In the spirit of Labor Day, the United Workers held a prayer breakfast at Light Street Presbyterian Church in Federal Hill on Monday, September 3rd.

“We stand in solidarity with [the United Workers] struggle for a living wage,” said Rev. Roger Scott Powers, Pastor of Light Street Presbyterian Church.

Amidst a consumption of muffins, fruit and other assorted goods in the church’s backyard, an announcement was made that Monday’s scheduled hunger strike was being postponed until Saturday, pending a promise for a wage resolution by the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA), who will be re-bidding the stadium workers’ contract on Thursday, September 6th.

“We hope that by postponing the hunger strike, we can provide the MSA the breathing room required to come to a just decision and turn words into actions and intentions into commitments," said United Worker organizer Rose Menustik.

Behind the United Workers stood a sign with words in yellow against a black background of legendary farmer, civil rights, immigration and labor activist Caesar Chavez, “Now We Hunger For Justice.”

The United Workers remain vigilant, however, and are moving forward with a candlelight vigil beginning on Thursday at 7pm at the church, to keep the pressure on the MSA, who preside over Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, vowing that if they fail to follow through, the strike will commence on Saturday, September 8th. The stadium workers’ present contract terminates at the end of the Baltimore Ravens’ football season.

“It really shows the struggle and the power of working people trying to get justice at the stadium at Camden Yards which was built by the taxpayers, generates tremendous benefits to the state, to the stadium authority, and to the Orioles, yet the people that work there are being systematically underpaid,” said 11th district council candidate Fred Mason III.

Mason III, whose district encompasses the territory of the two stadiums, said for him the mission is personal. His partner Phillip worked at Camden Yards ten years ago. At that time, Mason remarked, there was no organization like the United Workers to support him.

“All work should have dignity. There shouldn’t be jobs that keep working people in poverty,” said Mason III.

Mayor Sheila Dixon and Councilman Michael Sarbanes came by the prayer breakfast to pledge their support to the United Workers.

“It is important that we stand in solidarity for all of our workers to have not only a living wage but also health care benefits to take care of ourselves and our families,” said Mayor Sheila Dixon.

“When we look at those stadiums we need to see a future of decent family supporting wages,” said Michael Sarbanes.

The influx of politicians at the prayer breakfast, which included Dixon, Sarbanes, and City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, was a stark contrast from previous United Workers announcement events, which consisted of United Workers, allies and community activists.

“The city is finally taking notice that people that work at places like Camden Yards deserve their dignity, to live above the poverty level,” said United Worker organizer Barry Lindsay.

Maryland recently passed the living wage law of $9.62 an hour for Baltimore, and $8.50 for the rest of the state, which will take effect on October 1st. The law requires government contractors to pay workers $11.30. The United Workers are demanding that MSA adheres to Baltimore’s $9.62 living wage.

However, the loophole within the living wage law, under which MSA can operate if they so choose, is the 13 consecutive week work requirement for employees, which the stadium workers do not fall under, because their work is relegated to the Ravens’ football and Orioles’ baseball seasons.

In a press conference Friday, both Gov. Martin O’Malley and MSA Chairman Frederick W. Puddester pledged their support to the stadium workers.

“When we see contracts from entities like the Maryland Stadium Authority, we expect them to abide by the spirit as well as the letter of the law," said O’Malley.

Delegate Adrienne Jones, who met with a delegation of United Workers during the last session in Annapolis, echoed her pledge before a packed audience inside the church’s sanctuary.

“We are going to see this through when a document is signed. I have a little leverage, in that I have the Maryland Stadium’s budget. I spoke to the chairman of the stadium authority Fred Puddester, and he knows he and the rest of the board better deliver,” said Jones, which drew thunderous applause.

“We are very optimistic that that will happen. That is the kind of leadership that we supported over a year ago to be in Annapolis,” said Fred Mason Jr., President of the Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO and father of Mason III, who served on Gov. O’Malley’s transition team.

Baltimore’s living wage law could not come at a more critical time. Rev. Powers cited recently published 2006 Census statistics showing that Maryland is now the richest state in the nation, with the average median income of $65,000, and the lowest unemployment rate of 7.8 percent. However, he said, Baltimore City ranks amongst the poorest cities in the country, with the unemployment rate at 19.5 percent, and one in five Baltimoreans living below the poverty line.

“This is just one part of an entire campaign to end poverty from the grassroots up,” said United Workers ally Eumar Farooq.

But United Workers’ demands extend beyond a living wage. They demand better treatment from subcontractors Next Day Staffing, the agency under whom they are hired, of whom many want to see their contract dissolved in favor of a worker unionized contract directly with the MSA.

United Worker organizer Robert Graham led the audience first in the chant, and then in the song, “We are the workers, the mighty, mighty workers.”

Under current agency stipulations, workers are required to report to work two hours before their actual start time at the back entrances of each stadium so the general public would not see them. They are given brief lunch breaks and forced to eat their lunches in the restrooms. Many workers perform their duties without sanitary gloves and adequately working equipment.

“The important thing is that the people don’t have to eat their lunch in the bathroom and they have money to buy a decent place to live and food for their children,” Iris Kirsch, Baltimore City Public School teacher and supporter of the United Workers.

Should there by a hunger strike on Saturday, it will coincide with the United Workers’ scheduled Living Wages Hunger Strike concert, featuring several local and national artists, at 2pm near Camden Yards.

The United Workers began their campaign for living wages and fair treatment in 2002, and although it appears there will be an end with their demands met, they are prepared to go as long as it takes until it finally happens.

“[By] the events of the last few days you can tell that obviously [the MSA] have gotten that point as well, and they are starting to come around to our side, but we’re not going to give up the fight until we get something in writing, until we get exactly what the workers want,” said Farooq.

“What the United Workers are fighting for basically shows us the way forward in society,” said United Workers treasurer and interpreter Marilyn Hunter. “We can’t go backwards. We have got to build a society taking the resources we have and building it on the basis of what people who have nothing need.”