This special issue on the church and labor provides a vehicle for both groups and individuals to engage with the issue of worker justice, unions, and the labor movement from a faith perspective. Because of the nature of the labor issue in general, and the call to establish bonds contrary to our individualistic culture by joining together for mutual goals, the material's effect is multiplied when used in a community setting. Since a Christian spiritual perspective underlies each article, it may be most effective to use the material in connection with parishes, congregations, religious orders, Christian colleges, or other faith-based organizations.
This magazine can be a guide both for educating people and inviting them into potential and existing religion-labor connections. Using the articles and the accompanying questions, as well as the resources on the next page, many activities could be considered:
- Organize educational gatherings in your faith community, focusing both on the history of the labor movement as well as its current activities and struggles.
- Seek to integrate economic justice into worship services and liturgies.
- Sign up for campaigns, write letters, and voice concerns about worker justice through the available media.
- Contact the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice or Jobs With Justice to locate religion-labor committees in your area.
- Form coalitions with pro-worker justice organizations.
Most important, make it a priority to reach out to other workers within your community, since it is in talking with one another that we gain a clearer sense of how different kinds of workers are being treated in their jobs.
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