So reads the title of a recent article in AMerica Magazine. “when people think of issues on which the Catholic Church is providing leadership in society, labor is not the first that comes to mind.”While Catholics in general care about the low-wage workers, many, like others in American society, are less clear about the role of organized labor in helping these workers. In the last few decades, the percentage of workers represented by labor unions has tumbled from about one-third of the workforce to about one-tenth. Fewer native-born Catholics have much experience with labor, and some are downright hostile.
And yet Catholic social teaching on work and labor remains clear. The Web site of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops lists some key ideas from recent church teaching. They include:
• The economy exists for the person, not the person for the economy.
• A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring.
• All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working conditions, as well as to organize and join unions or other associations.
The teaching is clear—both about work and about unions.
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The current editorial notes…
Abusive labor practices continue to plague workers here and around the world—a circumstance that should give pause to those fortunate enough to earn comfortable incomes for themselves and their families. For many it may come as a surprise that even here in the United States, worker exploitation is pervasive. Wal-Mart, the country’s largest retailer, offers a case in point. Among other issues, it has been cited for child labor law violations in two dozen stores nationally. After a federal investigation of such issues in Connecticut, Arkansas and New Hampshire, the giant corporation was fined $135,540—a sum child advocacy groups derided as paltry.
