Faith leaders call for living wage on 40th anniversary of Dr. King's work in Memphis

Feb 26 2008

Interfaith Gathering in Memphis, March 13th, with National and Local Speakers

MEMPHIS -- Forty years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers making poverty wages, faith leaders from around the country will gather to demand a living wage for all workers. The interfaith service will be held at 7:00 pm, Thursday, March 13, at the historic Centenary United Methodist Church, which organized support in 1968 for the Memphis sanitation workers. Centenary UMC's former pastor, Rev. James Lawson, who worked with Dr. King, has been invited to be the keynote speaker.

Co-convened by the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign and the Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice, the interfaith prayer service will feature speakers such as civil rights activist Joyce Miller, now Associate General Secretary for Justice and Human Rights at the American Friends Service Committee, and former sanitation striker and union organizer Taylor Rogers. Other speakers will include current Centenary UMC pastor, Dr. Herbert Lester; Henry Perry, President of Teamsters Local 667; Adam Taylor, Director of Campaigns and Organizing at Sojourners, and Simon Greer, President & CEO of the Jewish Funds for Justice.

"Minimum wage earners have lost significant ground over the past 40 years," said Rev. Paul Sherry, Executive Director of the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, a national faith, community and labor coalition committed to raising the minimum wage. "The minimum wage in 1968, when Memphis sanitation workers went on strike, was $9.70 in 2008 dollars. Dr. King would be shocked to see that today's minimum wage is only $5.85. Rather than lifting people out of poverty, the low minimum wage keeps them in poverty."

"Forty years after Martin Luther King traveled to Memphis to support striking workers, a trip that cost him his life, many still work for the city at poverty wages," said Rev. Rebekah Jordan of the Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice. "We must remember that the city workers currently living in poverty are paid with taxpayer dollars. Our faiths call on us to ensure that all workers enjoy the fruits of their labor by earning a living wage."

The interfaith prayer service will kick off a 24-hour Fast for the Living Wage in Memphis. Participants will be asked to contact their City Council members and urge them to cover workers and contracted employees at the Memphis public utility Memphis Light, Gas, and Water, under the living wage ordinance. Participants will also pray for workers who do not earn a living wage, and for the employers and elected officials who have the power to change poverty wages.

A number of sanitation workers who participated in the 1968 strike have been invited to attend the service, including Taylor Rogers, past president of the Memphis chapter of the sanitation workers' union AFSCME. Memphis pastors who supported the sanitation strike have also been invited, including Rev. Frank McRae and Rev. Ezekiel Bell, as well as Mrs. Hattie Jackson, widow of African Methodist Episcopal Rev. Ralph Jackson.

Simon Greer, President & CEO of the Jewish Funds for Justice, said that it was incumbent on all faith groups to support fair wages for workers. "Our tradition tells us that every human being is made in the image of the divine. We dishonor the dignity of human beings when we pay them poverty wages for their work."

Faith groups represented at the interfaith service will include Baptist, United Methodist, Christian Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal, Episcopalian, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian (USA), Disciples of Christ, Reform Jewish, Conservative Jewish, Roman Catholic, Quaker and Unitarian.  Music will be provided by the Centenary Choir, as well as singer-songwriter Bryan Field McFarland, who will sing the song, "I Am a Man," a song written to commemorate this event.

Centenary United Methodist Church is located at 584 E. McLemore Ave., Memphis, TN.

About the Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice:
Interfaith Network for Economic Justice:
The Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice is a coalition of members of the faith community who seek justice in the workplace. Our mission is to partner with people of faith in order to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions for the hard-working people of the Mid-South, especially those who earn low wages. www.midsouthinterfaith.org