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BREAD & ROSES March 12-14, 2012 |
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Join us for a 40-hour statewide Fast to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Bread and Roses Strike & to mobilize against similar wealth disparity experienced today.
The annual 40-hour Fast, for hundreds of New Yorkers, is time set aside to nurture the commitment to justice demanded by our faith and our conscience. Fast participants are uniquely able to express, explore, deepen and resolve the connections to that which is most meaningful—love, justice and compassion—all the things of God.
Fasting begins at 8 p.m. on Monday, March 12, and ends at noon on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Media Advisory
More about the Bread and Roses Strike
In 1912 , there was not sufficient bread for the 40,000 workers who helped make Lawrence, Massachusetts the greatest textile center in the world. One mill housed 6,000 workers within its 6 acres. Families barely survived on an average pay of about $6 a week. “We try to fool our stomachs,” one worker testified.
There were no roses for the textile workers who made the mill owners vastly wealthy. Six or more people lived in two-bedroom apartments, often with four people to one bed. A doctor testified “A considerable number of the boys and girls die within the first two or three years after beginning work.” The average mill worker’s life in Lawrence was twenty-two years shorter than that of the manufacturer.
The 1% in 1912 had Bread and Roses in abundance. The owner of the American Woolen Company, Mr. William Wood, owned fleets of fine automobiles, yachts, private train cars, and mansions. He bought a six-hundred-acre island off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and put a hill-top summer estate there, complete with a dozen bedrooms and two bowling alleys.
The odds of winning the strike for higher wages and respect that began on January 12, 1912 were miniscule. Yet two months later, on March 12, the American Woolen Company acceded to the strikers’ demands. By the end of March, the rest of the Lawrence textile companies fell in line. Workers of over sixty nationalities demonstrated that through solidarity, victories are possible -- David CAN slay Goliath.
 | Learn more about the Bread and Roses Strike by visiting www.breadandrosescentennial.org or by reading Bruce Watson’s book, Bread and Roses. Garment workers are still fighting for bread—and roses too! SweatFree Communities has developed a terrific, two-page handout about garment and textile worker organizing: Bread and Roses: Then and Now [PDF] |
Parallels with NY's struggling workforce today
Today , the gap between the rich and the rest grows wider every year, resulting in suffering for many and unfathomable wealth for a few. Income for the top 1% and 5% grows exponentially, while the income for everyone else falters and stagnates. The typical CEO earns 369 times as much as the average worker, up from 36 times in 1976.
Income inequality is greater in New York than any other state and New York City is the most disparate among the twenty- five largest cities in the United States. The share of income going to the wealthiest 1% has risen to 35 percent for the state and 44 percent in New York City. The wealthiest 1% of New York households have an average income 50 times the average for all households earning from $25,000 to $120, 000. Since 1990, the median hourly wage increased by less than one percent as pay on Wall Street grew by 112 percent.
During this year’s Fast, we call on participants throughout the state to mobilize on two key objectives:
• Stop a $1 billion annual hemorrhage by closing corporate tax loopholes and increasing enforcement of existing tax laws. Visit the New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness site, especially theBlueprint for Corporate Tax Fairness: Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes & Reforming the Corporate Income Tax
• Raise the minimum wage to $10/hour so that people working full-time no longer have to choose between paying for shelter and paying for food.
Why fast for 40 hours? All the world’s major religions have used the practice of fasting as a way to share a connection with those who suffer or go without and to grow spiritual depth. The number 40 has special significance in both religious and labor traditions. In religious history, the 40 days of rain in the Great Flood, the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and the 40 days that Jesus fasted are a few examples. Likewise in the labor tradition, the long fight for the 40-hour work week takes on added importance when we remember that at the time of the Bread and Roses Strike, 60 hours was the average work week – for men, women and children.
Tips for a meaningful Fast:
• Avoid high-fat and sugary foods immediately prior to the Fast.
• Refrain from eating for as much of the 40 hours as you can.
• Make plenty of time for prayer and meditation.
• Be sure to drink liquids throughout the day. Read more>
Important actions to take during the Fast:
• Call and e-mail your legislators to let them know that you are fasting along with hundreds of other New Yorkers for a more just New York: 1-877-255-1417. Together, we seek closure of $1 billion in corporate tax loopholes and a raise in the minimum wage to at least $10/hour.
• Write an op-ed on why you are fasting and your concerns about income inequality for your local newspaper.
• Come out to a Fast event near you. Albany United Methodist Society will host the opening news conference, 10 AM on Monday, March 12. [PDF](Originated from the Labor-Religion Coalition's website: www.labor-religion.org)
