Respond to Action Alerts

Tell Hershey to End the Use of Child Labor in Chocolate Production

With 42.5 percent of the market, Hershey — the maker of Hershey’s Bars, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Hershey’s Kisses — is a leader on sales but not on human rights. In the last 10 years, they have lagged behind their competitors in ensuring that that child labor is not used and that the rights of workers and farmers are respected in the production process.
» Tell Hershey today that child labor is unacceptable.

Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Women and girls in Haiti are threatened by dramatic increases in sexual violence in many displacement camps. But there are grassroots leaders who are developing and implementing initiatives to end gender-based violence and support survivors. UUSC is standing with them, and you can too.
» Ask your representative in Congress to support House Resolution 521.

Do Good By Dining Out

With the launch of our Choose Compassionate Consumption campaign last year, UUSC supporters joined together to form a powerful block of consumer advocates! Now let’s use our power to make a positive difference in the lives of restaurant workers, by choosing where to eat based on how restaurants treat their employees.
» Download the diners' guide and use it to choose compassionate consumption when you dine out. The diners' guide, produced by the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, tells you how restaurants throughout the country treat their workers!

Choose Compassionate Consumption

UUSC has launched a new consumer advocacy initiative called Choose Compassionate Consumption (CCC)! Through the CCC initiative, you and other UUSC supporters will form a powerful consumer block promoting workers’ rights, fair trade, and a living wage.
» Take the first step today. Sign the Choose Compassionate Consumption pledge at uusc.org/cccpledge.

Is Someone Being Tortured in Your Neighborhood?

Torture may be happening right now in police stations, immigrant detention centers, and prisons, right in your neighborhood. You can take action to end it.
» Sign the petition calling on President Obama to sign the United States onto the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

Sign the UUSC open letter in support of the Occupy movement

Sign this letter as an expression of gratitude to all who are working for economic justice in the United States and around the world, as an affirmation of your hope for fair and compassionate economic reforms, and as a renewal of your commitment to help make it so.
» Sign the open letter in support of the Occupy movement as an individual.
» Sign the open letter in support of the Occupy movement as a congregation, partner, or other organization.

Protect the Most Vulnerable in Haiti

Our elected officials need to know that we have not forgotten the survivors of the Haitian earthquake, and that we want to make sure our government doesn’t forget them either.
» Contact your senators and urge them to support the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act (S. 1576).

Expose the Truth about U.S.-Sponsored Torture

The right to be free from torture is among the most fundamental human rights recognized by the global community. UUSC has joined with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) to call upon President Barack Obama to appoint an independent Commission of Inquiry to address U.S.-sponsored torture.
» Contact President Obama today. Urge him to establish a Commission of Inquiry into U.S.-sponsored torture.

Ask Congress to Support Fair Wages and Working Families

It is time to make sure all the nation’s largest workforce — tipped workers — are paid fair wages for their hard work. Although the last raise in the federal minimum wage was in 2009, the minimum wage for tipped workers has remained the same for the last 20 years!
» Urge your representative to cosponsor the Working for Adequate Gains for Employment in Services (WAGES) Act.

Urge the Senate to Support Gender Equality throughout the World

The United States is one of only seven countries — including Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and three Pacific island nations — that have not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This treaty was passed by the House of Representatives in 2002, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted twice and passed it with bipartisan support, and President Obama has voiced his support and willingness to sign it. It's time to ratify CEDAW now!
» Please urge your Senators to bring CEDAW to a vote.

Urge President Obama to restore civil liberties and reject indefinite detention

President Obama may soon issue an executive order keeping intact "prolonged" detention of individuals being held at Guantanamo Bay. Grassroots voices are needed NOW to reject this practice and restore our nation’s commitment to civil liberties.
» Urge the president not to continue indefinite detention, through an executive order or any other means

Remember Haiti

As a new session of Congress begins, it is time to remind officials on Capitol Hill that the Haitian people still have urgent needs. One year after the deadly earthquake, over one million are still homeless, living in desperate conditions in camps, and vulnerable to cholera and post-election unrest.
» Urge your members of Congress to remember the needs of the Haitian people one year after the deadly earthquake and to work for a just recovery.

Call for Passage of the Assess Progress in Haiti Act

Well over a year since the earthquake struck Haiti, hundreds of thousands of people are still living in deplorable conditions, with little or no access to basic services. As Haiti’s President-Elect Michel Martelly prepares to take office, the newly introduced Assessing Progress in Haiti Act seeks an official report on the progress that is or is not being made in Haiti. We need to know the state — the successes and the failures — of the reconstruction efforts in Haiti.
» Urge your representative to pass the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act today.

Express Your Concern about Civil-Liberties Violations to the Egyptian Consulates

If you are concerned about the human-rights violations taking place in Egypt, we urge you to contact the Egyptian embassy or consulate for your state. Register your dismay at the brutality against the protestors and request that the government allow people to protest peacefully and restore communication links.
» Get guidelines, talking points, and contact information for Egyptian embassies and consulates.

Urge Congress to pass the Haiti Empowerment, Assistance, and Rebuilding Act

UUSC is working to make sure that the voices of Haitians are heard in Washington, D.C., as comprehensive aid policies are set.
» Contact your representative in Congress and to urge support for the HEAR Act.

Raise Your Voice for Lower Manhattan Mosque

UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association strongly support the proposed construction of the Cordoba Center, an Islamic mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan. Interim UUSC President William F. Schulz and UUA President Peter Morales said in a recent letter to Mayor Bloomberg that the proposed mosque near Ground Zero should be welcomed as an important effort by moderate Muslims to reach out to interfaith communities. The ministers of all UU churches in New York City also signed the letter.
» Contact New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to support the Cordoba Center and the religious tolerance it represents.

No taxpayer bailout of big oil

Under current law, corporate liability for oil spills is capped at $75 million. For BP, which reported a profit of over $6 billion in the first quarter of 2010, it amounts to less than one day’s average earnings. Congress must act now to ensure that the corporations responsible for the massive oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico pay the full cleanup costs, not the taxpayers.
» Urge your senators to cosponsor S. 3305 and prevent the bailout of oil companies!

Hold BP accountable for oil drilling disaster

On April 20, 2010, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank off the Louisiana Gulf Coast killing 11 workers. In a region plagued with a high poverty rate and still recovering from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike, BP’s oil drilling tragedy now threatens the health and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in the region.
» Tell BP to take full responsibility for this oil drilling disaster and not to exploit local workers!

Support Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti

On February 3, 2010, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), a long-time champion for the people of Haiti, introduced with bipartisan support H.R. 4573, the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery in Haiti Act of 2010. The bill would require the U.S. Treasury to “use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States in multilateral financial institutions” to enhance the international community’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti.
» Urge your U.S. representative to cosponsor H.R. 4573 today!

Let's rebuild the Gulf Coast with good green jobs

Four years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast, the recovery needs of communities in the region are still great. Good “green” jobs would help people rebuild their lives and restore the environment.
» Urge your congressperson to cosponsor The Gulf Coast Civic Works Act of 2009

Pressure the Sudanese Government, and Our Own Government, for Meaningful Action on Darfur

The recent expulsion of 13 aid organizations by the government of Sudan has put millions of lives at risk. Today, over 2 million civilians living in camps depend on humanitarian aid agencies for their basic needs, such as food, water, and medical care. And in many camps, women and children make up 80 percent of the population.
»Urge retired Air Force General J. Scott Gration, President Obama's Special Envoy to Sudan, to help protect civilians in Darfur, especially women and girls.

Urge Vanguard to Divest from Sudan

Many Americans are unwittingly but literally funding the genocide against the Darfurian people through their savings and retirement accounts. Together, we can pressure The Vanguard Group to divest its holdings in PetroChina and other multinational oil producers, and make Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir recognize the cost of his genocidal actions.
» Vanguard shareholders take action now!
» Non-shareholders take action now!

Help Ensure Every Californian Has Access to Safe, Affordable Water!

California residents, urge your assembly member and the Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee to support AB 1242 — legislation which will guarantee that all Californians have access to safe and affordable water.
» E-mail your elected representative
» E-mail the Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee

Take Action to Renew Hope in Darfur

During her confirmation hearings for secretary of state, Hillary Clinton declared a need to "sound the alarm again about Darfur." Susan Rice, our newly appointed ambassador to the United Nations, has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's inaction on the Darfur genocide.
» Urge Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Rice to ensure UNAMID fulfills its mandate to protect women and girls in Darfur.

Support President Obama's Decision to Shut Down Guantanamo Detention Center

On January 22, 2009, his second day in office, President Obama signed an executive order shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
» Send President Obama an e-mail to let him know he has your support!