Social Doctrine

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The Working Catholic: Social Doctrine
By Bill Droel

Modern Catholic social doctrine is officially 130-years old. It dates from Pope Leo XIII’s May 1891 encyclical, On the Condition of Labor. Subsequent popes (as will be mentioned) advance social doctrine, often on anniversaries of On the Condition of Labor.
Doctrines are derived from reflection on the accumulated experience of Christians in many societies and from an application of reason or science, particularly the social sciences. Doctrines are in harmony with God’s revealed Scripture. Dogma, by contrast, comes to us directly from revelation; it cannot be figured out only through study of nature. The dogma of the Trinity, for example, fits an understanding of nature but God had to reveal the Trinity to us. Dogma is not irrational; it is not opposed to science. It is true but not empirical, like a spouse’s love.
Western Europe in the time of Leo XIII (1810-1903) was experiencing industrialization which in turn attracted thousands of families to urban centers. This industrial era held forth many promises including a higher standard of living and conveniences. However, Leo XIII among others saw that industry and urban life came with a paradox: degrading working conditions and great poverty amid concentrated wealth. The Communist Manifesto of 1848 addressed the paradox and named a resolution: proletariat revolution. Leo XIII countered Marxism with Christian principles.
The bedrock principle of Catholic social doctrine is the intrinsic dignity of each person. Humanists all agree that modern individuals are free and can exercise appropriate agency. Jews, Christians and Muslims know that this truth is additionally supported in Scripture; that each person is created in the image and likeness of God. (Genesis 1:27 & Qur’an 17:70)
The modifier intrinsic is important because the term dignity is sometimes used carelessly. Intrinsic means built-in. For example, a husband does not give his wife dignity. She has it long before they meet. An employer does not give employees dignity. It comes with them in the morning and stays with them after they punch the clock. God put dignity into each person.
A negligent husband or an exploitative boss can, of course, degrade a person’s dignity. Thus an obligation to improve degrading situations follows from the principle of basic dignity. To that end On the Condition of Labor advocates for safe and humane working conditions, for a family wage and for the right of workers to collectively bargain. To achieve these and other improvements, Leo XIII says government’s role includes restraint on laissez-faire capitalism.
A subsequent column will discuss other social encyclicals—specifically St. John Paul II’s On Human Work on its 40th anniversary and the recent encyclicals of Pope Francis, one on inequality/environment and one on public friendship.
Officialdom uses the term Catholic social teaching for these encyclicals and a few other Church documents. I prefer the term Catholic social thought and action. This includes the official teaching but it also includes reflection on the teaching and its implementation in worldly settings. Doctrine is principles that tell us what to do. But, they have to be applied with prudence. As the principles hit the streets or corridors, right-minded people can disagree on the how to implement the doctrine in fluid situations. Here’s one small example: Catholic social doctrine says employees have a right to bargain collectively without the maternal or paternal meddling of their boss. The application, however, is more complex. Do we necessarily want a union at this workplace? If so, do we want this union or a different union or an independent union of our own making? If we do not want a union, what is our alternative mechanism for improving conditions at our workplace? Sincere employees can respectfully disagree with one another. This example becomes more complex if unfortunately the employer violates the starting principle or skirts the law. To be continued…

Obtain Droel’s booklet Catholic Administrators and Labor Unions from National Center for the Laity (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629; $1.50).

Tell Your Senator to Step Up for Pregnant Workers

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In 2018 I reported on a shocking story in the New York Times. It appeared that a number of pregnant women working in a logistics shipping center had miscarried. One of the women, in pain from heavy lifting, had asked to leave work early – and her supervisor advised her to get an abortion.

As Catholics we believe in the dignity of work, but we also believe that life and family need to be protected from excessive demands in the workplace. That’s why I am asking you to write your Senators today in support of the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act (PWFA). The Act is simple, and modeled on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It directs employers of pregnant women to make reasonable accommodations for these workers on the job – things like light duty for women in the late stages of pregnancy when available.

This legislation is pro-life, pro-family and pro-worker justice. It recently passed the House of Representatives on a solid bipartisan majority vote of 315-101, but a surprising number of Senators are not aware of it yet.

You can make a difference. Click the link below to contact your Senator right now and send them a message: Vote yes for the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act!

TAKE ACTION

Washington Farmworkers Win Overtime Pay

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Everyone knows that you are supposed to be paid time and a half if you work more than 40 hours a week. That’s been part of American labor law since the US Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 – at least for MOST workers. In a sad exception, the authors of FLSA excluded a few groups of workers from its protections – and farmworkers were one of them.

That’s right, some of the hardest working men and women in America, the ones who pick our fruits and vegetables, are not entitled to overtime pay under federal law. That leaves states to pick up the slack and ensure that farmworkers get a fair shake.

Responding to calls from labor and faith activists – and a state Supreme Court ruling that targeted the unfair exemption – Washington state legislators have taken action to extend overtime wage protections to farmworkers. Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill at a United Food and Commercial Workers’ union hall in Yakima in mid-May.

This makes Washington the third American state to pass a law granting overtime for farmworkers; New York and California already had such a law. That leaves Oregon the only state on the West Coast that has not taken action. Oregon legislators currently are considering a bill that would do the same.

St Rose of Lima Catholic School Teachers Vote Union Yes

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On May 13, 2021, full-time and part-time teachers and teachers’ aides at St. Rose of Lima School in Freehold, New Jersey (Diocese of Trenton) voted overwhelmingly for Union representation.  They are the newest affiliate of the National Association of Catholic School Teachers. With the pandemic on, the teachers and aides were organized on Zoom. Negotiations for their first union contract are set to open in early June.

Solidarity with Seafarers Campaign

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The Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking (CCOAHT) campaigns against forced labor at sea, and this year is focused on the crew change crisis driven by the pandemic. CCOAHT – together with Stella Maris and the Apostleship of the Sea USA – are urging people of faith to leverage their voices as consumers to uphold the safety and labor rights of one of the world’s most invisible group of essential workers. Across the world, many mariners have been stuck on board ship for a year or more because some nations fearing the pandemic won’t let them disembark to change crews. Navigating the system of rules and regulations for crew change can delay ships, and the “charterers” who have hired the ships won’t tolerate delays.

Wal-Mart is one of the biggest such charterers. Will you sign a petition to Wal-Mart urging them to take responsibility for this part of their supply chain? CLICK HERE to express solidarity with seafarers!

Want to do more? Check out this resource packet. It contains an evening prayer service, bulletin inserts, and intercessory prayers.

The Shipping Industry and America’s Maritime Unions

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The recent accident in the Suez canal drew attention to an industry most people don’t think much about – the shipping industry. Even though some 90% of the world’s products and commodities arrive by sea, and tens of thousands of Americans are employed on board a variety of oceangoing and inland vessels, few of us know much about working conditions in the sector.

Much international freight traffic has fled the developed world, with ships flying “flags of convenience” and staffed by poorly treated crews recruited in the global South. However, the US recognizes a vital national security interest in maintaining a sizable merchant marine to service the military in case of war, and relying on Cargo Preference, the Jones Act and the Maritime Security Program, America maintains a fleet of nearly 200 oceangoing vessels. The US Merchant Marine also assists with relief in natural disasters and carries life-saving food to famine-stricken areas through the Food for Peace program.

These, along with the port vessels, barges and ferries that operate within the United States, employ mariners represented by a variety of unions – including the Seafarers’ International Union (SIU), the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific (SUP), the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA), the American Maritime Officers (AMO), and the Masters, Mates and Pilots (MMP).

Perhaps the biggest difference between the life and work of a mariner and a worker on land is the work schedule. Mariners put to sea for months at a time and work long hours while there. “It’s a solitary life,” says Lisa Rosenthal of the MMP. “You can’t come and go as you please as you would from an office onshore.” Mariners on board ship are likely to be on duty 60 or 70 hours per week. However, in between these tours of duty they can spend significant uninterrupted periods with their families. “When you’re home, you’re home,” adds Jordan Biscardo of the SIU. “Our members brag about escorting their children’s classes on field trips and things like that.”

To enter the trade usually means enrolling in one of the nation’s several maritime academies. A college degree is not required; several hundred apprentices enroll each year. “It’s a good career in this job market,” explains AMO’s Matt Burke. “You earn a family-supporting wage from the start and have great pay and benefits.” Depending on the job classification and number of days of service, it’s quite possible to pull down a six-figure salary, along with employer-paid health care and a pension. “And it’s a good way to serve your country,” Burke adds – merchant mariners see themselves as the fourth arm of the country’s defense.

America’s maritime unions work closely with the unionized domestic ship operators, who share their interest in preserving a US-flagged fleet.

The pandemic has been a special crisis for maritime workers. Ships are always on the move, and typically when a crew member’s term of service ends he or she will disembark in the next port and fly home; their relief will be waiting on the dock. But as covid spread, a growing number of countries refused to let crew members disembark for fear of importing an infection. Fatigued crew members remained on duty for 8, 10, 12 months at a time, adding to the risk of accident and injury. (Even in the best of times, work at sea is among the most dangerous jobs available.)

Catholic Labor Network Spiritual Moderator Fr. Sinclair Oubre is a member of the SIU in Port Arthur, TX, who leads Stella Maris, the Catholic ministry to mariners and people of the sea in the Diocese of Beaumont.

“We are willing to talk anytime, but we will not negotiate”

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What a workplace is like when you don’t have a union

Why do workers need unions? Ask the faculty at John Carroll University. According to Inside Higher Ed, “John Carroll now says it can fire individual tenured faculty members without cause in cases of ‘budgetary hardship.’” Faculty members object that this obviates tenure altogether; after all, if these decisions are not susceptible to appeal, what’s to stop administrators from firing tenured faculty for any reason whatsoever and citing “budgetary hardship”? Faculty Council leaders acknowledge that the university faces budgetary hardship after the pandemic and some say they’d rather trade economic concessions for job security. They report that they approached administrators seeking to discuss the terms, but were told, “We’ll talk anytime about the changes – but we will not negotiate.”

Under the National Labor Relations Act, if workers vote for union representation, their employer is legally obliged to bargain with them. Unfortunately the NLRA does not cover tenured faculty, who are considered management for the purpose of the law. Without a union, your rights are dependent on the goodwill of your employer.

Online Event: Rerum Novarum at 130

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This month marks the 130th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, the foundational text of modern Catholic Social Teaching. After careful study of the industrial era economy and its impact on workers, in light of the Good News, Pope Leo XIII shared his new encyclical letter with the world on May 15, 1891. The document made the right of workers to organize in unions an official element of Catholic social doctrine – a right that was not protected in US law until more than forty years later!

The Catholic Labor Network will mark this anniversary with a special online presentation. Professor Gerry Beyer of Villanova University will discuss Rerum Novarum and the rights of workers in Catholic Social Teaching. Afterward Catholic Labor Network board member Chuck Hendricks of UNITE HERE will reflect on his experience as a young worker trying to organize in the United States, illustrating just how far we have to go to realize Pope Leo’s vision. Join us at 2pm ET on May 12 for this event!

CLICK TO REGISTER

Federal Contract Workers Win Fight for $15

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Governments exist to serve the common good, not to make a profit. Our federal government can serve the common good by passing legislation, such as increasing the minimum wage, but can also do so by acting as a model employer. That’s what President Joe Biden accomplished the other day with an executive order: henceforth, firms that bid for federal contracts must commit to pay every worker at least $15 per hour.

The right to a living wage is one of the earliest and most basic premises of modern Catholic Social Teaching. Pope Leo XIII, in Rerum Novarum (1891), explicitly noted that every worker deserves a wage sufficient to support him or herself – and that if the labor market did not deliver this, society had to step in and make sure it happens.

The federal minimum wage remains stuck at $7.25 per hour, a measly $15K per year for a full-time employee. That’s not enough to support a worker and his or her family in ANY state in the country. Worker justice advocates have called for legislation phasing in a $15 per hour minimum wage. Legislation to do so has passed the House but fell short in the Senate where a minority of opponents can block a proposal using the filibuster.

Uncle Sam is the nation’s largest employer, and it’s been estimated that at any given time, three or four million US workers are employed by federal contractors. The president’s executive order ensures that going forward, all of these workers receive a just (if modest) wage of at least $15 per hour. The White House doesn’t even think it will be a net cost; after all, better wages for the lowest-income workers reduce turnover and increase productivity, which will mitigate any increased cost of contract acquisition. But even if we need to pay a bit more as taxpayers it’s the right thing to do.

And the Catholic Labor Network will continue to advocate for an increase in the minimum wage to guarantee a living wage to ALL workers.

Hotel Workers Win Right to Recall in California

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700,000 Hospitality workers throughout the state of California have just won the right to return to work by seniority following massive pandemic layoffs!

With Gov. Newsom’s signature on SB 93 (previously AB 3216), hospitality workers can now rest assured that owners won’t be permitted to take advantage of the pandemic by replacing longtime loyal employees with newer, cheaper labor. This applies to ALL hospitality workers in the state, not just union workers!

Hospitality workers from UNITE HERE Local 11, along with many in the Jesuits West community, spent the last year inviting Jesuit-educated Gov. Newsom and the legislature to hear the cries of these incredible workers! He initially vetoed the bill last fall (when it was called AB 3216), but after continued pressure through the winter came around and signed the new form of the bill (SB 93) into law today, effective immediately.

 

In faith and solidarity,

Hannah Peterson                                                        Fr. Ike Udoh, SJ

UNITE HERE Local 11                                               Interim Administrator

(323) 528-5008                                                           Blessed Sacrament, Hollywood