Editorial: Michigan's Right to Work Legislation Signed into Law. Class Warfare Fueled

12/13/2012

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should be union-members, they must be capable of self-regulation and be able to evaluate the consequences that their decisions will have on the common good."

Ironically, some on the political right who have an animus against unions welcomed the role they played in bringing down the tyranny of collectivism under the Communist tyrants who once ruled Poland. Together with all justice and freedom loving people they hailed the role of the Polish Trade Union named Solidarity and the leadership of that great Union Leader named Lech Walesa. He responded to the hour, informed by his Catholic faith, and courageously stood for the dignity of the Polish worker.

However, some Union leaders in the United States of America are a far cry from Poland's Solidarity Union. They also seem to be almost a polar opposite of Lech Walesa. They are too often controlled by the ideology of some on political left who seem more interested in fostering collectivism than protecting freedom and expanding participation. They also have little respect for the rights of the worker to make their own choice of association.

We live in an age that has lost sight of the true dignity of work - because we have lost sight of the dignity of the human worker. This loss is one more bad fruit of the rupture which was wrought by sin. In the industrial age, men and women were often reduced to mere instruments in a society that emphasized productivity over the dignity of the human person, the worker. Trade unions helped to protect that dignity and promote the basic human rights of the worker.

The technological age promised something different, but has failed to deliver on the promise. Too often, men and women are still viewed as instruments and objects rather than persons and gifts. Even Science, a great gift meant to be placed at the service of the human person, human flourishing, the family and the common good, has often promoted a view of the human person as an object to be experimented on and disposed of at will. This fundamental error is the root of the contemporary culture of death and use.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church issues a challenge which must be taken up in this hour, "Given the changes that have taken place in the world of work, solidarity can be recovered, and perhaps with a firmer foundation in respect to the past, if the effort is made to rediscover the subjective value of work".

Catholics need to examine the events unfolding in Michigan in light of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. We should not succumb to those who want to place us in any of the politically charged camps. To again quote the Compendium, "there is a need for ever new movements of solidarity of the workers - and with the workers".

In an age when collectivism is growing - from the federal government on downward - we need to form and encourage new mediating associations from the ground up. They are an alternative form of governance and we will need them for protection if the trends continue. That includes forming true trade unions which fit the day in which we live and are not carryovers from a bygone era led by Big Labor Bosses with a political agenda.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: labir unions, trade unions, right to work, Michigan, solidarity, collectivism, human dignity, Governor Rick Snyder,

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1 - 10 of 24 Comments

David
4 months ago
fire...It is truely sad that you have such disdain and disrespect for a Bishop of the Church or for that matter the other Bishops that were in solidarity with him, no matter his or their thoughts and feelings on the topic...
American Firefighter
4 months ago
David, is this the same infallible bishop Gumbleton that is committed to a foux pax that B16 recently spoke of? Is this the same bishop that is not in solidarity with his own union boss? The key to it all, David is on the shoulders of his union boss. Listen and learn about true solidarity from him. You are only fooling yourself, and bringing others along for the ride.
David
5 months ago
firefighter, Grey and the rest of you, I read the opinion page in the Grand Rapids Press. In it was an opionion by a retired bishop from the Archdiocese of Detroit about RTW, read on... Oh and Grey, why is it so hard for you to think that I won't pray for you and the others?BY BISHOP THOMAS GUMBLETON

“We firmly oppose organized efforts, such as those regrettably now seen in this country, to break existing unions and prevent workers for organizing.”

My brother bishops and I wrote that more than a quarter-century ago in our 1986 letter "Economic Justice for All." Regrettably, it rings true still today.

The right-to-work legislation that was passed by the House and the Senate in Michigan just this month is designed to break unions. It is designed to prevent workers from organizing. And we must oppose it as firmly as we did during the 1980s.

As Catholics, we believe that if the dignity of work is to remain protected, then the basic rights of workers must be protected -- fair wages, freedom from discrimination and the right to organize and join unions. We believe in justice. We believe in the common good.

Right-to-work laws go against everything we believe.

.Economists tell us that right-to-work laws devastate economic justice. They lower wages for all workers. They lessen benefits for all workers. They increase poverty for all people.

Workers tell us that these laws decrease cooperation, collaboration, love and solidarity.

This legislation should not just offend Catholics, but all Christians and members of all faith traditions. At the core of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and all great religions are the values of dignity and respect, values from which economic justice and the right to organize can never be separated.

Gov. Rick Snyder’s Presbyterian tradition “affirms the rights of labor organization and collective bargaining as minimum demands of justice.” Similar statements have been made by the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, to name but a few.

However, we do not need statements from on high to understand what we know to be true on the ground. Right-to-work laws do not help the least among us. Rather, they profit those who already hold more power and wealth than is their fair share. They foster extreme inequality, inequality that can only lead to extreme disparities and extreme division.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet proclaims, “Woe to those who make unjust laws.” Indeed, woe to those in the Michigan state legislature who voted in favor of these laws. Woe to Gov. Snyder whose pen is at the ready to sign these bills.

Just as Catholic bishops united in 1986 to speak against organized efforts to break unions, it is now time for Michigan citizens of all faiths to unite against an unjust law, passed in great haste, which will do great damage to our state. Each of us must take responsibility for speaking out and taking action to prevent a terrible injustice from occurring in Michigan.

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is a retired auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.
judy claar
5 months ago
WoW! This board indeed is a place for public opinion! Stephanie, American Firefighter, Bob, Larry, to name a few. My thoughts are out there with you. I certainly have not hooked up with the borg as yet! Nor does this Independent voter's Catholic Social Justice thinking intend too either! Blessings...
Debbie
5 months ago
The actions of union leaders and workers in MI and WI for that matter are beyond acceptable. Destruction of property, assaulting those with opposing views, and verbal threats of, "Civil War", are the actions of thugs.

No wonder people want to opt out of paying union dues. I would not want my money going to support such behavior.
Robert Toy
5 months ago
My Friends,
This struggle, unfortunately, is not about workers freedom of associations. Nor is it about anti-union legislation. This is about one thing: Money and you my friends are being played. States like this law because it lessens the big internationals grip on labor. Open shop states are more cost effective. Ergo businesses like to relocate to these states since they are more profitable. More profitable companies tend to pay their workers more just to keep unions out. For both of these reasons states tax revenues climb. Unions hate it because union dues are the only real source( at least on the surface) of revenue they have. And money has a way of becoming personal which is why you see outside union activities usually bused in from any where in the country. The bottom line is if unions are an attractive proposition to the workers, the workers will gladly join. From the looks of it unions act they don't have very strong case.
vance
5 months ago
This is long overdue. The Marxist Democrat Party has received Billions of dollars from dues money to finance their campaigns and elections. This has been a 'Money Laundering' racket. Time to end it.
starzec
5 months ago
The bible talks about a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. How does a Catholic and Catholic Online ignore that?? "Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven" (Colossians 4:1). "A worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due" (Romans 4:4). "Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire. You have stored up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.(James 5:1-4)

AMarek, the unions did not pick up the steel industry and move it overseas. The unions did not pick up the other factory jobs and move them overseas. The unions did not destroy the auto industry; in fact American Auto industry is doing quite well. You want to blame unions but the middle class in this country grew from the 1930's to 1980 and why? Unions provided families the means to escape the cities into the suburbs by making sure dad had decent salary so he could afford the house with the white picket fence and the new Edsel. Unless you built your own home, most likely a union carpenter and union electrician worked on it. Your streets were built by union workers. The car you are driving, even the gas it uses produced by a union worker. If you that anti union, take a stab at using something not made by a union worker.
Stephanie
5 months ago
Unions used to be great things 100 years ago because they would protect workers' rights. Now we have laws against unsafe work conditions, minimum wage requirements, employers are required to pay on time, child labor laws, etc. Unions are no longer needed because we have reformed our legal system.

The real reason they're upset is because that means no more free money for the Democratic Party. People are required to join unions as a condition of being hired and then the unions use the dues to donate to far-left causes. Now if you look at the last election, 30% of America voted for Obama, 29% voted for Romney, and 40% disliked both candidates and parties so much that they did not vote at all. Time to stop the theft donating to causes that only 30% of the people support. Now I can understand a blue state where 60% of the votes went to Obama. But I heard that (in California) 98% of union dues go to the Democratic Party. Obama did not get 98% of the vote, and the 60% that went to Obama doesn't count the people who didn't vote at all.
KarlVDH
5 months ago
...how come they only throw around the phrase, "Class Warfare" when the working class starts standing up for itself?

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