September 16, 1996
No. 1
A new group called the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (NICWJ) has been organized to form a new relationship between the religious community and labor organizations. NICWJ formally announced its plans at a press conference in Atlanta on September 9. The Chicago-based NICWJ has formed interfaith committees in 18 cities across the country. These local groups are designed to monitor working conditions, get directly involved in the advocacy of worker rights and collective bargaining, and educate members of their congregations on worker rights. The launch of this new effort received considerable media coverage including spots on several television newscasts.
The President of the NICWJ is Bishop Jesse DeWitt, a retired United Methodist Church bishop of Chicago. He claims to have been in the labor movement since the 1940s and is a veteran of many leftist causes, including nuclear disarmament. He has actively opposed the hiring of replacement workers in the Caterpillar and New York Daily News strikes and actively opposed ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The first target of the NICWJ is the poultry processing industry. Initiatives of the NICWJ will include direct involvement in worker-led organizing campaigns, development of ethical guidelines, organizing local interfaith committees, and related activities. The NICWJ was recently involved in the strike at Case Farms in North Carolina. Back in April, a number of ministers from the Mid-West traveled to Morganton, North Carolina to interview workers at the plant, and issued a report highly critical to the employer. They returned again in August, during the strike, attempting to enter the premises and mediate the strike, and attempted to form a council of local ministers to aid in the effort.
NICWJ activities are not confined to the poultry industry, however. It was a local group of ministers in Greensboro, North Carolina that led the public pressure against K-Mart there that resulted in a union contract in July with pay increases of $2.50 per hr. over three years. The religious and certain other community groups framed the issue with K-Mart in terms of larger community economic and moral issues.
These developments should remind industry employers of the significant efforts being made by various unions. Union organizers often try to convince local officials that a union would be good for the community, and that local officials should support the union in its efforts. Unfortunately, all too often the union is able to generate community support by default as often employers have not made the effort over the years to "tell their story" to local community leaders. It is submitted that employers must do a better job in reaching out to their communities.
One approach to counter this type of situation is to call and arrange personal visits with local community leaders, pastors, or invite them over to the plant to lunch meetings or tours, or even call together a group of them for a meeting. The idea is to approach local leaders letting them know the employer's concern about employees and the employer's community image, and the employer's desire to work with the leaders to improve working relations with employees and with the community. The underlying concept is to further seek their advice and input, and let them know the employer is available for suggestions.
Some employers are taking more far-reaching steps of forming a community advisory board. This approach involves asking certain community leaders, including pastors, to serve on a community advisory board to the company. Such boards could meet monthly or quarterly. The objective is to pick such a board from a cross section of the community with perhaps 9-12 on the board. The advisory board would allow the formation of a kinship between the company and the community, and result in greater communication.
Some community advisory boards form subcommittees, such as a church committee, a recreation committee, an employee relations committee and maybe an education committee. Projects could include things like United Way, Bloodmobile, etc., as well as studying other things and coming back with recommendations. The employee relations subcommittee could address plant conditions, such as planning a picnic, speakers for the plant, or community projects (drug abuse, wellness, etc.) The idea would be to focus on anything that would be perceived as proof that the company cares about its employees and the community. The activities of the committee could then be put in the employer's newsletters and in local newspapers and offers an excellent opportunity to improve "goodwill."
For additional information, please contact James W. Wimberly, Jr., at Wimberly & Lawson, P.C., 3400 Peachtree Road, N.E., Suite 400, Atlanta, Georgia 30326 (404) 365-0900 or fax (404) 261-3707.
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Last revised October 1996.
Copyright © 1996 Wimberly & Lawson and Adam J. Conti. All rights reserved.
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