From Washington to San Francisco, from New York to Atlanta, workers and their allies will climb to the nation's pulpits on Labor Day weekend again this year, to preach the message of workers' rights.

"Labor in the Pulpits" is organized by the Chicago-based National Interfaith Committee on Worker Justice and backed by the AFL-CIO. It is designed to remind church, synagogue and mosque members nationwide that the major faiths all endorse a worker's right to organize, and to justice on the job.

Efforts in Minnesota are being coordinated through the Minnesota AFL-CIO and local religion and labor networks.

"Work, faith and the union movement are all intertwined in bringing forth a new vision for justice in our communities," the Interfaith Committee says, in its introduction to speakers' tips, sample materials and pro-worker quotations from religious texts, including the Torah (Old Testament) and the New Testament.

In its first year, speakers addressed more than 100,000 worshipers at more than 600 services in 450 congregations in 38 states. It expanded last year. This year, labor and its allies will preach from August 31 through September 3, Labor Day.

The program is also designed to bring faith-based groups and workers and their allies closer together on common causes. As one example, the committee sponsored a kickoff rally on Capitol Hill earlier this year for the latest push to raise the minimum wage, by $1.50 an hour, to $6.65.

Speakers, including Committee Executive Director Kim Bobo and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, said raising the minimum wage is not only an economic issue, but a moral issue.

A second facet of that issue - wage and hour violations - is also a prime cause for Labor in the Pulpits. The committee notes recent Labor Department investigations found 100 percent of poultry plants, 60 percent of nursing homes, half of all restaurants and 90 percent of farms employing farm laborers violated federal wage and hour laws on such issues as overtime.

"Sweatshops aren't just in other countries. They're in our backyards," the Interfaith Committee says. "Several groups of workers, such as nursing home workers and poultry workers, are so egregiously treated that the committee is focusing attention on the industry at large."

For more information on Labor in the Pulpits, including how to organize a program, contact the committee, at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60660, phone (773) 728-8400,

This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used with permission.

For more information

Visit the Interfaith Committee website http://www.nicwj.org