CNA<\/a>).- Catholic commentators have weighed in on both sides of the controversial \u201cright to work\u201d labor bill in the longtime union stronghold of Michigan, with some warning that the law puts workers\u2019 rights at risk while others say the bill reflects workers\u2019 individual choices.<\/p>\n\tDr. Maria Mazzenga, an education archivist at the Catholic University of America\u2019s American Catholic History Research Center, said the passage of the law in Michigan is \u201ca sign of labor\u2019s declining power in the face of corporate interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMichigan has been a leader in unionization historically, and labor leaders and union workers might use this as an opportunity to rethink strategies, do some self-evaluation, and arrive at renewed ways of guaranteeing worker rights,\u201d she told CNA Dec. 13.<\/p>\n
\tOn Dec. 11, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law \u201cright to work\u201d legislation that makes union dues voluntary for employees of unionized private employers and of most unionized government agencies, with the exceptions of police and firefighter unions.<\/p>\n
\tThe Republican-controlled Michigan House passed the bill 58-51 over the objections of labor leaders. The vote attracted thousands of protesters and caused turbulent demonstrations which ended in the arrest of two demonstrators who tried to enter the building that houses the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
\tRepublican Gov. Snyder characterized the legislation as \u201can opportunity to stand up for Michigan\u2019s workers\u201d at a Dec. 11 press conference.<\/p>\n
\tMazzenga was critical of the bill.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHistorically, \u2018right to work\u2019 legislation has harmed the labor movement,\u201d she said, calling the phrase \u201ca misnomer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThese laws do not guarantee any \u2018right to work,\u2019 and the phrase itself is used by anti-union folks to make it appear that their anti-union legislation actually guarantees the rights of workers to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tShe cited the labor mediator and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops staffer Msgr. George Higgins, who died in 2002. He criticized the \u201cright to work\u201d phrase as \u201ca verbal deception, a play on words used to cloak the real purpose of the laws, which is to enforce further restrictions upon union activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201c\u2018Right to work\u2019 laws did not come from employees seeking rights, they come from, as we see in Michigan, employer-backed sources seeking to curtail the power of labor,\u201d Mazzenga said.<\/p>\n
\tFather Sinclair Oubre, Spiritual Moderator of the Texas-based Catholic Labor Network, also criticized the legislation. In \u201cright to work\u201d states, he said, workers have had \u201ca much harder time exercising their right to associate into unions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn addition, \u2018right to work\u2019 legislation allows some workers to benefit from the collective effort of other workers without standing in solidarity with them,\u201d he explained. \u201cThis is similar to someone going to Mass and not contributing to the collection, claiming a right that it is their decision to give or not to give.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAmong the bill\u2019s Catholic supporters is Father Robert Sirico, president of the Michigan-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWho knows best what workers need? It seems to me that workers themselves know best what they need,\u201d Fr. Sirico said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis legislation, to my understanding, will not stop people from joining unions. What\u2019s stopping people from joining unions is pricing the work out of the market. That seems to be the judgment of most workers in Michigan, at least in the private sector,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tFr. Sirico cited the decline in private sector union membership in Michigan, saying that workers \u201cfeel that their interests are best served by being able to negotiate their own contracts in a competitive market.\u201d He said Catholic teaching holds that the right to join a union is \u201crooted in the natural right to association\u201d which means people have \u201cthe right to associate or not associate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe priest added that the Catholic Church has no policy position on particular legislation but rather \u201ca set of principles\u201d concerning justice and \u201cthe best prudential opportunities that are available to workers for the sake of their families, and the well-being of the community as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFr. Oubre rejected any depiction of the legislation as a workers\u2019 initiative.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt was backed by large funders whose goal is to undermine unions till they don't matter. Then workers will be standing alone in relationship with their employers. When that occurs, workers will be back to conditions of Leo XIII in 1891.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPope Leo XIII helped collect and promulgate Catholic social teaching through several encyclicals that responded to the rise of capitalism and socialism and the injustices of both systems. Since the 19th century, Popes have continued the tradition through their own encyclicals.<\/p>\n
\tFr. Oubre cited Pope John Paul II\u2019s encyclical \u201cLaborem Exercens,\u201d which said unions \u201cdefend the existential interests of workers in all sectors in which their rights are concerned\u201d and are \u201can indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialized societies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe priest said the Church\u2019s relationship with unions is \u201cboth supportive and challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWithout endorsing every tactic of unions or every outcome of collective bargaining, the Church affirms the rights of workers in public and private employment to choose to come together to form and join unions, to bargain collectively, and to have an effective voice in the workplace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAt their best, unions are important not just for the economic protections and benefits they can provide for their members, but especially for the voice and participation they can offer to workers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFr. Oubre said Catholic social teaching promotes \u201ca vision of co-responsibility to promote the common good\u201d in economic effort. Both labor and management are \u201cintrinsically tied together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhen either side tries to reduce the voice and place of the other, the potential for injustice grows, and co-responsibility is undermined,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tFr. Sirico said employers have the responsibility to pay their employees \u201cliving wages\u201d and to be \u201ccompetitive in the market\u201d and profitable \u201cbecause that\u2019s the only way in which the workers can be paid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOwners have to provide an environment that is decent, that protects the dignity of the worker, that ensures for a vibrant business,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\tHe said Catholics should decide the extent to which they cooperate with organizations that promote policies that are \u201cintrinsically evil.\u201d He said all the unions in Michigan favor abortion rights and mandatory employer coverage for contraception.<\/p>\n
\tAt the same time, Fr. Oubre argued that Catholic action can reform unions.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe problem with the unions taking some of these positions on these cultural war issues is that we did not have enough Catholics in the discussions, or, we had Catholics who were not faithful to their faith sitting on the committee that developed these positions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe way to change this is not to abandon the only institution that is working for worker justice and which the workers themselves oversee, which would be so contrary to the call of Vatican II to engage the world, but by better catechizing our Catholics, encouraging them to move toward leadership in labor unions, and better engaging the leadership of the unions on these issues. This is what we did in the 1940s and 1950s to halt the influence of communism in the unions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Lansing, Mich., Dec 14, 2012 \/ 04:14 am (CNA).- Catholic commentators have weighed in on both sides of the controversial “right to work” labor bill in the longtime union stronghold of Michigan, with some warning that the law puts workers&rs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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