Winnetka, Illinois

Saint Louis Abbey

School Sisters of Notre Dame - Mother Caroline Mandate Fund

School Sisters of Notre Dame - Mother Theresa Gerhardinger Fund

Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sisters of Charity Ministry Foundation

Sisters of the Humility of Mary

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet

Sisters of Loretto - Special Needs Fund

Sisters of Mercy Health System

Sisters of the Precious Blood

Sisters, Servants of Mary, IHM

Sister of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio

Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet

Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother (Third Order or St. Francis)

Social Justice Fund, Order of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Southern Tier Labor-Religion Coalition

Springfield Dominican Sisters

St. Joseph Foundation for Apostolic and Charitable Purposes

Tabitha Fund, CSJ - St. Louis

Temple Sinai, Washington, D.C.

Texas Catholic Conference

United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries - Public Life and Social Policy

Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock

United Methodist Church - Ministries with Women, Children & Families

United Methodist Church - Women’s Division

Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph
Union

21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund

AFSCME, Council 31

American Federation of Labor- Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees

American Federation of Teachers

American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO

Association of Flight Attendants

Bakery, Confectionery & Tobacco Workers International Union

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees

Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen

Communications Workers of America

Eastern Region Master Executive Council

Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE)

Illinois Nurses Association

Indiana Regional Council of Carpenters

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

International Brotherhood of Boilermakers,

Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

International Labor Office

International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers

IUE-CWA

International Union of Operating Engineers

International Union of Painters & Allied Trades

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades - District Council #16

Kentucky State AFL-CIO

Laborers' California Organizing Fund

Laborers' International Union of North America

Long Island Coalition of Labor & Religion

MEBA

Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO

Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council (AFL-CIO)

Montana State AFL-CIO

National Association of Catholic School Teachers

National Association of Letter Carriers

National Treasury Employees Union

New York City Central Labor Council - AFL-CIO

New York State AFL-CIO

PACE, Local 423

PACE Defense Fund

Religion and Labor Coalition of Western Pennsylvania

St. Paul AFL-CIO Trades & Labor Assembly

San Francisco Labor Council

Seafarers International Union of North America

Service Employees International Union

SEIU, Local 47

SEIU, Local 150

Sheet Metal Workers International Association

Southern Illinois District Council of Carpenters

Transport Workers Union of America

Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO

Union Community Fund

Union of Needle and Industrial Textile Employees

United Association of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry

United Food and Commercial Workers

UFCW, Local 400

UFCW, Local 408

UFCW Local 880

UFCW, Local 881

UFCW Local 1099

UFCW, Local 1428

United Steelworkers of America

United Auto Workers

United Latinos of UFCW

UMC Board of Church & Society

United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO
Government

Department of Justice - Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS)

Office of Special Counsel
Companies

American Income Life Insurance Company

Bernstein & Lipsett

Bill Usery Associates, Inc.

Castelli Enterprises Inc.

Frame Trustees Limited

GKMG Consulting Services Inc.

International Construction Institute

James & Hoffman, P.C.

Kelly Press, Inc.

The McLaughlin Company

The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company

ULLICO, Inc.

Wilson Center for Public Research, Inc.
Organizations

The Catholic Health Association

Detroit Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues

The Faith and Politics Institute

Grassroots Leadership

IF/W.H.E.N.

Leadership Council on Civil Rights

National Opinion Research Center

People for the American Way

U.S. Leap

Wisconsin Citizens Action
Academia

Cornell University Union Leadership Program

St. Mary's Seminary and University

University of Notre Dame
Individuals

Richard Appelbaum

Judith Barnes

Kimberley Bobo

Louise Bobo

George Black

Mr. and Mrs. Elliott and Louise Bredhoff

Christopher Burke

John J. Cormier

Bishop Jesse Dewitt

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dwan

Monsignor John J. Egan

Bernadette Gargan

Hillel Gray and Cathy Bowers

Mr. and Mrs. Leo Hawk

Mary Heidkamp and Jim Lund

Michael Holland

Sister Julia Huiskamp

Emily John

Mr. Gary W. Kendall

Evely Laser Shlensky

Reverend Jim Lewis

Arthur and Susan Lloyd

Marie Therese McDermott

William H. Miller

Janet H. Morrow

Rev. Jack O’Malley

John A. and Sheila Pigott

Suzanne Polen

Rabbi Robert Marx

Eileen T. Murphy

Nancy Schlossberg

Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry

Richard M. Stanton

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Jeanne Sullivan

Debbie Stone and Timothy Pitzer

Dr. Mark W. Wendorf

James and Evelyn Whitehead

Robert and Sue Wieseneck

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth and Charlotte H. Young

all the communists on one list, lol.

nuff said

What does the Bible say? "By their fruits ye shall know them."

What amazes me is the pro-amnesty groups always say they're protecting the illegal aliens' RIGHTS. Exactly what rights are they entitled to? The Constitution of this country was written to protect the rights of the CITIZENS of this country. The only rights those people are entitled to are HUMAN rights. They are NOT protected under our Constitution.