The Equal Justice Center and the Religion and Labor Network of Austin have restructured our operations to enhance our ability to carry out our shared mission of promoting justice for low- and moderate-income working people.  As the central and most exciting part of this restructuring, we are celebrating the launch of the Religion and Labor Network as its own independent non-profit organization.  We have been planning an implementing this new structure over the last several months and it has now become official as of November 30, 2006.

The RLNA can now be reached at:

Religion and Labor Network of Austin

P.O. Box 1167

Austin, Texas 78767

tel. 512-472-2850

fax 512-472-1190

info@religionandlabornetwork.org

www.religionandlabornetwork.org

 The Religion and Labor Network of Austin (RLNA) was started by the Equal Justice Center (EJC) in 2004 as a project within the EJC, a non-profit organization that includes several projects supporting workplace justice for low and moderate-income working families.  In starting up the RLNA, we received invaluable guidance and support from Interfaith Worker Justice, a national organization which supports labor justice as an expression of faith-based values.  Over the last two and half years, the RLNA, operating under EJC’s sponsorship, has built up an extraordinary program, leadership, and credibility within the community.  An exceptionally committed and diverse group of faith- labor- and community-leaders has come together under the banner of the RLNA and has begun providing a new visibility and vitality to an array of local worker justice campaigns.  Based on this success, we came to feel that the RLNA has now developed to a stage where we can make a more powerful contribution to the cause of worker justice by launching the RLNA as an independent non-profit organization.  The RLNA will continue to work in partnership with the EJC and other social justice organizations, but as a separate organization with its own special identity and focus.

 Our good friends at Interfaith Worker Justice have once again supported us in this transition and will serve as fiscal sponsor for the newly independent RLNA until the RLNA obtains its 501(c)(3) status.  Both RLNA and EJC will remain affiliates of Interfaith Worker Justice and are deeply grateful for the instrumental role IWJ has played in strengthening both RLNA and EJC.

 We hope that all our many friends in Central Texas and around the country will join the Equal Justice Center in celebrating this exciting new development and congratulating the RLNA.  We are grateful for all your past support and we hope you will continue supporting and working with the new Religion and Labor Network of Austin as well as the Equal Justice Center in our quest to establish workplace justice as a core value and a living reality in our community. 

The Religion & Labor Network of Austin

Past Activities and Successes 2004-2006

The Religion & Labor Network of Austin is an alliance of religious leaders, faith congregations, labor organizations, community groups, and concerned individuals who have joined together together around shared moral and spiritual values of economic and social justice, the dignity of work, and the inherent worth of all people. The RLNA's mission is to educate and mobilize the faith community, as well as the larger Austin, Texas community, around action initiatives that support fairness, respect, and economic security for all working people.