Backing and reinforcing a position first taken by the Archbishop of Milwaukee, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a strong statement supporting workers’ rights – notably collective bargaining rights – on Feb. 24.
Not only is refusing to bargain wrong, but “it is equally a mistake to marginalize or dismiss unions as impediments to economic growth,” wrote Bishop Stephen Blaire, chair of the conference’s committee on domestic justice in his letter.
Blaire was one of several religious leaders weighing in on the side of workers in their battle against Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker. The governor continues his confrontation with unions representing 200,000 state and local workers, refusing to budge from his legislation to kill their collective bargaining rights, cut their pay and slash their pensions.
Other religious leaders coming to the aid of workers include the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and rabbis in Madison and Milwaukee.
“For years, the Jewish community has supported workers’ right to organize, to bargain collectively, and for other purposes,” said Reform Rabbi Jonathan Biatch of Madison, Wis. “These rights are now in danger in Wisconsin because of Gov. Walker’s proposal to eliminate collective-bargaining agreements with public sector employees.”
Walker’s action has galvanized the labor movement into protests nationwide. Up to 70,000 workers and their allies – some from as far away as Los Angeles – are sitting in inside the state capitol in Madison to show staunch opposition to his demands.
Similar protests have also erupted in other state capitals where GOP governors have proposed yanking workers’ rights, notably Ohio.
Blaire’s letter to Archbishop Jerome Listecki is important not only because it again puts the Catholic church squarely on the side of workers, but because Wisconsin has millions of Catholics – and Catholics are a large share of the U.S. labor movement.
“I write to express support for and solidarity with your clear statement, on behalf of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, of Feb. 17, 2011, articulating traditional Catholic teaching on workers, their rights and the common good,” Blaire’s letter says.
“You and our brother bishops in Wisconsin are offering a timely reminder of what the Church teaches on the rights and duties of workers, including the right to form and belong to unions and other associations, and the obligation to address difficult problems with respect for the rights and needs of all. As you insist, ‘Hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers.’”
Blaire also pointed out that current Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor, John Paul II, both publicly reaffirmed the church’s commitment to workers’ rights. John Paul called unions “an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialized societies.”
“The situation in Wisconsin is not unique,” Blaire added. “Catholic teaching and your statement remind us these are not just political conflicts or economic choices. They are moral choices with enormous human dimensions. The debates over worker representation and collective bargaining are not simply matters of ideology or power, but involve principles of justice, participation and how workers can have a voice in the workplace and the economy.”
“This is not about fiscal discipline,” the Jewish center wrote in a blog. “It is a wanton attempt to parlay a contrived budget crisis into an erosion of workers' rights and an attack on working families. Labor rights, once diminished, are notoriously difficult to reassert….Deuteronomy commands, ‘You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow Israelite or a stranger in one of the communities of your land. You must pay out the wages due on the same day, before the sun sets, for the worker is needy and urgently depends on it.’ Because workers' rights are so tenuous, the Union for Reform Judaism fully supports the rights of workers to collectively bargain and opposes attempts by states to adopt ‘right-to-work’ laws.”