Does the Pope Care about Worker’s Rights?

[Omaha Steve]

http://laborrightsblog.typepad.com/international_labor_right/2008/04/does-the-pope-c.html#more


By Beth Myers, Executive Director of STITCH

Around Washington, D.C. this week, it’s Pope-mania with Pope Benedict XIV visiting the United States for the first time. It is an interesting time to think about the Catholic Church and worker’s rights. While the Catholic Worker movement is still going strong around the globe, does the Catholic Church still publicly take as strong of a stand in support of unions as they once did? And if they act badly towards their own workers are they putting their moral authority on this issue on the line?

No Unions for School Teachers

This week the Nation Magazine wrote about the struggle and anti-union activity that teachers in Catholic schools face when trying to organize unions in their schools. It’s a sad statement that one of the strongest supporters of unionism and worker’s rights is now trying to break the unions using company unions or just flat out not negotiating with them. Teacher’s unions are responsible for making sure that women (the majority of the members are women) are able to pass on their passion for knowledge and still make a living wage.

Read this passage from the article:

However, in recent years in other parts of the country, Catholic bishops have been busting longstanding Catholic school teachers' unions and stripping teachers of their right to unionize. In 2004, Archbishop Sean O'Malley ended thirty-six years of the Boston Archdiocese's negotiation of a single contract with the high schools by decentralizing the system and then refusing to recognize the union any longer.

Mary Chubb, a veteran Catholic school teacher, spent nearly ten years trying to gain recognition for elementary school teachers in St. Louis, Missouri. Bishop Raymond Burke summarily killed that movement in 2004 by issuing an unequivocal written decree stating that, "Neither the Archdiocese nor individual parishes will recognize or bargain collectively with any organization as a representative of the teachers."

You can read the full article here:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080428/bonavoglia

First Sermon Focused on Worker’s Rights

Despite the behavior in regards to school teachers and unions, Pope Benedict did use his first Sunday sermon as the newly ordained Pope to stress the importance of dignity, solidarity, and respect for workers.

Here’s the excerpt from a story from the Catholic News Service: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0502694.htm

Speaking to the crowd, which included thousands of members of Italy's Association of Christian Workers, Pope Benedict said believers must promote "Christian fraternity ... in the workplace and in social life so that solidarity, justice and peace may be pillars on which to build the unity of the Christian family."

Pope Benedict recalled that Pope Pius XII had created the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker in order "to stress the importance of work and of the presence of Christ and the church in the labor world."

"It is necessary to pay witness also in today's society to the 'Gospel of work,' which John Paul II spoke of in his encyclical 'Laborem Exercens,'" Pope Benedict said.

"I hope that work will not be lacking, especially for young people, and that working conditions will respect always the dignity of the human person," the pope said.

Hope for a powerful message of support for Unions

Even with the controversial action towards workers in Catholic Schools, let’s hope that the Pope maintains the long, Catholic tradition of being supportive of workers and unions as he makes speeches and travels around the United States. Let’s also hope that the church’s actions towards teachers change before that message no longer seems legitimate.

[Raven]

1. How about the Priest in Boston who propositioned the 12 year

old girl and her mother at a restaurant for oral sex...he's back serving the parishes. Don't tell me the Pope gets anything about human rights or human dignity! These people are beyond reclaimation...this is a corrupt institution to the core.

[closeupready]

2. Absolutely. A powerful institution, and like that saying, "power corrupts",

the men who run the Vatican have been corrupted by the power they wield and also the deferential treatment they receive from the press, legislators and others who could help "fix" the sickness in the way things operate.

[nomorenomore08]

3. If he really cared about the well-being of average people, he'd remove the RCC ban on birth control.

Really, what the hell do decent wages and worker protections matter when you can't even control the size of your fucking family? And yeah, I know 90% of American Catholics disagree, blah blah blah, but the fact that those teachings are still in place does have an effect on the public discourse.

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

4. Unions mean higher pay and better benefits therefore many

Catholic schools would close or have to charge high tuition.