Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition
Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Founder
The Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition (The Coalition) educates and engages the interfaith religious community on issues of worker rights and economic justice. A diverse, multi-ethnic organization with members in all five boroughs, its primary goal is build a sustainable, long-term alliance between faith community and labor movement in New York City while collaborating with local unions that are organizing low-wage and immigrant workers. The Coalition advocates for and works directly with the working poor to support their efforts to empower themselves and better their conditions.
The Coalition has built an extensive network of interfaith clergy and labor activists. It has recruited more than 1,000 clergy and the broader religious community to intervene on behalf of worker justice. Since 1996, it has participated in a campaign to raise wages of 10,000 janitors leaning office buildings and in the Living wage Campaign that resulted in the increase of minimum wages and health benefits for about 50,000 employees of contractors doing business with the city. Currently, the Coalition is engaged in efforts to win basic human and worker rights for 40,000 seasonal migrant farm workers throughout New York State.
The Coalition also works directly with seminaries, rabbinical schools, and mosques. Programs link students and religious congregations with current worker rights and economic justice campaigns.