SPEAKING UP FOR WORKER JUSTICE: ELIZABETH MALDONADO ROBINSON SPEAKS JANUARY 5 IN LA MESA

By Mary Domb Mikkelson

January 2, 2014 (La Mesa) -- Have you ever had to take your break in a linen closet, sharing space with toxic chemicals and carts piled high with linens and cleaning supplies?   Had no place to sit and rest, no fresh air, no restroom, no access to food and water?

Rosa has.

Rosa cleans sixteen hotel rooms a day for poverty wages, no affordable healthcare, no voice on the job - AND is forced to take her “break” in a crowded linen closet.  And she has been told, “Just be glad you have a job!”

Exaggeration?

No.  Rosa’s story is but one of thousands, stories involving grocery workers, greens keepers,  janitors, sales clerks and many, many others, people whose jobs condemn them to “making do” (or not) on minimum wages, to substandard working conditions and to non-affordable or nonexistent healthcare.

The members of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice of San Diego County (ICWJ) are working to change those stories – and to share them with you, to inspire you to join them in speaking out against injustice.

On Sunday, January 5, 2014, Elizabeth (Lisa) Maldonado Robinson, Program Coordinator for the ICWJ, will share the work of the committee during the 8:30 and 10:00am services at the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM).   The public is invited for her presentation.  You can learn how the ICWJ works to support working families, providing a moral presence in low-wage workers’ struggles for just wages, benefits, treatment and working conditions, and about their commitment to immigrant justice and the halting of modern slavery.  You can also learn how to help.

UCCLM is located at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942 (619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org).   Read about ICWJ at www.icwj.org.