Protects Worker Rights
IWJ believes workers should have the right to organize and to engage in collective bargaining. Because many U.S. workers are being denied these rights, IWJ has a joint partnership with the Department of Labor to help guarantee and enforce these basic rights.

Builds Relationships
Too often the religious community and the labor communities have worked in isolation from one another. IWJ promotes opportunities for labor leaders and people of faith to work together, including workshops and field placements for seminarians, novices, and rabbinical students. For more information, contact Audrey Krumbach

Develops Resources
IWJ develops resources on worker justice issues for congregations. Materials such as Faith Works, Why Unions Matter, Living Wage resources, What Faith Groups Say About the Right to Organize and more can all be downloaded. To order quantities of materials, e-mail Dwight Okita.

Engages Religious Employers
Religiously-affiliated non-profit institutions, such as hospitals and nursing homes, should model the highest standard of employer-employee relations. Unfortunately some religious institutions hire union-busting "consultants" and engage in unethical, and sometimes illegal behavior toward workers when they attempt to form a union. IWJ has developed resources to educate people of faith about this issue.

Organizes Local Interfaith Committees
Most low-wage worker concerns require local religious involvement and assistance. IWJ works with interested religious leaders to form ongoing local organizations to help educate and involve the religious community on worker justice issues, and to support the work of the network of local committees and Religion-Labor groups. For more information, contact Charese Jordan.

Supports Poultry Workers
More than 200,000 workers are engaged in poultry processing, mostly working in small towns scattered from Delaware to Texas. These low-wage workers, primarily African American and Latino, often toil in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, with few benefits and no union representation. IWJ organizes people of faith in poultry communities to support poultry workers, coordinates fact-finding delegations to meet with workers and management in poultry plants, and develops ethical standards for employee relations in poultry plants.

Supports Direct Care Workers
Jobs in these industries are characterized by low-pay, long hours, workplace injuries, and lack of benefits. The Quality Care through Quality Jobs Initiative seeks to improve conditions for direct care workers.

If you are interested in working with IWJ as either and employee or as a volunteer, click here to see listings for IWJ's national office in Chicago, IL. To see listings for our affiliates, click here.

To see our three-year strategic plan, click here.