Racism and labor organizing

Sometimes we hear news that surprises us, and sometimes the reactions that we get when we share that news surprises us even more.  This story is in the latter category. 

After getting my second COVID vaccination this year, I drove to North Carolina to help my daughter and her family as she recovered from knee surgery. On the second day of the drive, I happened to be flipping through radio stations when I caught part of an interview with someone about the upcoming vote to unionize an Amazon plant in Alabama. I heard just a brief part of the interview with a white worker who was saying that while he liked the idea of a union, he would never vote for something that increased the salary of a black person.

I was not surprised by the comment because I spent the early part of my career in a rural part of Indiana, not far from what was called a “sundown town,” i.e., a town where black people were not allowed after dark. And because the big story while I was there was an attempt to desegregate schools, other white people were not shy about sharing their opposition to blacks and whites intermingling.

However, that did not prepare me for the reaction I got from some local white Catholics when I shared the comments with members of a local Facebook message group that tilts strongly to the right side of the political spectrum.

The first response asked for a transcript of the interview I had heard. Before I could reply, a second responder stated simply, “That story is [BS] @WalterAyres. Post that interview.”

Other replies came in quick order. “@Walter Ayres – so you think the majority of the Amazon workers in Alabama are racists. Disgusting.. . .” [For the record, I never said or implied that the majority of Amazon workers in Alabama are racists.] 

One even included this in his response, “A Deacon lying is not good for the Church.”

Things calmed down after I reiterated that I was sharing just one comment I heard on a radio station which I happened to discover while on a long drive, and which I could not identify, although the person who called me a liar would later write, “You need to be put through a reeducation camp.”

I still have not been able to find what station aired the interview, but I did locate a book with an entire chapter dedicated to issues of race and unions. The name of the book is The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee. It was published this year.

McGhee writes about how increasing wages might allow union members to move into a nicer neighborhood. While that sounds like a good idea, it means that both white and black workers could move into nicer neighborhoods, allowing them to live together. Apparently, for some people, it is better to be poor in an all-white neighborhood than middle-class an integrated one.

She also interviewed workers at a Nissan plant in Mississippi and describes how jobs at the plant get whiter as the pay increases and the work gets less backbreaking. If workers voted for a union, promotions would not be based on race, meaning that blacks could get some of those cushier jobs and whites would be supervised by black people.

Finally, she noted a long-standing attitude on the south, which is, ”If the blacks are for it, I’m against it.”

The lesson here is that there are Catholics (and others) who do not believe that racism is a problem. For them, the bigger problem is the people who talk about it. This is one of the challenges we face as we discuss the pastoral letter on racism from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Open Wide Our Hearts.

This is not a problem that can be solved overnight. Nevertheless, it is one that we need to address. The refusal of some whites to recognize the existence of racial prejudice hinders our efforts to overcome racism. A good place to start examining racial prejudice is with this virtual exhibit from the Diocese of Green Bay.  The exhibit features photos of Catholics from various racial and ethnic backgrounds alongside written narratives that document what life in the church of the Diocese of Green Bay has been like for them as a people of color. While the exhibit is focused on one diocese, I believe the experiences are relevant nationwide.

I will post additional resources on coming days.

Bishops' Labor Day Statement

Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued their annual Labor Day statement which said, in part:

This year Pope Francis canonized Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II. Both made immense contributions to the social teaching of the Church on the dignity of labor and its importance to human flourishing. St. John Paul II called work "probably the essential key to the whole social question" (Laborem Exercens, No. 3) and St. John XXIII stressed workers are "entitled to a wage that is determined in accordance with the precepts of justice" (Pacem in Terris, No. 20).

Pope Francis added to this tradition that work "is fundamental to the dignity of a person.... [It] 'anoints' us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God... gives one the ability to maintain oneself, one's family, [and] to contribute to the growth of one's own nation." Work helps us realize our humanity and is necessary for human flourishing. Work is not a punishment for sin but rather a means by which we make a gift of ourselves to each other and our communities. We simply cannot advance the common good without decent work and a strong commitment to solidarity.

Labor Day gives us the chance to see how work in America matches up to the lofty ideals of our Catholic tradition. This year, some Americans who have found stability and security are breathing a sigh of relief. Sporadic economic growth, a falling unemployment rate, and more consistent job creation suggest that the country may finally be healing economically after years of suffering and pain. For those men and women, and their children, this is good news.

Digging a little deeper, however, reveals enduring hardship for millions of workers and their families. The poverty rate remains high, as 46 million Americans struggle to make ends meet. The economy continues to fail in producing enough decent jobs for everyone who is able to work, despite the increasing numbers of retiring baby boomers. There are twice as many unemployed job seekers as there are available jobs, and that does not include the seven million part-time workers who want to work full-time. Millions more, especially the long-term unemployed, are discouraged and dejected.

More concerning is that our young adults have borne the brunt of this crisis of unemployment and underemployment. The unemployment rate for young adults in America, at over 13 percent, is more than double the national average (6.2 percent). For those fortunate enough to have jobs, many pay poorly. Greater numbers of debt-strapped college graduates move back in with their parents, while high school graduates and others may have less debt but very few decent job opportunities. Pope Francis has reserved some of his strongest language for speaking about young adult unemployment, calling it "evil," an "atrocity," and emblematic of the "throwaway culture."
. . .
At their best, labor unions and institutions like them embody solidarity and subsidiarity while advancing the common good. They help workers "not only have more, but above all be more... [and] realize their humanity more fully in every respect" (Laborem Exercens, No. 20). Yes, unions and worker associations are imperfect, as are all human institutions. But the right of workers to freely associate is supported by Church teaching in order to protect workers and move them--especially younger ones, through mentoring and apprenticeships--into decent jobs with just wages.
. . .
Supporting policies and institutions that create decent jobs, pay just wages, and support family formation and stability will also honor the dignity of workers. Raising the minimum wage, more and better workforce training programs, and smarter regulations that minimize negative unintended consequences would be good places to start.

In doing this we follow the lead of Pope Francis in rejecting an economy of exclusion and embracing an authentic culture of encounter. Our younger generations are counting on us to leave them a world better than the one we inherited.

The entire letter is available at http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/labor-employment/labor-day-statement-2014.cfm

The editors of America magazine take a look at the state of today’s labor unions , and offer some good insights into the reality of the American workerforce:

Despite repeated allegations about compensation packages that grossly exceed those found in the private sector, analysis of comparable public and private sector positions shows negligible differences in pay and benefits. But those comparisons may ultimately miss the point. The problem is not that public employees are compensated too generously, but rather that private sector workers are buckling under decades of income and benefits stagnation.

What makes the union death watch especially galling, in fact, is how quickly fellow workers, overcome by pension envy, have been persuaded to turn on their union brethren. Their outrage might better have been directed at the relentless assault on the middle class within America’s private sector, accelerated by the 2008 economic crisis and the breakdown in family wealth it caused.

Also disheartening has been the muted response of the church as this coordinated attack on public service unions, the last redoubt of organized labor, rolls on. The Catholic Church and the union movement stood together throughout much of the 20th century, propelled by landmark Catholic social teaching and accompanied by church leaders, from Cardinal James Gibbons to Msgr. George Higgins. Unions, often led by lay Catholics, have been vibrant expressions of both the spiritual and civic dimensions of Catholic social teaching. It is not an exaggeration to say this partnership effected profound improvements in the daily life of all Americans, raising standards of living and educational attainment and bringing decency and dignity to the workplace. Those advances have been gradually turned back, and they may fall away even further in this new century.

Middle-class and working-class people throughout the United States owe much to the 20th century union movement. It deserves better than to be served up as a scapegoat for a national economic crisis that has been cleverly exploited by forces eager to accelerate the demise of organized labor.

You can read more here.

A labor strategist's tools

Clayton Sinyai, director of strategic campaigns for the Amalgamated Transit Union and a member of the Catholic Labor Network, writes about faith, Scripture Catholic social teaching in America magazine:

I draw a great deal of strength and direction from the study of Scripture and the social encyclicals of the popes. Reading Scripture teaches me humility. Every time I pick up the Bible I find myself baffled by something or other about our mysterious God. Scripture reminds me how little I understand of the highest things, how high God’s thoughts are above my thoughts.

The social encyclicals complement my study of the words of Scripture almost perfectly, offering desperately needed counsel in great clarity. Think of it: Who among the laity enjoys so much guidance in their vocation as I? I searched in vain for passages in the papal letters that might tell one how to be a worthwhile machine operator or railroad clerk or letter carrier. But Leo, Pius, John Paul and Benedict are full of advice on how to be a good trade unionist.

The rest of the article is here.

Labor and Unions

The Catholic Church has a well-documented tradition on labor and unions, rooted in the human right of association. This is highlighted in a new publication from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which excerpts passages that highlight this tradition.

While the document is not comprehensive, it does include links to the complete text of a cited document. Some examples from the publication, which is available here:

Through the combination of social and economic change, trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers, partly because Governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labor unions. . . . The repeated calls issued within the Church's social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers' associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past, as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level, as well as the local level. (no. 25)
- Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate) Pope Benedict XVI, 2009

Furthermore, society and the State must ensure wage levels adequate for the maintenance of the worker and his family, including a certain amount for savings. This requires a continuous effort to improve workers' training and capability so that their work will be more skilled and productive, as well as careful controls and adequate legislative measures to block shameful forms of exploitation, especially to the disadvantage of the most vulnerable workers, of immigrants and of those on the margins of society. The role of trade unions in negotiating minimum salaries and working conditions is decisive in this area. (no. 15)
- The Hundredth Year (Centesimus Annus) Pope John Paul II, 1991

Bishops and unions

Catholic News Service reports:

Amid ongoing battles between Republican governors and organized labor in Midwestern states, U.S. Catholic bishops have echoed the long-standing church tradition of workers' rights. But they have also noted that there are no easy-fix solutions in today's battered economy. They have urged workers and government officials to work for the common good and called on the members of public employee unions to make sacrifices. The bishops' words haven't gone unnoticed. Just as this debate has stirred passions across the country, people have criticized the U.S. bishops for either being too supportive of unions or not supportive enough. Catholics on both sides of the issue also have weighed in on what's best for workers and the country as a whole. "Hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers," Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki said in mid-February, during angry protests in Wisconsin over the Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to curb public employees' collective bargaining power for benefits and increase the premiums they pay for health care and their pension contributions.

You can read more here.