Clergy’s Role in USC Dispute

In his Sept. 13 commentary, the Rev. William Messenger writes, “The role of religion in the advancement of justice cannot be overstated.” In this spirit, 135 religious leaders of numerous faiths and denominations signed the David and Goliath statement calling on the University of Southern California (an economic Goliath in a city of worker Davids) to abandon its efforts to erode secure living-wage jobs.

As one of the signers, I must state that we are not “pawns of selective rhetoric.” Rather, we are aware that USC provides decent wages and excellent benefits. For many of our parishioners and their families, a good USC job means the difference between poverty and stability, between sickness and health care, between fear and the possibility of a secure life for their families.

We fear that the university will subcontract away these jobs without a guarantee that the same workers may continue in them, leaving workers and their families with nothing. After seeing USC subcontract its entire janitorial staff, we can only see the university’s refusal to offer this guarantee as a threat to subcontract, no matter what its expressed intentions. We do not wish to demonize USC. We wish it to live up to the honor, “the Best College for You”--whether “you” study in its libraries or prepare its students’ meals.

SISTER DIANE DONOGHUE

Exec. Dir., Esperanza Community

Housing Corp., Los Angeles

* As a Catholic and faculty member, I am disappointed by Messenger’s comments on the labor crisis at USC. Messenger states that church teaching consistently recognizes workers’ right to organize but does not insist on specific contract provisions.

What Messenger fails to understand is that subcontracting is just the latest in a series of tactics by which organized capital seeks to outmaneuver organized labor. A contract doesn’t mean very much if one side (in this case the university) reserves the right to change the rules by subcontracting out jobs during the period covered by the contract. In a struggle between institutional “flexibility” and the human rights of workers, it’s clear to me that Catholic social teaching requires its followers to be on the side of the latter.

THOMAS HABINEK

Professor of Classics, USC