Catholics and Unions

The following column appeared in the Washington Post featured column Catholic America:

Catholics and Unions

When I was growing up, it was almost part of the catechism that Catholics backed labor unions. We were taught that papal encyclicals on social and economic justice put us on the side of legitimate demands from workers. That centuries-old support received new clarity in June of 2009 when Catholic health workers and the U.S. Bishops delivered "Respecting the Just Rights of Workers."

In the spirit of the papal social encyclicals, this new document puts the American Church in support of union rights for the 21st century, which logically includes teachers in Catholic schools. The release of the bishops' document follows on the heels of the unionization of Catholic workers in Boston where employees of Caritas Christi joined the SEIU en masse. Now that the federal government is controlled by Democrats in the White House and in both houses of the Congress, it is fair to ask what unionization means to Catholic America.

The withering of Catholic support for unions became significant during the 1970s when the erosion of religious vocations ripped away a major part of the labor force in Catholic schools and in Catholic hospitals. Lay workers were hired to take their places. Secular salaries drove up the cost for Catholic schools and hospitals, forcing significant numbers of institutions into insolvency. In defense of their interests to adequate pay and benefits, many lay workers within church-run institutions demanded labor unions. But these increased demands for unionization came at a political moment dominated by union-busting presidents like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.The political climate conditioned the response from individual bishops. Among those who resisted unionization, the policies went from NIMBY ("not in my back yard") to downright hostility in declaring that unionization would "mean the end of Catholic education in the diocese."

Now the underpinning of that anti-union stance has been blown away. Cardinal McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of Washington and a leading player in the writing of the bishops' new document, said: "Because Catholic health care is a ministry, not an industry, how it treats its workers and how organized labor treats Catholic health care are not simply internal matters. They are also not just another arena for labor conflict and tactics, but ought to reflect longstanding Catholic teaching on work and workers, health care and the common good."

In other words, the church's relationship to its employees is not calculated merely as a bottom-line entry in a ledger, but part of the Church's mission to make God's Kingdom come.

Viewing union support through that pastoral and Catholic meaning makes it hugely different from the sort of blind ideological pandering that might be generated by a political machine. The Church supports good unions, not just any union. At the core of the consistent papal teaching is the end to destructive enmity between workers and owners.

In this new document, Catholic hospitals bind themselves to respond to a higher authority and become a model for all employers while simultaneously affording workers participation in management decisions. Greater power to management participation by unions is also at the heart of the restructuring of the American auto industry, wherein unions hold significant shares of ownership at Chrysler and General Motors. This trend is in accord with papal teaching.

What needs to be added here is how closely the bishops' document adheres to the provisions in the still-to-be-passed bill for worker's free choice of a union. Even without being forced to do so by legislation, the bishops have adopted a measure that puts them squarely in the pro-union column when it comes to hospitals and health care. The forthcoming encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI is reported to reiterate these premises, updating the church's stance on issues that have arisen with globalization. Moreover, it is likely to be a topic in the pope's meeting with President Obama in Rome on July 10th.

After many years as a scholar of Catholicism, I have come to realize that we Catholics often contradict our image as a monolithic religion and often are pulled in opposite directions by competing statements from pope, bishops and clergy. At least now we know that the pro-union direction is the Catholic choice, not NIMBY.

Union: Bishop mocking the pope

The following article appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, July 9, 2009:

Union: Bishop mocking the pope

The organization trying to unionize Catholic school teachers contends Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino’s refusal on the matter makes “a mockery” of new pronouncements by Pope Benedict XVI regarding labor organization.

Benedict issued his third encyclical Tuesday, an exhaustive look at the world economic situation. Titled “Caritas in Veritate,” or “Charity in truth,” it touches on – among many other things -- the environment, abortion, marriage, energy efficiency and distribution, access to education, international tourism, migration, and the media.

The work criticizes the modern push for profit above all else and calls for “a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise.”

Benedict touches on unions with relative brevity, considering the scope and length of the encyclical. He notes that “through the combination of social and economic change, trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers.”

He also says “outsourcing of production can weaken the company’s sense of responsibility towards the stakeholders” including workers, suppliers and consumers.
Near the end of the encyclical he repeats the church’s long-standing support of labor unions, but notes they “should be open to new perspectives that are emerging in the world of work,” urging them to “turn their attention to those outside their membership.”
The Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers posted a notice on its Web site lauding the pope’s pronouncement and contending that Martino’s refusal to allow teachers to unionize runs counter to the encyclical.

“It seems that no matter what the Holy Father or his brother bishops (who only last week gave a ringing endorsement of the rights of church employees) have to say about workers rights, Bishop Joseph Martino will not relent in his harsh opposition to grant these very same basic human rights to those who work for him,” the posting says.

The association represented many Catholic school teachers in the area, but lost that right when Martino restructured schools diocesewide, eliminating the local school boards and parish councils with which the union had negotiated.

Martino rejected a request to unionize under the new system, insisting a new “Employee Relations Program” offers all school workers fair representation.

Diocesan Spokesman Bill Genello did not respond to an e-mail and phone message seeking comment.

Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
On the Pope’s Encyclical
July 8, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI’s commitment to the cause of working people worldwide shines today. In the new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate or Charity in Truth, Pope Benedict XVI offers an ethical critique of the global economic crisis and proposes concrete elements for policies anchored in moral values that enhance the dignity of all, especially the poor and working people. The encyclical levels a strong critique at the forces of unfettered free-market capitalism and globalized greed.

Particularly, the new encyclical offers a much-needed reminder that to create an economy that works for everyone it is critical to protect workers’ fundamental right to join together as a union and bargain for a better future. As the Pope makes clear, it is not only working people, but also entire communities - - nations even - - that stand to benefit when workers exercise this right. In the document, the Pope reaffirms the Church’s longstanding position that labor unions play a vital role in efforts to build a more just economy—one in which even the most marginalized workers are guaranteed basic dignity and respect.

As the gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to widen, and workers around the world are denied the dignity and freedom they deserve, the union movement stands with the Catholic Church in its call for a global economy that works for working people. Now, more than ever, we must rally to protect the rights of workers—at home and worldwide—to come together in unions and build a better future for us all.

Pope Benedict vs. Bishop Martino

The Scranton Diocese Association of Catholic Teachers today, July 7, welcomes the release of Pope Benedict XVI's new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate or "love in truth." The Holy Father dedicated this, his third encyclical, to the economy and labor.

We take special notice of the Holy Father's observation that through the combination of social and economic change, union organizations are experiencing greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers. Pope Benedict then reiterated the repeated calls issued within the Church's social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum in 1891, for the promotion of workers' associations that can defend workers' rights. Those organizations, he said, must be honored today even more so than in the past.

Yet while the Pope is urging the rest of the world to note the importance of labor unions for the common good, we who work in the schools of the Diocese of Scranton continue to be denied our own right to organize. It seems that no matter what the Holy Father or his brother bishops (who only last week gave a ringing endorsement of the rights of Church employees) have to say about workers rights, Bishop Joseph Martino will not relent in his harsh opposition to grant these very same basic human rights to those who work for him.

Bishop Martino's actions make a mockery of the Holy Father's pronouncments. Those in America today who harass and fire their workers when they seek to form a union, or take other unlawful action to obstruct the right of workers to organize, can only feel inspired and emboldened when they see it happening here.

We urge all our brothers and sisters in the faith, who for the past two years have watched this contentious struggle between Bishop Martino and his teachers, to reflect on their position in light of the new Encyclical and consider how they can use their influence within our Church to bring this sad episode to a just conclusion.

Pope Benedict: "There is an urgent need for organizations to defend workers' rights"

The following article was released by the Catholic News Service, July 7, 2009:

Pope Benedict XVI called on labor unions to look beyond their membership when protecting the rights of workers and turn their attention to workers in other fields and in developing countries where social rights are violated. The pope reached out to labor unions in his third encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”), released July 7.

“The protection of these workers, partly achieved through appropriate initiatives aimed at their countries of origin, will enable trade unions to demonstrate the authentic ethical and cultural motivations that made it possible for them, in a different social and labor context, to play a decisive role in development,” he said in the encyclical.

Since the church’s traditional teaching makes a valid distinction between the roles of trade unions and politics, it is correct for unions to identify civil society as the proper setting for their activity of defending and promoting labor, especially among exploited and unrepresented workers often overlooked by the general public, the pope said. In the current global market, some businesses in rich countries have outsourced jobs to poor countries where the work force wages are low, and in the process have exploited workers in that country while driving down prices in their own nations, the pope said.

“These processes have led to a downsizing of social security systems as the price to be paid for seeking greater competitive advantage in the global market, with consequent grave danger for the rights of workers, for fundamental human rights and for the solidarity associated with the traditional forms of the social state,” he said. “Systems of social security can lose the capacity to carry out their task, both in emerging countries and in those that were among the earliest to develop, as well as in poor countries.”

The pope said unions often face obstacles in trying to represent workers, “partly because governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labor unions.” He said that, even more today than in the past, there was an urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international and local levels for the promotion of associations that can defend workers’ rights.