Fran Ansley and I have been involved with the JwJ network since 1995 when our local Central Labor Council invited us to help organize our local East Tennessee JwJ. For the past several years, we have made a monthly automatic contribution to both the Jobs with Justice Education Fund (national JwJ) and to our local JwJ coalition, JwJ of East Tennessee.

Early on, we got to witness the power and significance of union/community solidarity in the Mineworkers’ strike against Pittston Coal Company in the hollows and on the ridges of Southern Appalachia.  We saw what the union and its members meant to the community and what the community, its churches and civic organizations brought to the struggle for labor justice and workers’ rights.  To win that fight, it took national and even international support, and I think most fundamentally, the shoulder-to-shoulder daily support of neighbors, pastors, and local community organizations.  Across the board Solidarity of material support and mutual reinforcement was necessary to win.  We have seen those lessons multiplied

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