By Eileen Connelly, OSU and David Eck

ARCHDIOCESE — Last Feb. 9, members of the JustFaith groups at four area parishes — Our Lord Christ the King, St. Columban, St. Margaret of York and St. John the Baptist in Dry Ridge — participated in a Journey to Justice retreat that raised their awareness about some of the issues that local day workers face.

During the retreat, held at Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, participants met representatives from the Cincinnati Interfaith Worker Center, which serves as the parent organization for the Day Labor Organizing Project and the Cincinnati Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and provides extensive legal and human rights services for poor, low wage and immigrant workers.

George Harris, a day laborer, and Don Sherman, executive director of the Interfaith Worker Center, were on hand to discuss some of the injustices they said were faced by laborers at the Rumpke Recycling Center in St. Bernard through a contract with a local temporary agency.

For example, the workers had to arrive at the unheated day labor hall an hour and half early to learn whether they would have work for the day, then wait for transportation to the job site. In the past, the cost of transportation, along with an equipment charge for items such as work gloves, was deducted from the laborers’ pay of just seven dollars an hour. This has since changed after the passage of a motion by Cincinnati City Council, Sherman said. Workers were also subject to a long wait for their paychecks upon returning to the day labor hall, he added, resulting in them putting in a 10- or 11-hour day, but only getting paid for eight.

Steps have been taken to address such injustices, Sherman said, including the passage of another motion by city council that will require any contractor whose bid is accepted to handle recycling next year to pay a living wage of $10.80 per hour without benefits.

In addition, the Cincinnati Interfaith Worker Center has been the driving force behind an effort to establish a non-profit day labor hall, Sherman noted, and has worked closely with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio to secure a grant for the project, which would include additional training for day workers and seeking ways to help them secure permanent employment.

"We’re grateful to the JustFaith groups for listening and to those who made Rumpke know they were concerned about the treatment of the workers," Sherman said. "There have been real changes made because of the efforts of the Catholic community."

Participants found the retreat to be an enlightening experience. "I was unaware of what the day workers go through," said Peg Walker, who along with husband, Harry, served as JustFaith coordinator at St. Columban’s last year. "The poor working conditions are intolerable, and it’s good to see they’re working on that. Changes definitely need to be made."

"It was a real testament to the challenges and frustrations that the workers face. You can imagine why they get frustrated and why they give up," added Carol Carlin, also of St. Columban Parish. "Events like the retreat are the most effective way to help people understand the issues. It’s important that we come face to face with those who are involved."

To the north, about a dozen students from the University of Dayton take part in semi-annual "rural plunges" that give them a taste of what life is like on a working farm. The students, some of whom have never been part of farm life, do chores, work with animals and tend fields.

The mission helps students understand the moral and social issues of farmers and farm laborers. Those challenges include a changing landscape, environmental issues, and a sense of where food comes from and that the food they choose to buy and consume is a moral choice, said Nick Cardilino, director of the Center for Social Concern at UD.

"(Hosts) really expose our students to so many of these important issues," Cardilino said. "There’s a lot of great reflecting on farm life and the kinds of issues faced by family farmers."

Roger Hoying, chair of the northern Catholic Rural Life conference, said the plunges give farmers the opportunity to share their own views on the issues.

"It lets them hear our side of the story," said Hoying, a dairy and grain farmer in Minster. "We treat the animals the best we can because if you don’t treat them well you don’t make a profit."

The rural plunges evolved from a similar program that immerses UD students in the urban city so they can experiences issues connected with living there, Cardilino said.

"One of the other really neat things that students talk about as a result of their rural plunge experience is that they are really moved by the strong sense of community that exists among the farmers up there," Cardilino said. "It’s a very, very different lifestyle. They appreciate the closeness of the community."

In the eastern part of the archdiocese in the St. Martin’s Deanery, the Catholic Rural Life Conference also advocates for the dignity of farmers, farm workers and others involved in rural life.

Last January, the conference held an event to enable interaction between local growers and buyers. In addition the conference is working to help those that want to begin a farming operations.