Unions, Catholics, and Wisconsin

Many of you may have been following the protests in Wisconsin and other places in the United States. What are they all about? Have the bishops said anything about them?

In fact, the protests in Wisconsin concern, not just wages which unions members said they would take a cut in, but rights to collective bargaining. That is, the legislation that Governor Walker of Wisconsin has proposed to close the gap in the budget not only cuts wages and contributions to pension funds, but also removes workers' rights to collective bargaining. No one thinks that removing collective bargaining rights will help close a budget gap, so many have speculated over why Walker would include that in the legislation.

More importantly, however, the President of the USCCB has come out in support of the legislation as you can read here. I copy part of the letter he wrote below:

"You and our brother bishops in Wisconsin are offering a timely reminder of what the Church teaches on the rights and duties of workers, including the right to form and belong to unions and other associations, and the obligation to address difficult problems with respect for the rights and needs of all. As you insist, 'hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers.'"

What this means for us, as Catholics, is that we too should support the protests. In fact, Catholic Social Teaching, including the right to unionize, forms part of canon law, and all Catholics in good conscience must support such rights.

We can do this by, for instance, joining in marches, just as we would march for the right to life from birth to natural death. A march for solidarity (another principle of Catholic Social Teaching) is taking place in Salem:

Rally to save the
AMERICAN DREAM
Saturday, February 26th
12:00 noon
State Capitol ~ Salem

Please march to support Catholic Social Teaching. Please March to support union members.