Interfaith Campaign to Support Sanitation Workers!

Hello, all,

I have recently joined the National Sanitation Worker Justice Committee, a project of Interfaith Worker Justice (http://www.iwj.org/). We are working hard in support of our sisters and brothers who work in the sanitation industry, but it isn't easy. As you will see below, sanitation workers don't only have to deal with the "garbage" they haul, but with sometimes being treated like garbage as well. For more information about the campaign, please read the letter below from committee co-chair, Rev. Nelson Johnson, and sign the online petition if you feel so moved. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1035/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1315

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Our Faith Communities:

I am writing to you in hopes that you will spend just a few minutes of your time to help workers at Waste Management Inc. (WMI), the nation's largest waste company, who are involved in a struggle for dignity.

I ask you to click on the link below and sign the petition demanding that WMI remain neutral in the workers' federally protected right to form a union to improve working conditions. Waste Management, Inc., headquartered in Houston with over 13 billion dollars in sales annually, has an in-house union avoidance team which methodically fights workers' attempts to organize. Currently around a quarter of their workers are organized and the other workers often feel intimidated when they attempt to join their organized brothers and sisters.

Forty years ago this past April, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed while supporting the struggles of striking sanitation workers in Memphis. The same kinds of struggles continue today for sanitation workers, including those at WMI who are simply trying to exercise their rights to form a union and take steps to improve their lives. WMI continues to violate worker rights and, because our federal laws are so weak, the company continues to get away with its immoral behavior.

There are many examples of WMI's anti-union tactics, including the July 4, 2008 firing of Stacey Stevenson, a sanitation worker and union activist in Little Rock, Arkansas, who we believe was fired for his attempts to organize his coworkers. Local ministers in Little Rock have signed on to a letter in support of Stacey Stevenson.

WMI's intimidation must stop, and your help will go a long way in that fight. Please sign the petition:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1035/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1315

By signing the petition, you are calling on WMI to stop its anti-worker, anti-union tactics by remaining neutral in union-organizing campaigns.