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DISCIPLES JUSTICE ACTION NETWORK
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A Voice for Justice in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
DJAN is a multi-racial grassroots network of individuals, congregations, and organizations within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), all working together for greater justice and peace in our church, our nation, and our world. |
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LET JUSTICE ROLL/LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGN: LETTER TO CONGRESS
November 7, 2005
Dear Members of Congress:
As leaders of our respective faith communities, we call on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage in the 109th session. For too long, the ranks of the working poor have grown in this country. For too long, low-wage workers have been unable to support themselves and their families, even though they work several jobs, trying to make ends meet. Poverty has become a disease, striking at the very heart of the United States, attacking the most vulnerable, even as the wealthy few continue to accumulate far more than their reasonable share. It is unacceptable that such a state of affairs be allowed to continue, as year after year, Congress fails to pass an increase in the federal minimum wage.
Prophetic voices throughout the ages have called upon their nations to show justice to the poorest and most vulnerable in society. The Prophet Amos exhorts the people of Israel, "Hate evil and love good, and establish justice. Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Then, and now, the assembled people of God are called upon to establish justice for low-wage workers, whose cries are so often heard across our land.
The situation among America’s minimum wage workers is particularly dire. A minimum wage employee – making $5.15 an hour, working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, earns $10,700 a year – more than $8,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of four. The real value of the minimum wage today is nearly $4.00 less than it was in 1968. Indeed, in order for the minimum wage to have the same purchasing power as it did in 1968, the federal minimum would have to be raised to $9.03. This situation is unconscionable, as the wealth of our nation continues to be built on the backs of the working poor.
In his Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, our modern-day prophet, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., says, "There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources to get rid of it." It is time to heed the call of the prophets, both ancient and modern. It is time to recognize that a minimum wage should be a fair, just, and living wage. |
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CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE "LET JUSTICE ROLL/LIVING WAGE" CAMPAIGN. |
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CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT DJAN's JUSTICE MINISTRY.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE. |
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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF DJAN's FALL NEWSLETTER.
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