Building Chair for Papal Visit is a Special Honor for CWA Partner Don Bosco Worker Center

Members of the Don Bosco Worker Center have a very special mission: To build a chair to be used by Pope Francis during his visit next month to the U.S.

Members of the grassroots community-organizing group – mainly Latino immigrant day laborers and other low-income workers in Port Chester, NY – have volunteered to build the chair that Pope Francis will sit in when he presides over mass at Madison Square Garden in New York City on September, 25.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, center, with workers from the Don Bosco Center at CWA Local 1103.

CWA Local 1103, which partners with the Don Bosco Worker Center on economic and social justice issues, is providing space for the project and other support. The Local converted its garage into an impromptu workshop; that's where the Pope's chair is being built.

"Building the chair for any Pope would be a great honor, but building it for Pope Francis makes it even more special," CWA Local 1103 President Kevin Sheil said. "Pope Francis is a pro-worker pope whose values and statements on democracy, human rights, workers' rights and the need for real change in our world have captivated people of all faiths around the globe."

Local 1103's partnership with Don Bosco began a year ago on an anti-wage theft campaign called "No Pay No Way" to make Port Chester, NY, the first "wage theft free zone" in the country. As of May 2015, 70 Port Chester businesses have taken the "No Pay No Way" pledge promising to pay their workers the wages they have earned.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, stopped by Local 1103 to thank them, its members and the Don Bosco workers. He praised the work both organizations do in fighting for those vulnerable to exploitation on the job.

A delegation of the workers building the chair has been invited to the Pope's Mass.