courtesy of Mark Piper Winters in Wisconsin are cold, but on one particular evening it wasn’t just frigid but bleak for the employees of the Allen-Edmonds shoe factory in Belgium, WI. In January 1984, an Allen-Edmonds shoe factory went up in flames — a total loss. It appeared that the non-union 250 employees would be […]
As a matter of Virginia law, cities and counties in the Old Dominion have the option to recognize unions of their employees and engage in collective bargaining with them. As a matter of Catholic Social Teaching, however, the right of workers to join unions is a natural right. That’s why the Catholic Labor Network is […]
On New Year’s Day, Pope Francis released his message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace. In an interesting twist, the Holy Father listed labor or work alongside dialogue and education as a tool for peacebuilding. Why labor? Labour is an indispensable factor in building and keeping peace. It is an expression of […]
“People Are # 1 ” is a book about the 81-day strike by thousands of Union grocery store workers in the Puget Sound Area of Washington State in 1989. It was a fight against corporate greed. The workers won because they had the support of other unions, churches, community organizations, and consumers. It was SOLIDARITY […]
The work of harvesting tobacco is difficult and dangerous, and is largely performed by immigrant “guest” workers. They have turned to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) to seek improvement in their conditions, but growers in North Carolina and surrounding states have largely thwarted their organizing efforts to date. That’s why a faith leader delegation […]
In December, the Catholic Labor Network joined Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) to host a listening session where displaced workers from Hollywood’s famed Chateau Marmont Hotel testified to long mistreatment on the job before being abruptly fired at the start of the pandemic. The workers, Alex Roldan and Martha Moran, spoke before […]
Courtesy of Aimee Shelide Mayer Covid disrupted all of our lives, but it has not stopped the Central Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, the area Building Trades Unions, and the Catholic Labor Network from continuing to offer the two-week apprenticeship readiness program known locally as Music City Construction Careers (MC3). Since the onset […]
A guest contribution from CLN Member John Murphy This morning, before heading into work, Kingspan workers held a candlelight vigil in solidarity with thousands marching silently in London today on the 4 1/2 year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower Fire. At 4:30am, in the rain, we huddled under tents, holding tealight candles- the volunteer organizing […]
Follows workshops at St. Benedict the African, St. Oscar Romero In 2021, the Catholic Labor Network partnered with Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) to conduct a series of worker’s rights workshops rooted in Catholic doctrine – starting in Catholic parishes and culminating in a program for members of UNITE HERE Local 1 in […]
guest contribution from Jeffry Korgen of the Dorothy Day Guild Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, was a friend to workers throughout the 20th Century. Her promotion of worker justice extended from the IWW back in the early 20th Century, to her efforts, after her conversion to Catholicism, to promote Church support of […]