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ترجمه
ترجمهFaith and labor have always marched together. This is the front door for the AFL-CIO's "Labor in the Pulpit, Bimah & Minbar" program — connecting congregations of every denomination with the worker-justice movement across the Mid-South.
Every great faith tradition speaks to the dignity of work and the rights of those who do it.
Every faith tradition teaches that work is sacred and the worker is made in the image of the Creator. To honor the worker is to honor God.
Scripture and social teaching are clear: the laborer deserves to be paid fairly and on time. Poverty wages are a moral failure, not an economic necessity.
From Rerum Novarum to the present day, faith leaders have affirmed the right of workers to join together and bargain collectively.
"An injury to one is an injury to all" is not only a union creed — it is the Golden Rule on the shop floor. Faith and labor are natural allies.
Resources and the labor story for each faith community.
Labor justice IS civil rights. The Black church has always been a labor institution — and its pulpits produced the movement's greatest leaders.
Right here in Memphis, faith leaders have never stopped showing up for workers. The late Rev. Dr. Dwight Montgomery, Rev. Leonard Dawson, and the late Rev. Dr. Womack stood shoulder to shoulder with workers through years of labor struggle. Pastor Keith Caldwell, Rev. Dr. Earle Fisher, Pastor Andre E. Johnson, and Pastor Noel Hutchinson stood with the strikers during the 2021 Kellogg's strike — and have answered the call on virtually every labor issue in this city since, to this day. Bishop Brandon Porter also answered the call, visiting the IFF strike line to stand with the workers. Their witness is living proof that the Memphis pulpit and the Memphis labor movement are one and the same. And to the many others not named here — you know who you are — we honor you, and we carry your work forward.
These community partners are living this work right now — congregations and unions organizing side by side across Tennessee.
Memphis's largest faith-rooted organizing coalition — led by Pastor Keith Caldwell.
Visit their pageMICAH's sister organization in Nashville — congregations, community orgs, and labor unions united.
Visit their pageFaith and labor united against wage theft and unsafe conditions at the Memphis Workers' Center.
Visit their pageFaith & Co-ops — helping churches build the new economy through worker ownership.
Visit their pageMemphis recovery housing, ministry, and faith-based businesses that put men back to work.
Visit their pagePope Leo XIII issues the founding document of Catholic social teaching — affirming just wages, the dignity of labor, and the right of workers to form unions.
A. Philip Randolph founds the first major Black-led union, fusing the Black church's organizing tradition with the labor movement.
Labor and faith leaders march together. The full name reminds us: civil rights and economic justice were always one struggle.
AFSCME Local 1733 workers carry "I AM A MAN" signs. Rev. James Lawson — pastor of Centenary United Methodist and the movement's leading strategist of nonviolence — organizes the strike and invites Dr. King, who delivers his "Mountaintop" speech at Mason Temple (COGIC) and is killed the next day standing with the workers.
A national network forms to mobilize congregations across all faiths around worker justice campaigns.
Rev. Dr. William Barber II co-launches a national revival of Dr. King's Poor People's Campaign, putting faith back at the center of the fight for living wages and union rights.
The federation revives its faith-labor program to reconnect congregations and unions around the dignity of work.
The first American pope — from Chicago — takes the name Leo in continuity with Leo XIII and personally meets Chicago union leaders, thanking unions for serving the common good.
The Lord will prepare you for situations, conversations, motivations, personal relations, and congratulations all while your enemy is left with frustration because everything they threw at you to bury you, you used for your elevation and in the end you have built a foundation that is stronger than any other creation that you could have ever imagined! GOD will!
Kevin Bradshaw
President, Memphis & West TN CLC · Founder, Labor Education
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Memphis, 1968 — supporting striking sanitation workers
Forward together, not one step back!
Rev. Dr. William Barber II
rallying cry of the Moral Mondays & Poor People's Campaign movement
Workers' associations… ought to be so organized and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable means for attaining the object proposed.
Pope Leo XIII
Rerum Novarum, 1891 — affirming the right to organize
I thank you for representing so many workers, and for your contribution to the common good.
Pope Leo XIV
to Chicago union leaders, October 2025
Watch, read, and share the faith-labor message.
Action News 5
A local news look at Memphis's labor legacy and where it stands today
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Mason Temple, Memphis — April 3, 1968, supporting striking sanitation workers
Rev. Dr. William Barber II
TIME — the Poor People's Campaign and the moral case for workers
The Vatican
October 9, 2025 — thanking unions for serving the common good
Rev. Dr. Earle J. Fisher
Abyssinian Baptist Church, Memphis — a Memphis voice for faith & justice
Pastor Noel Hutchinson
Memphis — faith, justice, and labor in conversation
Centenary United Methodist Church
Memphis — the historic church of Rev. James Lawson
The official program page — congregation toolkits for Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Islamic communities.
The Pope praises unions, immigrants' inclusion, apprenticeships, and renewable-energy skills.
Why the new Pope's stance is a call to action for Catholic workplaces and parishes.
Dr. King's final speech, delivered to Memphis sanitation strikers the night before his death.
The successor home to Interfaith Worker Justice — resources for faith-labor organizing.
Lift up the dignity of work on Labor Day weekend.
Invite a worker or union leader to share their story.
Partner your congregation with a union local.
Sign up below and a coordinator will help you host a speaker, preach worker justice, or adopt a local union.
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Created by Kevin Bradshaw
