Philadelphia Faith Leaders Demand US Airways Pay Living Wages To Airport Workers Living In Poverty

May 31, 2013 - PRLog -- More than 200 members of POWER, Philadelphia's largest interfaith community organizing group, will be at City Hall next Tuesday June 4, 2013, at 3pm as the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Transportation & Public Utilities begin hearings on the new Airport Lease Agreement. POWER is demanding city leaders force US Airways to pay a living wage to hundreds of airport workers who currently have to get public assistance to make ends meet. POWER leaders want the new Airport Lease Agreement to set a minimum wage rate of $10.88/per hour, and include benefits, which will create a bridge out of poverty for some 1500 skycaps, baggage handlers, airplane cabin cleaners and some security and janitorial workers.  “U.S. Airways is one of the nation’s most profitable airlines and paid its CEO $5.5-million last year,” says Bishop Dwayne Royster, Executive Director of POWER. “We stand for the interests of airport workers like Tara, a baggage handler, paid a mere $7.25/hour with no benefits. Tara does not have enough money to support herself and her children and that’s not right.”

POWER is the largest faith-based community organizing effort in Philadelphia. POWER’s mission is to lift up a prophetic voice for the poor and to hold systems and decision-makers accountable for policies that negatively affect working families. For more information about POWER, visit www.powerphiladelphia.org or call (215) 232-7697.  All media inquiries should be directed to Leslie Patterson-Tyler by calling (609) 247-2632 or emailing Leslie@TylerMadePR.com.

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About P.O.W.E.R.

We are Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower & Rebuild (POWER). We are congregations from all across the city, intentionally bringing people together across the lines of race, faith, income level and neighborhood -- lines which have historically kept Philadelphians divided.  We are people of faith committed to the work of bringing about justice here and now, in our city and our region.  By strengthening and mobilizing our networks of relationships, we seek to exercise power in the public arena so that the needs and priorities of all Philadelphians are reflected in the systems and policies that shape our city. For more information go to www.powerphiladelphia.org.

P.O.W.E.R. Congregations

1.   Arch Street United Methodist Church
2.   Calvary St. Augustine Episcopal
3.   Calvary United Methodist Church
4.   Chestnut Hill United Church
5.   Congregation Kol Tzedek
6.   Congregation Lev Ha-Ir
7.   Congregation Rodeph Shalom
8.   Cookman Beloved Baptist Church
9.   Epiphany of our Lord Catholic Church
10. Evangel Chapel
11. Grace Christian Fellowship
12. Grace Epiphany Episcopal Church
13. Harold O Davis Baptist Church
14. Holy Innocents Catholic Church
15. Holy Spirit Lutheran Church
16. Living Water United Church of Christ
17. Masjidullah, Inc.
18. Mishkan Shalom Synagogue
19. Mother Bethel AME Church
20. New Life Ministry
21. New Vision UMC
22. Old 1st Reformed UCC Church
23. Philadelphia Praise Center
24. Prince of Peace Lutheran church
25. Second Baptist Church of Germantown
26. St. Benedict's Roman Catholic Church
27. St. Malachy's Roman Catholic Church
28. St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal
29. St. Paul's Baptist Church
30. St. Peter's Episcopal Church
31. St. Raymond's Catholic Church
32. St. Rita's Roman Catholic Church
33. St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church
34. St. Therese Catholic Church
35. St. Therese Roman Catholic Church
36. St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church
37. St. Williams Roman Catholic Church
38. Sweet Union Baptist Church
39. West Phila Mennonite Church
40. Woodcrest United Church of Christ