The Economic Justice Coalition held a town hall meeting Saturday to publicly launch a worker center in Athens.

A worker center is a resource that provides a supportive environment and employee rights information, as well as “tells you your rights before they’re violated,” said Linda Lloyd, executive director of the EJC.

The Economic Justice Coalition is an Athens-based community group that “promotes justice for workers and builds avenues for workers to succeed,” according to the group’s mission statement. Among the EJC’s core values are civic engagement, a living wage and worker empowerment.

“What we’re doing today is opening this up to the whole community,” Lloyd said during the meeting, held at the Greater Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. “We want a worker center.”

The University will play a large part in the concept of a worker center, Lloyd said. As the county’s largest employer, the University has been a target for EJC worker mistreatment cases in the past.

Allison Stouffer, a senior from Dahlonega, is a member of the EJC and Living Wage, a campus organization focused on establishing a living wage. Stouffer said one of the coalition’s goals is to work closely with the University to improve workers’ rights.

“The first step toward activism and pure justice is knowing your democratic rights,” she said

Speakers at the event included Francisco Risso and Michelle Bedard from the Western North Carolina Worker Center.

Both Risso and Bedard praised the EJC’s interest in the center. Whether lobbying for legislation, distributing flyers, holding vigils or organizing marches, Bedard reiterated the importance of

community involvement to achieve goals for workers.

“The biggest lesson out of today and what you’re doing is standing with the people,” said Bedard, a 2002 University graduate.

The formation of a worker center is coming too late for one Athens-area worker who asked to be identified only as Humberto.

As an employee of a local poultry plant, Humberto experienced excruciating pain in his hands from the strenuous work, he said.

“It’s a shame workers don’t trust workers. It’s a shame poor people don’t trust poor people,” said Humberto, who now fixes cars.

“I think it’s a great thing to do a worker center. The only way we can get power is to come together,” he said.

Ray MacNair, co-chair of the coalition, also spoke at the meeting. According to MacNair, wage theft and deportations of illegal immigrants are among the injustices that are currently taking place and “seem to be harshly unfair.”

However, the formation of a worker center where employees can learn about their rights and be empowered to speak up for themselves may alleviate some of the unfairness, MacNair said.

“When workers are confident they have rights, they’re more likely to stand up for their rights,” MacNair said.