Pope asserts labor’s value. Will employers listen?

Bill Knight column for Thursday, Friday or Saturday, Aug. 31, Sept. 1 or 2

When Pope Francis last month received a delegation of people from Italy’s equivalent to the AFL-CIO, he forcefully praised unions.

(One reaction might be: “Of course he did. He knew what they wanted to hear.” But another should be: “Do the people that respect the Holy Father and also happen to be employers listen to him?”)

Talking with people from the Confederation of Trade Unions, the Pontiff honored unions and challenged the labor movement to fulfill a prophetic role in society. It does so, Francis said, when “it gives a voice to those who have none, denounces those who would ‘sell the needy for a pair of sandals’ [as the Bible’s Book of Amos declares], unmasks the powerful who trample the rights of the most vulnerable workers, defends the cause of the foreigner, the least, the discarded."

This Labor Day, we pray that workers are touched by Pope Francis’ faith in us, and that employers start appreciating the dignity of workers and their unions, and engage in self-examination of the so-called “market-economy” system that reduces so much toil into something to be exploited.

Pope Francis encouraged labor to confront “free enterprise,” saying “The capitalism of our time does not understand the value of the trade union, because it has forgotten the social nature of the economy.

“This is one of the greatest sins,” he continued. “ ‘Market economy,’ no. Let us say, ‘Social market economy,’ as St. John Paul II taught. The economy has forgotten the social nature that it has as a vocation, the social nature of business, of life, of bonds and pacts.”

Despite some conservatives’ criticism of the Pope, he’s less an outlier than a leader whose observations are consistent with decades – centuries – of social-justice teachings.

The Catholic Church has a long, strong history on workers’ rights to collectively bargain with employers, form unions, be paid a just wage, and work in safety on the job.

Today, unionists, activist clergy and the conscientious faithful are called to face not only longstanding subjects such as wages, hours and working conditions, but disputes about wage theft, income inequality, unfair scheduling, union busting and employers that violate labor laws with few consequences.

Labor should acknowledge that others see value in unions, too, from a good shop steward or a single pastor preaching social justice, to employers who come from progressive or pragmatic perspectives or institutions with power, whether the International Labour Organization or the Catholic Church.

“Since the end of the Civil War, unions have been an important part of our economy because they provide protections for workers and, more importantly, a way for workers to participate in company decisions that affect them,” according to Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Chair on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

“Unions, like all human institutions, are imperfect,” Blaire added, “and they must continue to reform themselves so they stay focused on the important issues of living wages and appropriate benefits, raising the minimum wage, stopping wage theft, standing up for safe and healthy working conditions, and other issues that promote the common good.”

Leading up to Labor Day 2017, Pope Francis urged the labor movement to represent its members and also workers who haven’t yet organized.

“The union, too, must keep vigil over the walls of the city of work, like a watchman who guards and protects those who are inside the city of labor, but also guarding and protecting those who are outside the walls,” he said. “The union does not carry out its essential function of social innovation if it watches over only those who are inside, if it protects the rights only of those who already work or who are retired. This must be done, but it is half of your work. Your vocation is also to protect those who do not yet have rights, those excluded from work who are also excluded from rights and democracy.”

This Labor Day and thereafter, let us pray for the faith to do that, and for employers to work with labor.

[PICTURED: Photo of Pope Francis visiting a steel plant in Italy from genova.repubblica.it]