Each Labor Day weekend, in cities across the country, thousands of congregations participate in Labor in the Pulpits / on the Bimah / in the Minbar. The goals of Labor in the Pulpits are to educate congregations about connections between faith and work, inspire new friendships between people in religious communities and unions, present congregations with opportunities for acting on the social teachings of their faith groups, and give union members a deeper experience of their faith in action.

For more information on Labor in the Pulpits, or to involve your congregation, contact Tamela Franks at tamela@stl-jwj.org , or 314.644.0466 x14. You can join the Missouri congregations and faith organizations already committed to participating in Labor in the Pulpits / on the Bimah / in the Minbar this Labor Day weekend by filling out a Labor in the Pulpits Participation Form

2007 PARTICIPATING CONGREGATIONS

St. Louis City:
Central Reform Congregation, Rabbis Susan Talve and Randy Fleisher
Community Church of God, The Rev. Douglas Parham
Compton Heights Christian Church, The Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Foster
Epiphany UCC, The Rev. Mary Albert
Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Fresh Start Bible Church
Garden Light United Church of Christ, The Rev. Jonathon Edwards
Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Fr. Richard Creason
Lane Tabernacle CME, The Rev. James T. Morris
Mount Airy MB, The Rev. Charles Brown
New Hope Worship Center, Bishop Anthony Taylor
Pilgrim Congregational UCC, The Rev. Cindy Bumb
Rockwell House, the Episcopal Campus Ministry at Washington University, The Rev. Andrew Benko
St. Cronan Parish, Fr. Gerry Kleba
St. Johns Episcopal, Pastor Teresa Mithen
St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church, Fr. Tom Wyrsch
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, The Rev. Lydia Speller 
Shiloh MB, The Rev. JD Clark
Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet
Westside Missionary Baptist, The Rev. Ronald Bobo

St. Louis County:
Arlington United Methodist Church, The Rev. Mary Harvey
Christ Church UCC, The Rev. Brian Q. Newcomb
Church of the Open Door, The Rev. Susan Forbes
Ethical Society of St Louis, Ms. Kate Lovelady
Evangelical United Church of Christ, The Rev. Katie Hawker
Faith Baptist Church, The Rev. Lamar White
Greater St. Mark Family Church, The Rev. Tommie Pierson/The Rev. W. Audrey Hollis
Northminster Presbyterian Church, The Rev. Carlton Stock
Our Lady of Guadelupe Catholic Church, Fr. Jack Schuler
Congregation Shaare Emeth, Rabbi Andrea Goldstein

St. Charles County
Ethical Society - Mid Rivers, Mr. Bob Greenwell and guest speaker Paul Winslow
Trinity Episcopal Church, The Rev. Tamsen Whistler

Jefferson County
New Hope United Methodist Church, The Rev. Mark Harvey
St John Lateran Catholic Church, Fr. Steve Robeson

Columbia, MO
Rock Bridge Christian Church, The Rev. Maureen Dickmann and guest speaker Russ Unger

Springfield, MO
New Growth Ministries, The Rev. Larry Maddox

Hannibal, MO
Trinity Episcopal, The Rev. Morgan Ibe

Saint Louis Faith Organizations:
Aquinas Institute of Theology
Jews United for Justice
St Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition

St. Louis Area Jobs with Justice Launches Statewide “Save our Tips” Hotline to Help Workers Receive Wages Due

On May 24, 2007, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce rejected the restaurant industry’s attempt to reach into workers’ pockets, saying that the “plain language” of the law “requires employers to pay tipped employees at least $3.25 per hour” and further, that “this obligation has been effective since January 1, 2007.” The court’s ruling dismissed a lawsuit backed by the Missouri restaurant industry seeking to exempt tipped workers from the minimum wage increase that was overwhelmingly passed by Missouri voters in November.

After this victorious court ruling, St. Louis Area Jobs with Justice is ramping up its campaign to help workers affected by the court’s ruling get wages they are due. “The court agreed that tipped workers are covered by the law, and can’t have their raise taken from them, and Jobs with Justice wants to ensure these workers get both raises and back pay,” said Rev. Dr. Martin Rafanan, co-chair of the St. Louis Area Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Board. 

JwJ has a toll-free hotline and urges tipped workers to call if they have not received a wage increase or if their increase was not retroactive to January 1, 2007.   Affected workers and others interested in the issue can call the “Save our Tips” Hotline toll-free at: 1-877-644-0466, or visit www.STL-JWJ.org/sot .

Special thanks to members of the legal community who stood by tipped workers and assisted in this case.  Attorneys Art Martin and Chris Grant from Schuchat Cook & Werner were joined by Raj Nayak and Paul Sonn from the Brennan Center for Justice, John Amman from St. Louis University School of Law, and Denise Lieberman from the Stetin Center for Law & Social Change in filing a friend of the court brief on JwJ’s behalf.  The case is G.R. Restaurant, Inc. and J.J. Group, Inv., v. Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, No. 07AC-CC00276.

In the last weeks of the legislative session, some Missouri legislators tried to gut the minimum wage increase for Missouri workers.  SB 255 was a bill intended to improve langugage on overtime for first responders.  But Rep. Shannon Cooper (120-R) pushed amendments to the bill that would have removed the annual cost of living adjustment to the minimum wage, and cut pay for tipped employees back to the hourly wage they earned more than 15 years ago.  JwJ members fought back sending thousands of letters and calls to their elected officials in Jefferson City.  When the amendments came to the floor, the Republican majority didn’t have the votes.  You didn’t let politicians in Jefferson City overturn your vote on minimum wage.   

Unfortunately, these games played by Rep. Cooper and others will still cost our communities dearly, as the changes communities need to the laws on overtime for first responders failed along with the “poison pill” amendments.  JwJ supports firefighters, police and all first responders as well as municipal leaders in their call for improved overtime provisions.

On Wednesday, March 14 the Blunt administration reversed its earlier position denying the increase in Missouri’s minimum wage to tipped employees.  More than 62,500 tipped employees in Missouri should see a raise in their next paycheck.Tipped employees should have gotten a raise on January 1, 2007, along with all other Missouri workers when Proposition B to raise Missouri’s minimum wage went into effect.  It has taken months of fight back from servers and the Save Our Tips campaign to get a reversal from the administration.  JwJ members collected signatures on the Save Our Tips petition and signed up servers on Save Our Tips cards to help win the campaign.  

Tipped employees are entitled to back-pay, retroactive to January 1, 2007, the date their raise went into legal effect.   We are also looking into whether servers are entitled to damages for being underpaid for more than 10 weeks. Jobs with Justice and its Workers Rights Board will continue to work with servers that signed on to the Save Our Tips campaign to ensure they actually receive the wages they deserve.  Allies in Give Missourians a Raise and the Save our Tips Campaign include ACORN; AFL-CIO; AFSCME; Brennan Center for Justice; Missouri Citizen Education Fund; Schuchat, Cook and Werner Law Firm; SEIU; UNITE HERE     

Missouri workers are taking a beating from the rising costs of health care.  A recent study of working families in St. Louis, detailed in our new report “Living in the Red” showed that more than half of these families had medical debt from unpaid bills to hospitals, pharmacies, doctors or ambulances.

Health insurance doesn’t even protect working families like it used to.  In “Living in the Red” we learn that more than half of those families struggling to pay medical bills (52%) were insured at the time the medical debt was incurred.

That’s why Jobs with Justice is commited to the “First Things First” campaign, which calls on our Governor and state legislators to enact comprehensive Health Care reform that:

1. Guarantees quality, affordable health coverage for every Missourian whether they are privately insured or covered by a public program.
2. Restores Health Coverage to those who were cut in 2005.
3. Makes HealthCare for Missouri’s families a priority in 2007 over tax breaks for the wealthy.

Sign the “First Things First Petition” Today!

City-wide contract negoatiations are underway for thousands of St. Louis Janitors.  St. Louis Janitors, more than 3,000 members of SEIU Local 1, are currently in negotiations with the Contract Cleaners Association.  They are fighting for living wages, health insurance and the opportunity for full time work.

Now is a very important time for the community to show support for those that empty our trash cans and sweep our floors each night.  Negotitations have stalled and their contract will be extended to the end of January. 

Show your support: Sign the Justice for Janitors petition today!

Tell your friends and co-workers to sign the petition, too

In November, Missourians overwhelmingly approved an increase in the state’s minimum wage.  Illinois’ minimum wage is already well above the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour.  Today we can help be sure ALL the workers in our country can get the raise we’ve won in our states.

The new Congress has just been sworn in - and they have promised to make raising the minimum wage one of their first priorities. The House will vote as soon as next Wednesday.  Please take action today and tell Congress to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour with no anti-worker amendments or tax breaks for the wealthy. 

Proposition B to raise Missouri’s Minimum Wage has passed overwhelmingly.  Thanks to the thousands of Missourians that worked in one way or another on the campaign, and to the more than 1.5 million Missouriains that voted to Give Missourians A Raise.

The Missouri Supreme Court, in a 6-1 opinion, affirmed the decision of Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan that the law is unconstitutional. The court held that the law burdened the fundamental right to vote and violated the equal protection provisions of the Missouri Constitution.

The decision means that registered voters will NOT be required to present one of the four forms of photo ID outlined in SB1014 this November.

Voters will be able to show up at the polls this November and vote upon presenting one of the many types of identification spelled out in Section 115.427 of the Missouri Revised Statutes (including an out-of-state driver’s license, university ID, utility bill or bank statement, or personal knowledge of two election judges if the person lacks any ID).

However, JwJ and other area organizations are still organizing to be sure every Missouri vote counts.  To volunteer to be a poll monitor, call or email JwJ Organizer Aaron Burnett.

Special thanks to Denise Lieberman from the Stetin Center for Law and Social Change for educating JwJ and other grassroots organizations on the Voter ID bill and other voter protection efforts.

Click here for more information about the Voter ID ruling and your right to vote