What is special about this FAST?

The Labor-Religion Coalition’s 40 Hour FAST is both individual AND communal, private AND public. While participants experience the hunger pains brought on by going without solid food for one or more meals, they are asked to connect with those in New York State who don’t have adequate food or housing or health care or jobs that pay enough to support a family. Through reflection and prayer, fasters are encouraged “to hunger for justice and goodness” in whatever ways they can.

Numerous examples in religious and labor history demonstrate that fasting can make a moral statement about unjust laws or situations that need change. César Chávez, a leader in the struggle for farmworker justice, said, “When you sacrifice, you force others to sacrifice. It’s an extremely powerful weapon.”

Chavez fasted many times in the hope his sacrifice and witness would bring about change for farmworkers as they sought fair wages, decent housing and health care and safe working conditions.

Here in New York State, even today, farmworkers are excluded from many of the state’s labor laws. Farmworkers are not considered “employees” and therefore have no right to overtime pay— even though they might work 70 or 80 hours a week. They are also denied the right to a day of rest each week and to the collective bargaining protections legally given other workers.

By identifying with farmworkers (and others in New York who work hard but fall further and further into debt), participants in the 40 Hour FAST can better understand that low-income workers do not need charity, but justice—which can be accomplished through simple changes in the laws of the state. Fasters can also appreciate that the suffering of farmworkers is the result of unjust human laws, not the will of God.

Last Updated:01/30/2007
© New York State Labor-Religion Coalition