The Community, Faith and Labor Coalition , an affiliate of Interfaith Worker Justice, is a Marion county advocate group formed in 2000 to become a voice advocating for economic and social justice in Indiana.
Our goal is to create a common committment to identify, pursue, and bring about real suggestions and actions for making possible jobs tha t offer a living wage with benefits that provide individual and family self-sufficiency and hope.
Please join us in our call by subscribing to our email distribution list:
Our national affiliate, Interfaith Worker Justice, and the national AFL-CIO have launched a national campaign, Labor in the Pulpits, to honor workers and call attention to their issues in faith services over Labor Day Weekend. Local affiliates of IWJ and Central Labor Councils of the AFL-CIO across the country work with local faith leaders to show appreciation for workers contributions to their communities, raise the problems they face today and, of course, to pray for and bless workers. On request, they may also make available speakers on various worker issues. Also, a host of resources for many religions and languages on www.iwj.org can be used by faith leaders seeking assistance in planning these services.
In Indianapolis, Community, Faith and Labor Coalition, affiliate of Interfaith Worker Justice, and Central Indiana Jobs with Justice encourages local faith organizations to participate and offer support.
Participating congregations are asked to share their activities by completing the form below to help track local support, recognize creative ways workers were honored and to add ideas for future Labor in the Pulpit programs. We appreciate all participants in this program that strengthens historical faith and labor bonds.
Please complete the form below:
Email: Organization: Activities:
Information and Ways to Get Involved:
- Elwood Black Sr. Scholarship Fund
- Learn about the Teamsters Efforts for FedEx Workers
- Look at Kids Count Data on Indiana Children Living in Poverty
- Join this year's Labor Day Parade in Indianapolis
- Learn about The Mapleton Fall Creek Association's grassroots effort to improve their neighborhood
- Read about AFSCME's Efforts Against Privitization
- Join Working America
- Campaigns and Education Efforts
In fact, just between 2005 and 2006, average income adjusted for inflation of the top 1 percent grew by $73,000 (or 7 percent), while the average income of the bottom 90 percent grew by just $20 (or 0.1 percent). (In 2006, the top 1 percent were those with incomes above $375,000, and the bottom 90 percent were those with incomes below $105,000.)
So, what does it tell us that incomes are growing faster for those at the top? Clearly the rules that govern income growth in our economy are rigged in favor of the already rich.
But it doesn't have to be this way. The same data show that in the three decades after World War II, things were reversed: incomes for the top 1 percent grew only 25 percent, while for the bottom 90 percent they grew 92 percent.
Among the rules that changed between then and now are union-busting, trade liberalization, deregulation, and tilted tax policies. Time to change them back?
A recent Gallup poll reports that a record percentage of Americans see themselves as worse off financially in 2008 than they were in 2007.
A survey conducted in May and June 2008 by Working America reveals that what working women need most is a pay raise.





