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FAITH AND JUSTICE WORKER CENTER

 

 

Faith and Justice Worker Center exists because we believe everyone should have a safe and healthy workplace, and we believe in working-class people’s collective power to create change.

FJWC has been the premier worker rights community organization in Houston for more than seventeen years. We are dedicated to creating positive change with and for low-wage workers by providing services, building peer support networks, and mobilizing campaigns.

Our model is one of empowerment that ensures a sustainable and growing impact. All our efforts, whether to educate the public, to provide case resolution services, or to lead advocacy campaigns, are driven by members: low-wage workers who become leaders in realizing the mission and exercising governance of the FJWC.

MISSION

The Corporation's mission is to provide a safe space for low-wage workers to gather and learn about their rights in the workplace, network for various social services, file complaints with government agencies, meet with attorneys and connect with community allies.  The Corporation also organizes low-wage workers to improve conditions on the job and mobilizes workers and the general and religious communities on issues and campaigns to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for low-wage workers. 

ALL RELATED TO WORKERS

LOW-WAGE INCOME
WORKERS 

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Low-wage workers are people who perform work that does not provide economic security. That includes: workers whose wages would not place them above the poverty line if they worked full time, workers who receive few or no benefits and often work irregular hours in unregulated conditions, people whose work is not recognized or compensated, and people who are trapped in poverty because they are excluded from the labor market, whether due to their immigration status, their criminal records, a disability, or other forms of discrimination.

WORKERS MAKE
EVERITHING POSSIBLE

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Low-wage workers perform important tasks. The fact that our society underpays them has nothing to do with the value of their work: Construction workers build all the safe spaces we have access to. Domestic workers take care of homes and loved ones –– our children, our elderly. Farm workers, truck drivers, fishers, cooks, dishwashers, waitstaff, and grocery store staff feed us. Janitors sanitize our workplaces and public areas.  All these functions are necessary for a society. Workers who perform them have low incomes because of economic forces, not the merit of their labor, and structures like classism, sexism, racism, and xenophobia contribute to their receiving differential and pejorative treatment.

ALL WORKERS
HAVE RIGHTS 

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Worker rights set the bar for working conditions, which determine quality of life for low-wage workers and everyone else. On average, American adults spend nearly half of their waking hours at work. Our occupations expose us to physical conditions that have health effects. In addition, the nature of the work we do and how it is organized can affect our mental health. Furthermore, for most people, employment is the primary source of income, giving us the means to live healthy lives –– or not. We see the negligent enforcement and deficient definitions of worker rights in Texas as major determinants of social inequalities, and we seek to change these.

OUR STAFF
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CATHERINE TERSELICH

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 BOARD OF ADVISORS

Faith and Justice Worker Center is the premier worker rights community organization in Houston. For the past fourteen years, we have provided educational workshops to the public, leadership trainings for low wage workers, provided wage theft case resolution services and lead advocacy campaigns for worker rights. FJWC exists because we believe everyone should have a safe and healthy workplace, and we believe in working-class people’s collective power to create change. In the wake of the pandemic, FJWC has created a Board of Advisors to take initiative in creating programs, providing financial and legal support. ​Workers in Houston routinely experience wage theft, unsafe workplaces resulting in injuries and deaths, discrimination, threats, sexual and other violence at work, and labor trafficking. All these issues are decisively prevalent and most frequently met with impunity, and we see them as violence against working class people. Even the most “simple” case of wage theft can result in a worker and their family being evicted, eating fewer and less nutritious meals, or having their car taken away from them. We see the negligent enforcement and outright lack of worker rights in Texas as major determinants of social inequalities, and we see workers’ collective power as the key to not only achieve better working conditions, but also to address the current immigration and democratic crisis. To achieve this social change Fe Y Justicia Worker Center has created Board of Advisors, a group of individuals who will offer new insights to our organization. We are all looking forward to working with them on a one on one basis with hopes of developing further goals that will be of great benefit to our communities.

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POLICE OFFICER JESUS ROBLES

Programming Committee

Jesus Robles is a police officer assigned to the Office of Community Affairs in the Community Outreach Unit. Officer Robles has worked at Eastside Patrol, in the Crime Reduction Unit, Investigators First Responders Unit, and the Differential Response, and patrol. Officer Robles also serves as an Associate Chaplain in the Peer Support Unit where he is able to meet with peers regarding personal matters and spiritual elements. Officer Robles also assists in performing funeral services for fallen officers, active and retired. He also leads prayer vigils, workshops, and funerals for church members and other community members. He also leads prayer non-denominational prayer groups to meditate and preach the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, a Catholic devotion. He has received his Master’s in Pastoral Studies from The University of Saint Thomas, Saint Mary’s Seminary. Robles is also the Director of his Church’s yearly Festival, President of the Society of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Fourth Degree Knight of the Knights of Columbus. He is also the liaison to the Shields of Christ First Responders Spiritual Retreats under A.C.T.S. where he assists officers through their spiritual journey.

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PAUL PUENTE 

Political Committee

Paul J. Puente is the Executive Secretary and Delegate of the Houston Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades Council representing the various construction local unions and (20) twenty counties. Paul was elected to a four-year term of office in January 2013 by the affiliated local construction unions and delegates. The council is made up of twenty-four construction unions, fifteen different crafts, and thirteen apprenticeship programs all having Joint Apprenticeship Training Committees (JATC). He began his career in the electrical industry in 1990 working in the chemical refinery plants along the Gulf Coast. He earned a Degree in Electrical Technology from San Jacinto Jr. College. Paul prides himself as a family man with his beautiful wife Janie and father of six children (3 girls & 3 boys). Paul became familiar with the skilled trades midway through his career and is currently registered with the State of Texas as a Journeyman Wireman Electrician and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 716 and an Organizer and Assistant Business Manager. Paul is also a Delegate for the Harris County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, member of the Houston Business Roundtable.

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ATTORNEY JOSEF "JOE" BUENKER

Programming Committee

Attorney Josef (“Joe”) Buenker is a native Houstonian and first generation American. Joe’s parents immigrated to the United States from Germany and taught him an appreciation for this country and the blessings that living here gives to us. Joe attended Rice University, graduating in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree. In 1989, Joe received his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center.

OUR PARTNERS
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Houston Endowment

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National Day Laborer Organizing Network

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National Domestic Worker Alliance

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National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

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Equal Justice Center

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Workers Defense Project

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Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative

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South Texas College of Law

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Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation

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Houston Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades

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Houston Health Department 

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The American Red Cross

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Dominican Sisters Of Houston

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David Weekley
Family Foundation

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Hispanics in Philanthropy

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Houston Police Department

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Harris County Covid-19

Relief Fund

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Interfaith Worker
Justice

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Vales Más Tú

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Geater Houston Community Foundation

Texas Bar 

 Foundation

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United Against

Human Trafficking

Working With the Best  Sponsors

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(713) 862-8222

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