Faith, Hope and Organizing

Local 304 member Carmella Cruse with the Faith and Politics Institute award she received for her faith-driven organizing efforts, at the organization’s St. Joseph’s Day Breakfast with International President Edwin D. Hill, right, and Secretary-Treasurer Jerry O’Connor.

Anyone who thinks that faith is something that you check at the door of your workplace has not met IBEW Local 304, Topeka, Kansas, member Carmella Cruse. Cruse has found success in organizing at the intersection of religion and the jobsite.

That faith-driven spirit of determination earned her an honor by the Faith and Politics Institute in Washington, D.C. at its annual St. Joseph’s Day Breakfast. The IBEW and several other labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, have for years participated in the event celebrating the patron saint of the worker. Attended by President Edwin D. Hill and Secretary-Treasurer Jerry O’Connor, the breakfast also included several members of Congress. Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a longtime champion for labor in the House of Representatives, presented the award to Cruse.

"We looked for someone whose passion for their work is inspired by their faith," said Beth Brent of the Faith and Politics Institute. "Carmella certainly fits that description. A lot of her commitment to organizing, particularly underrepresented and disenfranchised workers, is grounded in her faith tradition."

Reaching out to religious institutions can make an important difference in organizing campaigns, Cruse said. After a visit by Cruse and a fellow organizer, church leaders in Salina, Kansas, gave IBEW efforts to organize lighting manufacturing workers their "blessing," and took up the workers’ cause in their pulpits. "We had people who came to the meeting to hear what we had to say because they heard about it in their church," she said.

Conviction also inspired her work at telecommunications call centers in Kansas City and Topeka. Cruse salted in to the Kansas City center and discovered the company was charging employees double the cost of their health insurance. Cruse reported the company, Teletech, for wage and hour violations.

Cruse, the youth director at Restoration International Ministries in Kansas City, is a 10-year member of the IBEW. After working as a call center clerk, she became shop steward and was hired as an organizer nearly four years ago. Local 304 Business Manager Paul Lira recalls that it’s not easy duty for a woman organizer to face her first campaign, in conservative western Kansas at an all-male utility plant. But they won, overwhelmingly.

"Carmella exceeded any expectations I ever had in an organizer," Lira said. "She utilized every resource she had to make it happen."

Cruse said her strong faith has a hand in everything she does.

"God is the one that guides us," she said. "It sounds simple but I really believe that."

Other highlights of the March breakfast included remarks by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. The Faith and Politics Institute is a bipartisan organization that seeks to raise moral and ethical concerns about congressional decisions that affect the lives of workers.