God's Not on the Side of Union Busters

Monday 05 July 2010

by: Dick Meister, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

God may or may not be on the side of unions, but a Catholic scholars group says that being on the other side, that is being against unions, is a "grave violation" of the church's social doctrine. Opposing unions is, in fact, a mortal sin. And should be.

Anti-union actions violate both the letter and spirit of Catholic social doctrine, declared the Massachusetts- based Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice in a document distributed recently by the Catholic News Service.

Specifically, say the scholars, it violates church doctrine to try to block union organizing campaigns, stall in union contract talks, unilaterally roll back wages and benefits and violate existing labor contracts and other labor-management agreements.

Those tactics are far too common among the tactics used against unions by far too many employers, including many who are Catholic and, presumably, follow church teachings. That's not to mention the lay employers who operate Catholic hospitals and other facilities for the church and are openly - sometimes fiercely - anti-union.

The Catholic scholars make an irrefutable case. As they say, Catholic social doctrine is "forthright and unambiguous " in regard to unions. "It states boldly that they are essential to the universal common good."

The scholars note that, in supporting unions, the church is supporting the vital philosophical principle of freedom of association and the vital moral principle of "a just and or living wage."

From the scholars' point of view, it boils down to this: "The right to form unions is rooted in divine law," and man-made law and the enforcement of it should reflect that. Opposing unions - that is, opposing the workers' natural right of free assembly and right to decent wages and benefits - harms not only the workers directly involved. It also hurts society at large by lessening overall income and social solidarity and, thus, diminishing the universal common good.

The scholars' statement stemmed primarily from concern over an increase in the use of anti-union tactics in recent years by some Catholic dioceses and Catholic organizations that obviously are not practicing what they preach.

"There are many Catholic institutions that live up to Catholic teachings," said Joseph Fahey, a Manhattan College professor of religious studies who chairs the Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice. "But there are some, either by ignorance or by design, that ignore Catholic teaching."

Those who violate workers' rights of unionization, added Fahey, "are involved in the grave matter of mortal sin."

Fahey and his fellow scholars are particularly critical of the sponsors and managers of Catholic institutions who hire "union avoidance firms" to help them block their employees from unionizing or to help employers oust - or "bust" - unions that previously won the legal right to represent their employees on setting pay, benefits and working conditions.

Ousting or breaking unions in that way - or any other way - amounts to "wage theft" and "the theft of the human right of free association," say the scholars.

They're absolutely correct. The spread of unionization is key to bringing about the truly just society sought by Catholic scholars and union leaders alike.

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Dick Meister is a San Francisco-based writer who has covered labor and politics for a half-century as a reporter, editor, author and commentator. You can contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com.

Comments

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"all be damned" the

 Mon, 07/05/2010 - 09:10 — Kirantana (not verified)

"all be damned" the Catholics finally got something right...maybe I'll go back to church if they keep this up



Well then, goddamn the

 Mon, 07/05/2010 - 09:18 — Vic Anderson (not verified)

Well then, goddamn the 'Buster MAN!



This is all church PR.

 Mon, 07/05/2010 - 12:56 — J Giles (not verified)

This is all church PR. Surely you have better arguments for the right to organize than wishes imputed to a supernatural being whose existence has never been, nor never can be proved. What silliness. Maybe the RC would be more believable if they excommunicated their employees who bust unions or routinely violate their contracts with unions as quickly as they did the Arizona hospital administrator nun who voted to allow an abortion at 11 weeks because it was agreed among the Dr.s that both mother and fetus would die if the pregnancy continued. If they were serious about the right to unionize, that is--but they don't want to offend big Republican donors.



Threatening someone with a

 Mon, 07/05/2010 - 15:51 — Anonymous (not verified)

Threatening someone with a spurious mortal sin is itself a mortal sin.



Unions have their uses but

 Mon, 07/05/2010 - 18:29 — Arminius Aurelius (not verified)

Unions have their uses but like our political leaders and Wall Street , the bigger they get , the greedier they get . Is it any wonder that our once prosperous auto industry has gone the tubes. Since when is it just for the Unions to demand that an unskilled and at times a poorly educated worker earn about $ 75.00 an hour [ benefits included ] It is obscene. If industry does not comply , they go on strike up to the point of destroying a business. Once prosperous Detroit is now a wasteland that looks like a war zone.



AMEN

 Mon, 07/05/2010 - 18:53 — EmeraldGreenSea (not verified)

AMEN



God must like inefficiency

 Tue, 07/06/2010 - 00:27 — Anonymous (not verified)

God must like inefficiency and extortion then.



No, it is not obscene that a

 Tue, 07/06/2010 - 08:17 — Anonymous (not verified)

No, it is not obscene that a supposedly "unskilled" worker makes $75.00 an hour. What is obscene is a CEO who makes 643 times that.



I can't argue with you on

 Tue, 07/06/2010 - 13:52 — Arminius Aurelius (not verified)

I can't argue with you on that point. I believe that it was back in the 1960 time frame that the average C.E.O. would earn about 40 TIMES what an average skilled factory worker would earn. The greed of Wall Street and industry has destroyed the good name of capitalism . That is of course with the help of our bought and paid for elected
Who_es in Washington . [ both parties ]



Arminius (Interesting choice

 Tue, 07/06/2010 - 16:32 — ChrisW (not verified)

Arminius (Interesting choice in names, there), what you're missing, is that that CEO making 643 times what the assembly line worker makes, gets that compensation by offshoring those $75/hr jobs to countries where workers have almost no rights, and will be happy to work for 75 cents an hour (figuratively).

If corporations had made reasonable concessions to worker demands, instead of spending everything they had on undermining and destroying the working class, then we wouldn't be in the pickle we're in now.



"Do not muzzle the ox that

 Tue, 07/06/2010 - 19:32 — doc benway (not verified)

"Do not muzzle the ox that treads thy grain"

That's sound advice, not because of the invisible guy in the sky, but because the ox can kick your behind clear to the moon. Advice such as the above biblical quotation, which is the (Jewish, not Catholic) basis for unions and for seeing them as proper and legal isn't supernatural, it's simply the way the universe is.

God bless my union! The US Constitution was mostly written at the Carpenter's Hall - because they had beer and because the cops knew they weren't welcome inside.

Jesus was a Carpenter, with all that means - knowing how to work, using sharp tools, flexing strong arms and hands - and discovering a way to defeat the greatest Imperial Power that the world had seen.

And He was a union carpenter...started a union. And there are way more of us that there are of "them" To be anti-union is to join with the dark side, and that means joining with the losers.



The main lie here is the

 Wed, 07/07/2010 - 19:31 — Anonymous (not verified)

The main lie here is the wage amount they claim. the average wage of $75 per hour is based on all of the employees of the company who's salaries are added together then divided by the number of employees. There are a few guys at the top getting hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The assembly workers might get around $20 per hour plus medical, dental, and a pension. that isn't enough to support a family with at anything near middle class.



I'm not Catholic, but I

 Fri, 07/09/2010 - 08:57 — Anonymous (not verified)

I'm not Catholic, but I still would like to see a citation or two, if only for the "recent' newsletter by he Catholic News Service. Where in church law does it discuss unions? I would like to believe that there is such a a law, but this article is frustratingly nonspecific. And now I'll never get the five minutes of my life back that it took me to read this article (and the other five that it took me to write this comment).



Here are the sources: Papal

 Sat, 07/10/2010 - 00:28 — Anonymous (not verified)

Here are the sources:

Papal encyclicals-
Leo XVIII, "Rerum Novarum"
Pius XI, "Quadragesimo Anno"
John XXIII, "Mater et Magister"
John Paul II, "Laborem Exercens"
John Paul II, "Centesimus Annus"

Vatican II, "Gaudium et Spes"

There are many more, but these deal most explicitly with labor unions and workers' rights.



participating and funding

 Sun, 07/11/2010 - 09:25 — Anonymous (not verified)

participating and funding any Catholic Church any where in the world is a MORTAL SIN. For decades protecting and promoting child molesters at the same time corrupting local communities from any form of legal action AND the "in bed" working relationship with the Church and MAfia supporting criminal activity, protecting Criminal activity and subverting the Legal system in every country the do"Business" in is morally bankrupt.

Dismantle the church, dismantle unions, save the world.



The last gasp of Liberation

 Sun, 07/11/2010 - 15:47 — Fergus808 (not verified)

The last gasp of Liberation Theology before the pillow is pressed firmly down on its face.



I must respond when ignorami

 Tue, 07/13/2010 - 14:06 — Frances in California (not verified)

I must respond when ignorami like Anonymous on 7-11 at 14:25 come a-spewing. Anonymous must go trolling in T/O for buzzwords like Catholic and union. I haven't read the article in full yet, but I've absorbed enough of the comments to figure out two things - 1. Anonymous doesn't deserve his pension but just because he's stupid, why do I have to lose mine? 2. Arminius is nefarious management - believes the hype-from-on-high; also believes ends justify means (they never do); is glad he's reached upper echelon where nefarious management can't get to him.



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