Newly Published Book Details Mutual Concerns of Religious Community, Labor Unions for Human Rights on the Job



An Indianapolis minister who is an adjunct professor of labor studies concludes in a newly published book that labor unions are legitimate instruments of God’s will for creating a just society.
“Too often the Church has ignored the ‘vocation’ of union members and others who advocate for workers’ rights,” writes Darren Cushman Wood in Blue Collar Jesus: How Christianity Supports Workers Rights.
Wood argues that there is a crisis of human rights in the workplace, a crisis that has seen labor unions struggle to create justice in the workplace.
“Unions have actively fought for and won rights that all workers enjoy, such as the minimum wage, health and safety regulations, regulation of child labor, and the eight-hour day,” he writes. Their reward, he continues, has been to be attacked for 20 years as part of a strategy “to suppress the rights of all American workers because corporations know that their main opposition comes from organized labor.”
Looking to the religious community, Wood wonders what role it will play in this struggl, writing, “the crisis of human rights in the workplace has become a major social problem, and the question remains whether the Church will heed this challenge.”
Wood is the senior minister of Speedway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis. He is an adjunct professor of the Indiana University Division of Labor Studies, based at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He also is a board member of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. Wood is a graduate of the University of Evansville and Union Theological Seminary, New York City.
“They (unions) are no different from other secular institutions – such as schools, government entities, businesses, and community organizations – in playing a role in the providence of God,” he contends. He cites Proverbs 31:8-9, writing, it “tells us to speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” The question remains, he writes, hether the Church will heed this challenge.
Blue Collar Jesus offers a thorough analysis of workers rights from a religious perspective. The book reveals biblical and ethical principles for justice in the work place, and explores the vast and diverse tradition of labor activism among the major Christian factions. From the Roman Catholic Church to the Southern Baptists Convention, Wood analyzes the history and beliefs that support labor unions. With rich historical and theological insights, Wood argues persuasively that labor unions are legitimate instruments of God's will for creating a just society. Never before published interviews and archival information makes Blue Collar Jesus a fascinating study of the relationship between labor and religion. 
“The Spirit of Christ is upon us, igniting a passion for justice in the workplace,” Wood writes in Blue Collar Jesus. “When we begin to recognize the needs of the workers in today’s global economy, it will be as Cesar Chavez once said: Each time a man or woman stands up for justice, the heavens sing and the world rejoices.”