This morning, the Building Dignity and Respect Campaign and the Week of Action got international attention with an article in The Guardian featuring CTUL member Douglas Guerra.
“A big advantage of this is we wouldn’t have to worry about always responding case by case about wage theft,” said Douglas Guerra, a drywall worker and CTUL member who helped Building Dignity write an educational handbook for immigrant workers. “This program would ensure that developers help prevent wage theft from happening in the future.”
Meanwhile, allies around the country continued to lead actions calling on developers Solhem, Yellow Tree and United Properties to ensure basic dignity and respect for construction workers in the Twin Cities.
Our allies with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers led a delegation to one of United Properties’ senior living communities in Naples, Florida.
Unfortunately management refused to hear them out or pass on the letter demanding that UP respect workers dignity, so the delegation left the letter on the counter.
If you don’t already know about the work of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, click on the link to learn about the powerful organizing they have led to transform working conditions in agriculture in Florida and beyond. The CIW is one of the founding organizations of the Worker-driven Social Responsibility (WSR) network. After a delegation to Immokalee, construction workers who are members of CTUL decided to build a WSR-model program in construction in the Twin Cities – the Building Dignity and Respect Program.
And back here in the Twin Cities, organizer Dave Snyder from Jewish Community Action and our Solidarity Coordinator Tre Tellor, spoke at the evening Shabbat service at Shir TikVah on Friday. Together they spoke about how practices of their respective faith traditions both give us a glimpse of a world made whole and everyone’s dignity is upheld, as well as how faith communities can bring healing and spirit to movements!
We look forward to marching with our allies from Shir TikVah and JCA, and upholding the divine dignity of workers! Sign up to join us on Sept. 12:
