Church defends, honors work and organized labor

 Bill Knight column for 9-2, 3 or 4, 2021

Like most people of faith, I believe God wants us to love each other.

Like some, I think He also wants us to expect that, even insist on it.

This Labor Day, I’m comforted by documents from my faith traditions that assert the dignity of labor, whether work itself or union members.

            Last year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a pastoral guide, “Faithful Citizenship,” which stated, “If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers, owners and others must be respected – the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and choose to join a union, to economic initiative, and to ownership and private property.”

            Such principles are as old as the Gospel and the Church, and Catholic social teachings on workers’ rights have been clear and consistent for a century.

            This year, Pope Francis addressed the International Labor Organization and tied workers’ rights to an understanding of humanity, seeing a prominent place for organized labor: “In our haste to return to greater economic activity, let us avoid the past fixations on profit, isolation and nationalism, blind consumerism and denial of the clear evidence that signals discrimination against our ‘throwaway’ brothers and sisters. Let us look for solutions that will help us build a new future of work based on decent and dignified working conditions, that originate in collective negotiation, and that promote the common good. That is what it is about: being human.”

            Seven key church documents address labor:

“Rerum Novarum,” 1891. This encyclical letter by Pope Leo XIII called on the faithful to “save unfortunate working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use human beings as mere instruments for money-making.” Leo argued that workers’ right to a living wage took precedence over the free market.

“Quadragesimo Anno,” 1931. On the 40th anniversary of “Rerum Novarum,” Pope Pius XI reaffirmed its teachings.

“Gaudium Et Spes,” 1965. The Second Vatican Council declared that the right to form labor unions is a human right. “Among the basic rights of the human person is the right of freely founding unions for working people … without risk of reprisal.”

“Laborem Exercens,” 1981. Pope John Paul II in this encyclical features a section, “The Importance of Unions,” saying, “Workers should be assured the right to strike, without being subjected to … sanctions for taking part.”

“Economic Justice for All,” 1986. U.S. Catholic Bishops’ pastoral letter defended the right to organize. “The Church fully supports the right of workers to form unions or other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions. We firmly oppose organized efforts, such as those regrettably now seen in this country, to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing.”

“Centesimus Annus,” 1991. St. John Paul II’s encyclical endorsed states as agents of justice for the poor and for human rights, especially wage-earners, including the right to form labor unions.

“Caritas in Veritate,” 2009. In Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical, the Pontiff said, “Through the combination of social and economic change, trade-union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers, partly because governments often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labor unions. 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 therefore be honored today even more than in the past.”

 

            This holiday weekend, as we fire up our grills and honor everyday working people and “essential workers” during the pandemic, it seems appropriate to say grace with the following prayer, issued by the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development last year:

“Lord God, Master of the Vineyard, how wonderful that you have invited us who labor by the sweat of our brow to be workers in the vineyard and assist your work to shape the world around us.

“As we seek to respond to this call, make us attentive to those who seek work but cannot find it.

“Help us listen to the struggles of those who work hard to provide for their families but still have trouble making ends meet.

“Open our eyes to the struggles of those exploited and help us speak for just wages and safe conditions, the freedom to organize, and time for renewal. For work was made for humankind and not humankind for work. Let it not be a vehicle for exploitation but a radiant expression of our human dignity.

“Give all who labor listening hearts that we may pause from our work to receive your gift of rest.

“Fill us with your Holy Spirit that you might work through us to let your justice reign.

“Amen.”