INEQUALITY CONFERENCE AT UCE A SUCCESS BY: JANE BANNOR

Reaction to the conference on Income Inequality, held at the church February 20-22, was very positive. Some 139 UU activists, from 34 different congregations and 14 states, attended 37 workshops and talks to learn more about the 2014 UUA Congregational Study Action Item (CSAI) on Escalating Inequality. In a satisfaction survey of attendees, scores ranged 4.5 – 4.8 on a 5-point scale.

Speakers at the conference included Chuck Collins, author of the book ’99 to 1’, Bill Ayers of the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, and Rev. David Breeden of the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. Those at conference shared ideas on how to lobby their state legislatures and how to support workers facing wage theft. They also discussed the possibility of opening a UU credit union and the importance of shopping at worker and retail co-ops.

The conference was timed to provide folks at the conference with information they could use to respond to the congregational poll on the Inequality issue, due to be submitted to the UUA by March 1.

In their response to the poll, members of the UCE Inequality task force said: “We are a justice-minded people. We must work to make society more just and equitable.” We indicated in the survey that members of our Peace & Justice committee are currently working to expand civil protections for former prisoners and to change state tax and wage laws that favor the wealthy.

In the future, the task force said, we plan to continue these activities and to strengthen our ties with the Community Renewal Society, the Chicago interfaith lobbying organization that works on these issues. The task force met recently and started planning activities in these areas. Another planning meeting is scheduled at the church Wednesday, March 25 at 2pm. All are welcome.