Saint John’s University alumnus Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network, will join Damon Silvers, senior strategic adviser and special counsel to the president of the AFL-CIO, for an interfaith conversation on labor, religion, politics and public engagement at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 18, in the Centenary Room (room 264), Quadrangle Buuilding, Saint John’s University.

The program, sponsored by the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement, the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning and the Collegeville Institute, and is free and open to the public.

“Our elected officials and world leaders make decisions that impact our lives every day,” said LeCompte, who graduated from SJU in 1999 with a double-major in sociology and peace studies. “If we want to influence those decisions, we need to engage with decision-makers. Religious groups and labor unions throughout history and to this day, influence Minnesota, national and global policies that impact our lives.”

Jubilee USA Network, which LeCompte has directed since 2010, is an interfaith coalition of 75 development and advocacy organizations and more than 750 religious groups from throughout the United States and around the world to win policies that alleviate poverty, address global conflict and promote human rights.‎

The AFL-CIO, which is the largest federation of labor unions in the United States, is one of the longest-standing member organizations of Jubilee USA’s network council.

“The joint work of labor unions and faith groups translates into policies that support workers, create jobs and protect the environment,” LeCompte said. “Damon and I are excited to have a conversation on how human rights and democracy are bolstered by our participation. We are excited to have this conversation at a place that has long understood the need for solidarity between workers and people of faith.”

Silvers joined the AFL-CIO as associate general counsel in 1997 and later served as director of policy and special counsel before being named to his current position. He is also a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, a visiting professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College, London, a member of The Century Foundation’s Board of Trustees and a member of the Board of Directors of Americans for Financial Reform.

LeCompte has been active in human rights work since his years at Saint John’s. Prior to working with Jubilee USA he worked with the School of the Americas Watch, Catholic Worker and Fellowship of Reconciliation. His views on religion, politics and economic issues regularly appear in media outlets including the Associated Press News, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.