Dear [insert name or substitute Friend],

Greetings to you on this first day of summer.

Since we mailed our June appeal letter, we've been engaged in a week-long vigil with the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign. The daily witness culminated in the June 15 rally pictured below. As our news release headline said, farmworkers and their allies refuse to go quietly. Our committment to equal rights for those excluded from basic labor protections will not falter.

On the same day, a past participant in a Border Witness delegation to the El Paso/ Juarez region organized a Demonstration of Solidarity to remember Sergio Adrian Herneéndez Huereca, a teenager who was killed in early June by a Border Patrol officer in El Paso. The gathering observed a moment of silence coinciding with a memorial being held in El Paso/ Juarez at the same time.

As the picture at the bottom of the message shows, this young man's death demonstrates the growing contradictions that surround US immigration policy and our urgent need to reform it with a legal, peaceful and safe path into the United States from Mexico and beyond. It's an issue that continues to be a Coalition priority.

The work of the Coalition has filled our days this month. If your days have also been full and you have not yet responded to our letter (below) about our 30th Anniversary Celebration and Conference, please take a few minutes now to make a secure online donation. Your support at this time is much needed and greatly appreciated.

And THANK YOU to those of you who have already sent contributions.

Brian O'Shaughnessy

	Farmworker allies from Western NY start the June 15 rally near the NYS Capitol with a song.

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June 2010

Dear Friends,

I hope you will save these dates: October 7 – 8, 2010.

This is when the Labor-Religion Coalition will mark its 30th Anniversary with a Celebration and Conference in the NYSUT Conference Center here in Latham. In August you will receive an invitation with full details.

I remember the very first Labor-Religion Conference held at the Christ the King Conference Center in Syracuse on December 1 - 2, 1980. Actually, it was called a Labor-Religion Dialoguebecause it was too soon to envision a “coalition;” and because we wanted to link with an incipient national Labor-Religion Dialogue (which eventually fell apart over strong foreign policy disagreements.)

There was no staff back then, only a great group of volunteers who identified themselves as a Steering Committee. Ninety-three participants turned out for this December 1980 Dialogue -- and thirty-eight others signed up to receive future mailings.

Here are some highlights from that first program:

•Three films were shown: “Controlling Interest;” “Testimony – Justice vs. J.P. Stevens;” and “The Inheritance.” Have you seen any of these?

•A superb keynote was given by Msgr. George Higgins, from the U.S. Catholic Conference – affectionately called “the labor priest.”

•Workshops included:
>Preserving People’s Rights – Worker’s Rights
>Income Maintenance – Fair Share
>Economic Dislocation because of Plant Closing
>Save our Schools

The final session at noon on December 2 nd was framed as a question: “Where do we go from here?” None of us knew if participants would even want more dialogue, no less a coalition.

THEY WANTED BOTH. And now thirty years later, the Coalition has grown into a standard-bearer for worker rights and economic justice. Think of some more recent Labor-Religion accomplishments:

• Pushing New York State in 2009 to become only the third state to join the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium;
• Organizing the 40 Hour FAST, now in its 15 th year, which inspires religious and labor brothers and sisters to “hunger for justice;”
• Linking with Local Labor-Religion Coalitions from New York City to Buffalo, that lead local initiatives and help with union organizing drives and contract renewals;
• Advocating for a Main Street rather than a Wall Street state budget;
• Organizing Conferences every few years to educate and network and energize;
• Bringing 372 persons to the U.S.-Mexico Border on 28 delegations that immerse participants in the global economy up-close and personal;
• Contributing mightily to the Justice for FarmworkersCampaign;
• Educating about Union-Made and/or Fair Trade purchasing;
• Supporting Living Wage and Wage Theft activities and campaigns;
• Keeping Health Care Reform as a top Labor-Religion priority (it has been since the second “Labor-Religion Dialogue” in 1981);
• Advocating for Comprehensive Immigration Reform – an issue that will continue as a Coalition priority until a fair and humane law is passed.

We know the next thirty years will surely be filled with challenges that need a strong Labor-Religion Coalition. Your support at this time, which we know is a very hard time for so many, is much needed and will be greatly appreciated.

Please take a few minutes to make your secure online donation. It will help continue LRC’s 30-year legacy of hope.

Sincerely,

Brian O'Shaughnessy
Executive Director

Inspired in part by her participation in a Border Witness delegation, Diana Barnes organized a June 15 demonstration in solidarity and support for border-crossers everywhere.