National Faith Leaders Honor Self-Determination of Independence Day
National Faith Leaders Honor Self-Determination of Independence Day by
Encouraging U.S. Senate to Pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
Ahead of the holiday, national faith leaders collected over 390 signatures of religious leaders
who are in favor of protecting workers’ right to organize into unions
Media contacts:
Francisco Garcia
626-246-4513 | @ReligionandJ ;@RadicalRevFG
Link to Register to receive Zoom link https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsfuygrDguHtRKYCgeJRgnUOUGN8scVuxf
What: Zoom Press conference
When: Wednesday, June 30-- 11am CDT
Where: Zoom. Registration required, register here
Who: 390+ clergy
Jennifer Bates
Catholic Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, KY
Shaykh Abdool Khan
Bishop Dwayne Roster
Rev. Francisco Garcia (Twitter: @RadicalRevFG; @ReligionandJ)
Rev. C.J. Hawking
Background:
Grounded in their various scriptural teachings, clergy will speak to the vital need for workers to be able to freely organize into unions. Faith leaders will introduce a national letter signed by over 350 faith leaders in support of the PRO-Act.
Catholic Bishop John Stowe, Diocese of Lexington, reflected, “The other day Pope Francis told the International Labor Organization, ‘the protection of workers and the most vulnerable must be guaranteed by respecting their essential rights, including the right to organize.’ Passing the PRO-Act offers a way to do this.”
Shaykh Abdool Khan asserted, “Workers rights and the dignity of workers are basic tenets of the Islamic faith, The PRO-Act would bring us closer to these truths.”
For decades faith leaders across the nation have witnessed workers being intimidated, harassed and sometimes fired for attempting to unionize. To counteract the gross imbalance of power in U.S. workplaces and to address the alarming income inequality in our country, faith leaders from across the country are calling on the Senate to pass the PRO Act to protect workers’ rights, as the House did in 2020. As our country emerges from the pandemic, clergy are also calling Americans to stand with essential workers, mostly people of color, as they assert their rights for a living wage, a voice in the workplace, and an unencumbered path to enter into the middle class.
The PRO-Act is long overdue in order for the US workers to keep pace with their European counterparts. Now is the time for a substantial expression of support to workers who boldly braved the pandemic, resulting in the majority of Americans being kept safe, comfortable, and healthy.
Rev. C.J. Hawking of Arise Chicago, stated, “People of faith support the PRO-Act as one measure to address the gross imbalance of power in the workplace. Suppressing union organizing is antithetical to the foundation upon which our country was built.”
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