On Sunday, August 9 workers from the Lumiere and President Casinos had reason to stand tall as they learned the National Labor Relations board handed down a scathing ruling against their employer, Pinnacle Entertainment.  The rulings call on Pinnacle to finally begin bargaining with the workers’ union, Workers United Local 74.  The workers and their union had an “all star” cast of support on hand, including actor Danny Glover (pictured here).  Also on hand were members of the St. Louis Workers Rights board, elected officials and area union leaders from throughout the labor movement.

On Wednesday, July 29 We told Gov. Nixon "Don’t Cut Jobs and Services!"

100 community members, social workers, and the citizens they serve rallied with CWA 6355 and Jobs with Justice to protest proposals to cut over 25 Million dollars from the current year’s budget of the Department of Social Services and Health and Senior Services.

These cuts would be devastating; it would men further job loses on our struggling economy, as well as drastic cuts to the programs that help Missouri’s citizens in hard times like these.

Find out more about this rally and the proposed cuts HERE and HERE.

Sign the online petition opposing the proposed budget cuts to vital public services and jobs.

Tomorrow the federal minimum wage is increasing to $7.25/hour.  And thanks to Proposition B, passed overwhelming with your help in Missouri in 2006, waiters and waitresses around Missouri will also get a raise.  Their minimum wage is 50% of Missouri’s minimum wage for non-tipped workers.

This last legislative session Jobs with Justice and the waiters and waitresses of the "Save Our Tips" campaign (see picture at right) narrowly defeated state legislation that would have excluded waiters and waitresses from increases in the minimum wage.  Because of that successful campaign nearly 60,000 waiters and waitresses will get a raise tomorrow.

But the Battle is Coming Again 

Rep. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) vowed to re-introduce legislation to exclude tipped employees from future minimum wage increases – maybe even CUT their pay back to the federal minimum of $2.13/hour!  With your help, JwJ and the waiters and waitresses of the "Save Our Tips" campaign will be ready to go BACK to the Capitol and defend their minimum wage. 

Here’s how you can help:

Donate just $20 today to help raise $2000 for a Missouri server lobby day to protecttheir wages when the attacks begin next session (or you can donate through our Facebook page)

Download a "tip card" to make sure your waiters and waitresses know they’ve gotten a raise - and they can defend that raise by going to www.SaveOurTips.org

Visit the Save Our Tips website for more information and to find out how you can continue to help.

Visit the Missouri Department of Labor for more information on tomorrow’s minimum wage increase.

Servers at Lobby Day: (Top L to R)Louie Reinoso, Liz Zerr, Joe Thomas, JJ Loy, Stacey Amico, Courtney Jackson, Annie Shields, Mike McLaughlin (Bottom L to R) Megan Dougherty, Shannon Barrett, Joe Wicks, Dana Dreher, Ashli Bolden.

The waiters and waitresses in Missouri will NOT have to deal with a paycut during this economic crisis.  Despite the best efforts of some Missouri legislators, the waiters and waitresses in Missouri united with their allies through Jobs with Justice and defeated Rep. Tim Jones’ (R-Eureka) bill to weaken the minimum wage for tipped employees.

In 2006, 76.4% of Missouri voters passed Proposition B which increased the wage for tipped employees. The ballot initiative passed in every single Missouri county by 16 points or more. Since then, business interests and their allies in the legislators have tried to chip away at the minimum wage continually.

During the last  4 months of the legislative session you sent thousands of emails, made calls, and lobbied your legislators and they heard you loud and clear. Thanks to tremendous pressure the bill died in the Senate as the legislative session came to a close on May 15.

THEY’LL BE BACK AND WE’LL BE READY!
The restaurant industry and its lobbyists were clear that they are not done trying to pick the pockets of their waiters and waitresses.  We expect to see another bill to undermine the tipped employee minimum wage next session so JwJ and its leaders will continue to strengthen our network of waiters, waitresses and supporters of working people throughout the state to protect FAIR WAGES FOR SERVERS.

Go HERE to learn more about leaders that gave key support to this campaign.

On Friday, January 23, We Told Congress—

To Pass Economic Recovery and protect state health programs and jobs! 

Thanks to CWA 6355-the Missouri State Workers Union, Missouri Jobs with Justice, the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery, and community groups we sent a strong message to Congress to act now.  Almost 150 Jobs with Justice activists and allies demanded a federal bailout that puts people first and increases funding for state health programs, food stamps, our safety net and our public jobs!

See press coverage of the event here.

There will be three sessions this year.

Spring session will be Friday, March 13 at 10 am through Sunday, March 15 at 1 pm in St. Louis.

The summer session will be June 12-14, in Kansas City, and the fall session will be October 23-25 in Jefferson City.

Missouri’s Building Jobs with Justice Leadership Development Program provides leaders insight into organizing’s key concepts and skills. Community organizing principles, as first articulated and carried out by Saul Alinsky in Chicago, encouraged leaders to act together to create powerful organizations and win on issues they care about.

Registration deadline for the spring session is February 13, 2009. Registration forms can be found in the brochure, here.

On Tuesday, January 6th – Congress went back into session, and we took to the streets! 

Missouri Jobs with Justice, along with Missouri ProVote, ACORN and countless unions, community groups, activists and elected officials rallied on Jan. 6th and called on Congress to quickly pass an Economic Recovery Package that will put people to work and lay the foundation for sustainable growth.

Almost 150 JwJ activists and allies  gathered and sent a clear message to our elected officials in Congress. Stay tuned for more actions in the coming weeks as we fight to ensure that Congress puts the priorities of working families first as they address the economic crisis.

Find out more about this campaign

This campaign launched with Kansas City JwJ on January 7

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 2008 Labor in the Pulpits/ on the Bimah/ in the Minbar program concentrated on how the realities of the health care system are impacting thousands of working families in Missouri and on a growing movement of faith and community leaders seeking meaningful healthcare reform called Missouri Healthcare for All.  No Missouri worker should lack access to health care, and this year’s program will focus on opportunities to guarantee quality, affordable health care for everyone in Missouri.  Jobs with Justice supports the faith and community leaders who founded the Missouri Health Care for All movement, and we encourage all Missourians to join 65 faith, community and labor groups and thousands of individuals by  endorsing the principles .  Each endorsement makes this movement stronger.

To view a list of the 2008 participating congregations, CLICK HERE

For more information on Labor in the Pulpits, or to involve your congregation in 2009, contact Katrina Molnar at katrina@stl-jwj.org, 314.644.0466 x13.

Labor in the Pulpits / on the Bimah / in the Minbar is coordinated nationally by Interfaith Worker Justice, www.iwj.org.