This past Saturday, Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc. (WFUNJ) was honored with the “Friend of Labor” award at the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey (AFTNJ) 2014 biennial convention at the Rutgers Labor Education Center in New Brunswick. The award recognized the WFUNJ coalition for its efforts to educate and mobilize a statewide grassroots movement in support of raising New Jersey’s minimum wage. The WFUNJ “Raise the Wage” campaign spanned approximately eight months, it united the efforts of over 256 labor and community organizations, and represented one of the most sweeping and effective community education programs in state history.

With regard to this award, Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc. Chair Charles Hall, Jr. stated:

“Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc. was proud to lead an historic statewide grassroots campaign last year to raise our state’s minimum wage and is extremely honored to receive the ‘Friend of Labor’ Award from AFTNJ recognizing those efforts. As the name of this award implies, our efforts helped to improve the lives of working families. But we not only ensured that 400,000 workers got a raise, we also enacted a policy which benefits our economy and community as a whole.”

It is thanks to each and every one of our partner organizations that we were able to secure this milestone victory. Working together we will continue to bring the issues that matter most to the community to the forefront of our policy discussion – including job creation, workplace justice, and financial relief for middle class families. Thank you for your ongoing support.