Catholic Message Pays Tribute to Labor Union Contributions

Labor unions, resented by totalitarian states and sometimes by corporate managers, are regarded by most historic churches as buttressing the rights and dignity of ordinary workers.

Their entitlement to organize and negotiate contractual standards also have become protected by law in democratic countries.

That point was underlined in the 1989 Labor Day message of the U.S. Catholic Conference. It cited a particularly dramatic modern example--the union-spawned turn to democracy in Poland.

Similar union-backed thrusts for democracy were noted in other long-oppressed lands, sometimes meeting countermeasures. Some anti-union moves also were seen in the United States.

Americans “can now see how trade unions in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia unite and uplift the aspirations for freedom and solidarity of oppressed peoples,” the message said.

Called “Freedom, Justice and the Role of Unions,” the statement pointed up the union-energized dawn of fuller rights in Poland, long under communist oppression, and said:

“All men and women of good will are heartened by the successful struggle of Poland’s workers, whose free, democratic trade union, ‘Solidarnosc’ (Solidarity) has become the instrument of progress, and we hope, liberation. . . .

“Working people in Hungary, in China, in South Africa and in Siberia and the Ukraine are asserting the same social values of human dignity, freedom and solidarity . . . as they work . . . to create the democratic trade unions. . . .”

Christianity and Judaism have special grounds for concern with the labor movement drawn from the Bible and its emphasis on mutual community responsibility for all persons in it, including its lowliest workers.

“We are members one of another,” the apostle Paul wrote, stressing the duty of all to share the burdens and needs of fellow toilers, and also to uphold and celebrate their well-being.

A tentmaker himself, as well as an evangelist, he saw work as honorable and essential, a part of God’s unfolding creation. “We are co-workers with God.” Sloth, termed by the church one of seven deadly sins, also drew Paul’s scorn, “Let him who won’t work not eat.”

Major churches in this century have voiced their support for union organization and collective bargaining to set standards for workers.