Unite Here/Local 1 in Chicago recently held a prayer breakfast to encourage religious leaders to support hotel workers’ campaign for a new contract. Father Larry Dowling of St. Denis Catholic Church on the South Side gave a rousing call for worker justice in the tradition of Catholic social consciousness. Stephen Greer, pastor of Christian Valley Missionary Baptist Church on the West Side, spoke about the preference for the poor in God’s kingdom. (I learned later that black participation in the unions is the fruit of major conciliatory work; some unions’ former racist stands on membership are not easily forgotten.) Rabbi Victor Mirelman of suburban Temple Har Zion quoted a Talmudic call for giving workers fair pay even if the employer takes a loss. Imam Kifah Mustapha of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview quoted the Prophet Muhammad’s words on an employer’s responsibility to employees: “Let him feed him from the same food he eats; let him dress him from the same clothes he dresses; do not order what is hard on him.” Cleopatria Kyles, a dishwasher at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, brought the crowd to its feet: “God planted me at the Hilton, and I’m honored that God gave me this blessing, so I can bless others.” All this was enough to make one think that interfaith cooperation for the sake of justice is not a thing of the past.