In March 2020, Hollywood’s famous Chateau Marmont hotel responded to the pandemic by firing virtually its entire workforce, leaving workers who had dedicated decades of their lives to the hotel without job security or health coverage during the public health crisis. Many of the hotel’s workers have since spoken out about their experiences working at […]
Did you know that more than 1 million American workers are employed by Catholic institutions? It’s true – our Church, in conducting worship, educating the faithful and engaging in corporal works of mercy has built a veritable empire of Churches, hospitals, nursing homes, colleges, schools and social service agencies. These institutions offer us the opportunity […]
Sandra Mendoza (center), a parishioner at St John the Evangelist, worked at the hotel for 29 years before the pandemic temporarily closed the facility. When it reopens she hopes to resume her work, but but the owner is seeking to replace the entire workforce. With the pandemic receding, most hotels are resuming operations and beginning […]
US Bishops endorse PWFA On August 3, in a bipartisan 19-2 Health, Employment and Labor Committee vote, the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act (PWFA) was sent to the floor of the US Senate. On August 9, the US Bishops’ Committees on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Pro-Life, and Defense of Marriage sent an unusual joint letter […]
The Catholic Labor Network mourns the loss of AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka last week. Trumka was a champion of working families and a friend of the Network. As a Catholic union leader, his faith and his vocation pointed in the same direction: solidarity, the key concept bridging the world of labor and Church. A third-generation […]
Readers of this newsletter probably know that the Catholic Church endorsed the right of workers to organize as a basic element of Catholic Social Teaching in 1891, when Pope Leo XIII issued his Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum. But did you know that the Church in the United States played an active role in preparing workers […]
This week faith activists delivered a letter to all 50 U.S. Senators calling on them to pass the PRO Act, making it easier for workers to form a union. The letter, signed by 400 faith leaders nationwide representing dozens of denominations and traditions — including Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv, of Lexington KY — urges […]
Last week the Catholic Labor Network was pleased to join the Association of US Catholic Priests (AUSCP) in Minneapolis for their annual assembly, and to offer a colloquium on Ministering to Workers in the Wake of COVID. The colloquium featured testimony from two members of UNITE HERE Local 17, the union representing hotel workers in […]
Readers of this newsletter should be familiar with the pandemic-driven crew change crisis that had some 400,000 mariners confined onboard ship for up to a year without relief. As nations shut their borders to prevent the spread of the virus, they disrupted the system by which fresh crews are transported by air to a port […]
In most Catholic Diocesan offices, you’ll find someone – perhaps a priest, more often a Deacon or a member of the laity – responsible for promoting Catholic Social Teaching. These men and women report to the local Bishop and are a critical resource for those doing the work of justice. And there’s a professional association […]