Every year around this time, the USCCB issues a letter reflecting on labor and work, looking at current challenges through the eye of faith. This year, Archbishop Wenski of Miami (chair of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development) reflects on the global economic forces burdening the worker and the family. The Archbishop […]
When the US Catholic Bishops invoke the rich history of Catholic social teaching to defend the rights of labor, all of the faithful can learn from their words. When Catholic hospitals, schools and universities respect workers’ right to organize, the faithful can learn from their actions. Today the Catholic Labor Network is pleased to release […]
Very soon – in time for Labor Day – the Catholic Labor Network will release its 2016 “Gaudium et Spes” Labor Report. The report, compiled from public information and reports by our members and friends, will list all the Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, schools, colleges, universities, and other institutional employers who bargain with unions representing […]
Contract Ratified in Spokane, Strike Brewing in Buffalo At Providence Health, a Catholic Hospital system embracing 34 hospitals in the Northwestern United States, many nurses and other health care employees have union representation. Even when both labor and management exhibit mutual respect, bargaining a contract is not always easy – but it’s often edifying and […]
Who are the “sea slaves?” They’re maritime workers duped into service onboard ship under false pretenses. Apparently common in the fishing industry, the employer will extend promises of good wages and working conditions and a limited term of service – promises that evaporate once the vessel hits international waters. And because these ships are serviced […]
Two apparently unrelated demographic stories caught my eye in recent weeks — because they both described the declining place of labor in modern America. Out of Georgetown came a study showing that high-school graduates have been virtually locked out of the economic recovery. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control reported on suicide rates by occupational […]
The election – with both major party candidates expressing a critique of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) — has our friend Michael Sean Winters over at the National Catholic Reporter thinking about trade and the global economy. Winters recently attended “Trading Up,” a conference at the AFL-CIO exploring how the global trade system affects workers, […]
In 1975, the Labor Department made a far-reaching decision – home care workers who assist the elderly and disabled with basic tasks were “companions” exempt from the minimum wage laws, much as babysitters were. With the aging of our society, the ranks of home care workers rapidly grew. Moreover, a job category that was once […]
“The repeated calls issued within the Church’s social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers’ associations that can defend their rights must be honoured today even more than in the past,” observed Pope Benedict XVI in Caritas in Veritate. Administrators at St. Martin’s University in Washington state aren’t so sure. Contingent faculty […]
A year-long contract dispute at Buffalo’s Catholic Health system may be heading for a strike. Nurses and other employees at the system’s St. Joseph Hospital have been bargaining since their contract expired last summer; now the contract has also expired at the system’s Mercy Hospital property. Among the key issues: the nurses are calling for […]