As I watch coverage of the protests in Wisconsin, three words come to mind: Wisconsin workers rock! Wisconsin Governor Walker's proposal to severely limit the rights of workers is disturbing to an extreme degree. I've been totally transfixed by the protesting workers' passion and commitment [video] to standing up for their right to collectively bargain. And by the people that are there by their side — in person and in spirit. From people calling in to Ian's Pizza from around the world to order food for the Madison protesters to people at solidarity rallies throughout the country, it's heartening to see support in the face of proposed violations of human rights.

What's at issue in Wisconsin? No one should be fooled by Walker's rhetoric. He argues that it's about making up a budget deficit. That's not what the legislation or the protests are about. Public-sector union members have already agreed to proposed cuts (brought on by Walker's tax breaks); they're unwilling to let Walker use this as an opportunity to quash their human rights to organize and bargain. And well they should be.

People have fought — with their voices, with their actions, with their lives — to ensure that workers have the right to safe working conditions, the right to fair wages, the right to collectively bargain, and more. Like the 40-hour workweek? Enjoy your days off? Relieved that there's worker's compensation if you're injured on the job? Glad there's no child labor? Thank the nation's labor movement (and Frances Perkins, too).

Worker's rights are human rights. And it's not just me and UUSC and more than 70,000 people at the Wisconsin capitol rotunda (for over 10 days now!) that think so. Check out article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Here at UUSC, I'm a proud member of UNITE HERE Local 2661: Human Rights Workers, which is part of the New England Joint Board. Collectively, our local does vital work and provides invaluable support for its members. But while I think our work is important on an organizational level and for our lives as employees at UUSC, I also think that the work we do is essential in the bigger picture. As an organization, we work every day for economic justice and the right for workers to organize — and I think it's important that we ourselves exercise that right and are intimately involved with the ins and outs of what that means.

On Tuesday in Boston, I stood at the steps of the Massachusetts State House with more than a thousand other people to show our support for the protesters in Wisconsin. UUSC's union signed on to a Jobs with Justice community statement of support for the workers and communities in Wisconsin. And on Saturday, there are capital-city solidarity rallies planned throughout the country. We all need to use our right to free speech and our right to peaceful assembly to defend our right to collectively bargain!

And we need all the help we can get. As Michael Monk pointed out on Firedoglake, one might expect President Obama to be lacing up his comfortable shoes in support of Wisconsin workers, in support of workers everywhere.

President Obama has yet to make good on this speech — and I think he should. But whether he does or not, we can. He's right when he says, "Workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner." On Wisconsin! On workers!

It's almost Valentine's Day, and Hershey's chocolates are everywhere you turn. Over nine years since chocolate companies committed to ending child labor, forced labor, and trafficking in their cocoa supply chains, these egregious labor-rights abuses continue — and Hershey is lagging behind.

While many chocolate companies have taken steps to trace their cocoa purchasing, implement labor-rights standards among their suppliers, and introduce some fair-trade-certified product lines, Hershey doesn't have much to show for itself. The company — which surely can afford to — has no policies in place to trace its cocoa and protect workers and is still declining to take steps to curb such abuses in its supply chain.

In honor of Valentine's Day and in accordance with our work on fair trade and ethical eating, UUSC is supporting the "Raise the Bar, Hershey!" campaign, spearheaded by our allies Global Exchange, the International Labor Rights Forum, Green America, and Oasis USA. You can support the campaign with these simple steps:

• Learn more about the campaign and its specific demands of Hershey.
• Send a "valentine" to Hershey's CEO to let the nation's biggest chocolate company know that we oppose continued use of chocolate that hasn't been certified to be free from the worst forms of abusive child labor.  
• Organize a screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate, a documentary that exposes the truth about child labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry.

Looking for a unique way to spread the love this year — but still want to satisfy your sweet tooth? By supporting UUSC's partner the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Cooperative (SAAC), you're helping create a new economic future for this unique pecan-processing cooperative owned and operated by African-American women in Georgia. Plus, supporting them means ordering and enjoying their delicious pecan candies!

If you didn't get a chance to indulge during the winter holidays, or if you just can't get enough of those double-dipped chocolate pecans, purchase some in our store. 

At this point in SAAC's growth as a co-op, they are unable to manufacture their own candies, but it is one of their goals to create their own goodies with fairly traded ingredients — and your support will help get them to a place where they can!

In the past year, over 780 UU congregations have shown their commitment to providing a just wage for small-scale farmers by purchasing fairly traded coffee, tea, chocolate, and other products from Equal Exchange through the UUSC Coffee Project. The ripple effects of this dedication are felt halfway around the world, as Equal Exchange contributes a portion of the proceeds from the Coffee Project back to support UUSC's efforts in building long-term partnerships with small farmer and producer groups through the Small Farmer Fund. 

In Bungoma, Kenya, a town just 20 miles from the border of Uganda, young people who have finished high school must work to provide for their daily upkeep and that of their families, even though it is very difficult to find decent work. Increasingly, these youth are finding themselves in the role of sole heads-of-household, due to loss of their parents from HIV/AIDS or other circumstances. The town's proximity to the border renders these young people vulnerable to prostitution, trafficking, early marriage, risky forms of work, and other exploitation.

UUSC's economic justice partner Muungano (a name that translates to "togetherness") is uniting the community to address the economic and social issues it is facing by providing livelihoods for youth while connecting them to traditional agriculture. With the help of UUSC, Muungano is training youth to run their own catering businesses, cooking for local events like weddings. They also rent land to grow organic, traditional crops, which they use to prepare nutritious and affordable meals for people with HIV/AIDS to ensure the effectiveness of their medication.

Back here at home, STITCH is bringing together immigrant women in Mississippi, including poultry workers, child-care providers, and women who have lost their jobs, to build their leadership skills and to work as a group to address common issues. Much like the Women's Network for Social and Economic Justice that STITCH facilitates in Central America, the women in Mississippi are growing stronger by learning about issues like gender, globalization, and human rights through the Women, Labor, and Leadership curriculum.

Five hundred miles away, in Fayetteville, Ark., the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center is forging ahead with its campaign to hold employers accountable for not paying their workers by working with city officials to pass an anti-wage theft ordinance. The Workers' Justice Center is also continuing its close collaboration with OSHA to train workers on health and safety to reduce the numbers of injuries and deaths on the job.

I had the pleasure of volunteering with many others during a recent interfaith alternative gift fair in Falmouth, Mass. Originally started by two members of the UU Fellowship of Falmouth, the event now has a steering committee with members from five denominations in the area. This particular event hosted 21 different projects, exhibited at tables that fair attendees visited to learn about the work of the organization and to choose to "buy" an alternative gift. They received a certificate announcing the gift and a card to use to send the certificate.

UUSC featured our Pakistan Flood Relief project, offering gift levels of $6 to provide free medical care for a woman or child; $20 to enable 20 women to receive free trauma counseling and help making her concerns heard by the humanitarian community; or $47 to help reunite a child with his or her family.

The positive and genuinely thoughtful energy in the room was inspiring. People at the tables talked with one another, learning about what other human-rights efforts were represented. The organizers gathered a diverse group of local and global projects by various organizations. Seated next to me was a project to assist displaced persons in Zimbabwe, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. Around the room were organizations that supported local work to prevent hunger, education efforts in Vietnam, and health-care accessibility in western Africa — and UUSC's fair-trade partner Equal Exchange was there, too, advocating for the Coffee Project.

Read more about the event in a recent Cape Cod Times article. I highly encourage other UUs to consider adding alternative gifts to their annual holiday fairs or to gather with other faith organizations to host a stand-alone event like this one! In its fourth year, it has increased in size and volume of donations every year. If you are part of a group that is already doing this, please share your stories with us! The need is everywhere — and apparently, the desire and will to advance human rights is, too! As always, UUSC provides materials and support to help in these efforts. 

As you may have heard by now, a new Census report was released announcing that 3.8 million more people officially live in poverty now in America than in 2008, an increase that brings the total number up to 43.6 million — or 1 in 7 people.

A 14.3 percent poverty rate wasn't the only distressing part of the report, though. Besides a record number of people without health insurance and stalled median household incomes, what's worrying is what the statistics aren't telling us.

The U.S. government considers an annual income of $21,756 to be the poverty line — for a family of four! A wage that puts you just over the poverty line is not a real living wage. There are thousands of people living above the poverty line who are struggling just to make ends barely meet — and they are nowhere to be found in these statistics.

That's why advancing the living-wage movement is one of UUSC's priorities. The minimum wage should cover a family's basic needs — something that the current rate of $7.25 per hour doesn't come close to achieving. By partnering with Let Justice Roll — especially on efforts to raise the federal minimum wage to $10 and to raise the wages of tipped workers, in addition to other local and state campaigns — UUSC is supporting people organizing for a more just minimum wage across the United States.

As Let Justice Roll puts it, "A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it." And that goes for what many consider to be poverty — not just what the government statistics tell us poverty is.

Please see update at bottom of post!

On Thursday, May 27, UUSC staff attended a Jobs with Justice rally in support of striking workers from the Shaw's warehouse in Methuen, Mass., who marched 60 miles over five days from Methuen to the State House.

Over 300 workers have been on strike since March, after reaching an impasse in contract negotiation when Shaw's proposed to drastically increase health-care costs for workers. Only a week after the strike was called, Shaw's hired replacement workers, and shortly after that, cut all health-care benefits for the workers, their children, even expecting mothers. Shaw's has exhibited aggressive behavior: repeatedly refusing to return to negotiations and proposing even harsher contract terms when they did resume collective bargaining.

With no recourse, the workers took their case to the streets. Enduring nearly record-breaking heat, they were motivated by the need to protect their families and maintained extraordinary positive energy.

UUSC staff, many of whom are members of UNITE HERE, joined the rally at Cambridge City Hall Thursday to support these workers as they seek to maintain their rights. Many other unions also joined the cause, including UFCW, SEIU, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, a branch of the Teamsters. 

Constance Kane, our COO, spoke at the rally, noting that UUSC is guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which clearly affirms that workers' rights are human rights. UDHR includes the right to equal pay for equal work, the right to just and favorable work conditions, the right to form and join trade unions, and the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of one's self and family.

UUSC upholds these rights not only through our program work — we embrace these values at the very heart of our organization. UUSC employees are unionized, not in spite of our identity as a human-rights organization, but because of it. Constance shared that it may not always be easy to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, but it is essential to the success of an organization to respectfully and reasonably ensure the well-being of its workers. She expressed that Shaw's management needs to open its eyes to see that its continued success depends on doing right by its employees — "It is the least they deserve," she said.

Marjorie Decker, a Cambridge city councilor who addressed the crowd, stated that she and others not only stand up for Shaw's workers, they stand with them, and are honored by their courage, determination, and energy to stand up for their beliefs. Marjorie added that the marching workers' efforts to raise awareness will help benefit all workers, who in turn will make it harder for corporations to do tomorrow what Shaws has done to its warehouse workers since March. She closed by saying that fellow representatives in Cambridge as well as in the State House and in the governor's office have taken notice and are in support of Shaw's workers.

Several striking Shaw's employees spoke, including Anthony Zuba, who led attendees in a prayer expressing thanks for bringing them to this day. Tomas Cologne said it is an honor marching with union brothers and sisters — the group had grown from the original 300 workers from Methuen to having the national support of thousands of workers in several unions. Angel Hernandez reiterated the message in Spanish. Gary Cormier, from a Shaw's warehouse in New Hampshire, added that the injustice has been internationally recognized and voiced his personal message to Shaw's management:  "Can you hear us rumbling? We are coming!"

Others voiced their support, including Vicky Steinitz from United for Peace with Justice and John Templeton from SEIU #509, who spoke on behalf of two million members of SEIU. Brian, a representative from UCFW, got cheers from the crowd when he reported that hundreds of union members from New York and New Jersey were on buses en route to join the State House rally. 

Chants of "yes, we can" and "si, se puede" resounded in the street at the conclusion of the rally, followed by music and preparation for the final leg of the long journey. Representatives from Jobs with Justice reported that the Boston Globe had picked up the story and also shared a letter from an expatriate in London, a member of the Camden Unison union, that harked the Shaw's workers' efforts back to the Bread and Roses march of 1912. The letter added that their determination is an international example to inspire us all today.

It was an honor to join my colleagues from UUSC and stand shoulder to shoulder with so many others who share a common bond and mutual goal — that everyone is entitled to human rights, and workers' rights are human rights.

To learn more about UUSC's efforts for workers' rights, visit our Economic Justice pages.

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UPDATE: Ending the 17-week strike that started on March 7, workers at the Shaw's warehouse in Methuen ratified a new contract on Thursday, July 8, by a vote of 171-37. Jobs with Justice commented on the development, saying, "This is a tremendous victory in the face of the worst economic times in 70 years and a multibillion dollar corporation bent on breaking the union. Thanks to the courage and tenacity of the workers, support from their union, and deep and active support from other unions and community and faith allies, the workers will return to work with their heads held high." Further details will be featured on the Jobs with Justice website as they become available.

 

Valentine's Day is a time to get cozy with the ones we love, showering them with heart-warming gifts like flowers and chocolates. In fact, about 50 million pounds of chocolate candy will be sold during the week of Valentine's Day. Perhaps it's the belief that chocolate can coax your sweetheart into a state of bliss through its decadent, seductive qualities. Indeed, with more than 1,500 distinct flavor characteristics, chocolate is one of the most complex food compounds — you might even detect undertones ranging from blackberry to hazelnut to tangerine in your chocolate bar. But do you know where your chocolate comes from? And what about the flowers, one of the most sublime symbols of pure beauty, which encapsulates how much you appreciate your significant other — do you know who grows and picks those roses?

Currently, the $13 billion chocolate industry is heavily consolidated, with just Hershey's and M&M/Mars controlling two-thirds of the chocolate-candy market in the United States. While the vast majority, about 90 percent, of cocoa is grown on small family farms, giant chocolate companies pay so little for the cocoa that farmers resort to running their operations on cheap labor. Over two-thirds of the world's cocoa is produced in West Africa, with Cote d'Ivoire accounting for more than 40 percent of global production. Thousands of children in West Africa and other cocoa-producing regions are forced to work on these cocoa farms, with some children being trafficked into forced labor under the guise of an opportunity for a good job to support their families.

Harvesting cocoa is dangerous work with long hours. Children laboring on cocoa farms must cut cacao pods down from high branches with machetes, split them open, and scoop out the beans, while they are also exposed to harmful pesticides without the necessary protective equipment. What's more, the children who labor under these conditions are unable to attend school or to pursue other avenues for safe and sustainable work that could bring them and their families out of extreme poverty.

A similar picture emerges when it comes to flowers. Many of the roses and carnations grown in South America are exported to be sold in American florist shops. In many of the flower plantations in countries with big cut-flower industries, such as Colombia and Ecuador, pervasive problems include poor health and safety conditions (especially pesticide exposure), the use of child labor, sexual harassment, and targeting of union organizers.

When it comes to fighting for economic justice in the chocolate and floral industries, the most viable solution we have at the moment is fair trade. UUSC's colleague organizations Global Exchange and the International Labor Rights Forum have taken leadership on the issues of child labor in the cocoa industry and the rights of cut-flowers workers. Fortunately, these organizations, along with other human-rights organizations, faith-based groups, and fair-trade chocolate companies, are working to ensure that big companies that sell products like chocolate, coffee, and tea uphold their obligations under international labor standards.

So, what can you do to support fair trade and economic justice? International Labor Rights Forum has a resource on buying flowers [PDF] that gives suggestions on which ethical-sourcing certifications you should look out for, and Global Exchange is once again holding a National Valentine's Day of Action for teachers and religious educators to bring the topics of fair trade and child labor in the cocoa industry into the classroom.

To support UUSC's efforts to promote fair trade, you can shop for gifts, including bundles of fairly traded chocolate, tea, and pecans from Equal Exchange. Or, for a fun and delicious dessert activity, try a chocolate and coffee pairing inspired by Equal Exchange's recommendations of which fairly traded chocolate and coffee flavors best complement each other. No matter how you celebrate this Valentine's Day, making a personal commitment to fair trade is one way you can show someone what a gift of love means, by supporting the workers and producers behind your gifts.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy passed away this morning. As a nation, we cannot thank him enough for his public service.

While the titan himself called ensuring affordable health care for all Americans "the cause of his life," we at UUSC remember him most vividly for his tireless work to raise the minimum wage.

Perhaps more than any other public figure since Martin Luther King, Jr., Kennedy understood that the battle to raise the minimum wage is "not just an economic issue. It's a fairness issue, and it's a moral issue."

In 2006, we had the honor, along with the UUA and our partner Let Justice Roll, to host Kennedy as the keynote speaker at a Living Wage Day event that honored the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and promoted a living wage for all workers.

In his address, he said:

^{I want to give fair notice to all of those who voted against the minimum wage increase this last year... I give you good news, because those people will get another chance to vote, time and time again. This is a bipartisan issue... it's been nine years since we had an increase in minimum wage... [and] during that time, the Congress voted themselves seven pay increases... you talk about morality. You talk about people speaking about family values: we have a moral issue, a fairness issue, and we are not going to back down.}

Over his long tenure in the Senate, Kennedy proposed innumerable bills that failed to raise the federal minimum wage. But his persistence eventually paid off. In 2007, his efforts, along with those of the grassroots living wage movement, culminated in the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade. About 13 million U.S. workers, including the parents of more than 6 million children, benefited from the raise, which increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.

Where do we stand now, without this pillar of strength and determination?

Over the coming weeks, or perhaps years, we'll see whether or not Congress will choose to honor Kennedy's legacy by making affordable access to health care a right for all Americans. But what about us, the common citizens? How do we honor his legacy? The answer is simple — we carry it forward with hope.

For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die. — Edward M. Kennedy

The following blog post was written by Mary Russell, of Boston, Mass., while participating in a UUSC JustJourney to Kenya.

On Sunday, International Women's Day, we met the Rock Women Group, a long-term UUSC partner. The organization started out as a prayer group for teachers who wanted to support each other in their difficult work in the Nairobi slums; but they soon began helping their students and their mothers by way of their strengthening bond, organizing, and mutual support.

Initially, to pay for their projects, the Rock Women Group purchased chairs that they would rent out for weddings and funerals. When UUSC heard about these "chair women," they connected with them and began a partnership.

With UUSC's support, the Rock Women Group has deepened and widened its assistance to children and women in their community. Now they are helping women to go into business: hairdressing, selling used clothes and baby clothes, and frying fish and selling it. This is about the only type of work people can do in the slums, where at least 40 percent of Nairobians live.

Since the post-election crisis, the Rock Women Group has been working more and more with their boy students, and now also with young men. The boys and young men receive employment training from several trade teachers and a social worker, organized by the Rock Women Group.

We visited the tiny stall of a young shoe seller whom the Rock Women Group had helped. The Rock Women, all called "Mother" by the young men, translated each personal introduction from Swahili. They later told us how many had been devastated by the post-election violence.

In some cases, members of the Rock Women Group had to go out into the countryside or to western Kenya to bring back displaced people and help them set-up again, so that their children could resume school or the adults could resume their HIV/AIDS treatment.

I was writing down the names of people as they introduced themselves, making notes on their information. I wondered why so many were named Jambo. Later, when I learned that Jambo means blessing, it seemed a tidal wave of gratitude and good wishes from our Kenyan brothers and sisters washed over me. It was deeply moving, and that feeling was cemented by the lunch we shared at the home of one of the Rock Women Group members.

Food and conversation and sharing and music made a very special International Women's Day.