The Missouri delegation includes: Jerry King, St. Louis Workers Rights Board and real estate developer; Christine Grande, Human Rights Office of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph; Rhonda Perry, a family farmer from Howard County and the Missouri Rural Crisis Center as well as JwJ State Board member; and Linda Meyer, former reporter of the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis. Meyer was part of leading a union organizing campaign at the Suburban Journals that illustrates perfectly the need for the Employee Free Choice Act.

"Working people should have power to establish equal footing in their place of employment, in order to pursue a better quality of life, liberty, and happiness," says Reverend Walter Maddox, Lane Tabernacle CME Church who visited earlier this year with Congressmen William "Lacy" Clay about supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. "If we do not fight for working families, we will lose that part of the American Dream."

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.

The 2009 Labor in the Pulpits/ on the Bimah/ in the Minbar program concentrates on how the realities of the health care system are impacting millions of working families. Access to quality health care is a fundamental moral value, yet 47 million people in the United States, nearly 750,00 of them Missourians, lack health coverage. 

For more information and to see a list of participating congregations CLICK HERE.

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.

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.

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.

Hundreds of A-B/InBev workers from our community, Brazil, Belgium and Canada and their community supporters rallied Saturday, in Kiener Plaza in Downtown St. Louis.

St Louis has cherished the tradition of Anheuser-Busch as a quality employer and important member of our economic community. InBev has been quick to provide assurances about its ongoing commitment to St Louis and at this rally the community let InBev know we’re watching, that we do hope we’re beginning a new tradition with InBev.

We won’t have to wait long to see if InBev will really "walk the walk". Monday, August 18, 2008 A-B/InBev begins talks with 8,000 workers through their union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Their agreements on job security, pensions and health care coverage for workers, retirees and their families will send a signal to St Louis and 12 other communities throughout the country where InBev will take ownerhip of A-B breweries. For more information on the Rally See coverage from KSDK Channel 5 .

This year’s Grinch contest shattered ALL the records! Campaigning at the Grinch party reached a fever pitch and before the night was through 14,268 votes were cast, raising $14,268 for JwJ’s organizing against the attacks on our community represented by of ALL this year’s nominees.

The come-from-behind champion was Illinois Distributing Company. IDC’s drivers, members of Teamsters Local 50, were at the party in force to campaign their candidate. In the six weeks of early voting, they also lined up strong support from sister union locals in Southwestern Illinois and Teamsters locals around the country. The nomination was made by JwJ Member Organization the Southwestern Illinois Labor Council.

Illinois Distributing Company distributes Anheuser-Busch products in St. Clair, Monroe and SW Madison Counties.

Learn more about why Illinois Distributing Company took this year’s prize

See a complete list of A-B products to boycott in support of IDC drivers

Let’s not forget the incredible campaigns run on behalf of electing Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and Affirmative Action opponent Ward Connerly this year’s Grinch. Both candidates earned thousands of votes from JwJ members, and lively campaigns from community and labor leaders.

To learn more about this year’s candidates you can click on the names below:

• Matt Blunt
• George Bush
• Ward Connerly
• Illinois Distributing
• Rex Sinquefield
• Keith Schafer

Special thanks to the American Postal Workers Union Gateway DAL for graciously hosting this year’s party.

Friday, August 31, 2007 at 7 pm

at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar, 63112