By Mark Pattison for the Catholic Labor Network They came by the hundreds for Mass. That’s fairly typical on a Sunday morning. But a Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m.? It was Workers Memorial Day. Hundreds of union members and apprentices in the construction trades, along with members of other unions and some government officials and […]
More than one million American workers are employed by Catholic hospitals, schools and other institutions. The Bishops’ 1986 pastoral letter Economic Justice for All reminded those managing these institutions that the Church’s social teaching on labor and workers’ rights applies to workers employed by the Church. “On the parish and diocesan level, through its agencies […]
Beginning April 22, Catholic Labor Network member and Arbitrator Michael Loconto will lead an online course on “Hot Topics in Workplace Disputes” through the Boston Labor Guild’s School of Labor-Management Relations. The course will feature ten arbitrators from around the country discussing a wide range of developing issues that are facing employees and employers in […]
By Mark Pattison for the Catholic Labor Network What a wonderful world it would be if Catholic employers lived by their church’s social teaching, and not just on Sundays. For an example of what that would be like, you need look no further than Bazaar, the new Jose Andres Group restaurant residing in the Waldorf […]
By Mark Pattison for the Catholic Labor Network It’s not every day that you see a labor guild of any type, much less one that accepts managers – and even lawyers – as members. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Boston Labor Guild. “The Labor Guild is actually a neutral organization,” says Lisa Field, the Guild’s […]
By Mark Pattison for the Catholic Labor Network Thousands of workers at two dozen hotels in the Los Angeles area won contracts by the end of 2023 as UNITE HERE Local 11 has waged a campaign since April to win improved pay and benefits for union members – but thousands more are still waiting […]
Courtesy of Fr. Sinclair Oubre, CLN Spiritual Moderator On Friday, December 29, 2023, the news spread quickly through the United States Maritime community that one of the elders of maritime labor had died the previous day in St. Louis, Missouri, surrounded by his family, after a short illness. In the wake of Michael Sacco’s passing, […]
One of the things we do at the Catholic Labor Network is monitoring labor relations at Catholic institutions. There’s a reason for this. Church doctrine teaches that workers have the right to organize in unions to engage in collective bargaining, but who’s going to listen to us if Catholic institutions don’t respect that teaching with […]
A guest contribution from CLN Member Prof. Anna Harrison The cry for just employment practices is ringing out on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty went public in November, 2023 with their unionizing effort. And LMU Solidarity/Solidaridad—an umbrella organization of students, staff, and faculty—is pleading with the administration […]
Workers at another Catholic institution have formed a union! At the start of November, a majority of the nurses at Baltimore’s Ascension St. Agnes Hospital voted to join National Nurses United. The nurses were concerned with understaffing at the hospital. Ascension, a Catholic health care chain with hospitals and nursing homes across the country, has […]