"A lot of what we're doing is building a base," said Tarah Fitzgerald, UWA's statewide leadership organizer. "We're going door-to-door connecting with people and asking them what are the issues they are facing now and what are their concern," Ms. Fitzgerald said. "We're were getting a lot of stories about people getting sick, losing their jobs and becoming homeless. How is that fair,"she asked?

Just recently, Maryland General Assembly legislators agreed overwhelming that low-wage workers were unfairly denied sick leave and, subsequently, voted to override Gov. Larry Hogan's veto of the Healthy Working Families Act.  The bill becomes law next month - in part, due to UWA's Work with Dignity Earned Sick Leave Campaign and the efforts of other community activists. The legislation now requires employers with m ore than 15 full-time workers to allow them to earn up to five days of sick pay a year. UWA estimates that as many as 700,000 Maryland workers - a disproportionate number of whom are minorities or migrant workers - will benefit from the new labor law.

 

UWA was founded in 2002 as a human rights organization, led by the poor to end poverty. Through the years it has succeeded in other campaigns such as: improving conditions for stadium workers; advocating for affordable housing; preventing the construction of a large  trash incinerator near a local school; acquiring benefits and back pay for restaurant workers locked out of their jobs; and, increasing the living wage to $13.39 per hour. Most importantly, said Ms. Fitzgerald, UWA has been successful at "creating a community in which people feel supported and powerful enough to step up to leadership and advocate for their human rights."

The Presbytery will award the Self Development grant to UWA during the 878th Gathering on Feb. 8 at Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. Funding for the SDOP grant  is made possible by your  generous gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing.

Presbytery of Baltimore's Self-Development of People committee