A LABOR UNION at Palermo Pizza, a RIGHT & a DUTY

   In the previous blog (July 1, 2012) the John XXIII document MATER ET MAGISTRA was quoted stating that workers have a natural right to form a union.  This right is based in Natural Law. (MATER ET MAGISTRA, #22)  In the U.S. the 1935 Wagner Act, legislation achieved politically- called positive law to distinguish it from natural law, established the civil right for workers to form a union to bargain collectively.  President Franklin Roosevelt commented, “BY ASSURING THE EMPLOYEES THE RIGHT OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IT FOSTERS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT ON A SOUND AND EQUITABLE BASIS.” (H.W. Brands, TRATOR TO HIS CLASS, Doubleday, 2008, p. 462.).   One wonders if the law was influenced by RERUM NOVARUM (1891) and QUADRAGESIMO ANNO (1931)?

   Palermo Pizza management contends that they are good employers, but workers on strike disagree and document Palermo abuses.  For the sake of argument and for promoting an understanding of Catholic Social Teaching, let us posit that Palermo is a good employer and treats their workers no better or worse than other non union companies in the U.S.  Dare we compare their situation with what it might be in Mexico?  Our hypothetical comparison makes Palermo look relatively good. 

   But even in this hypothetical stretch of the imagination to legitimize Palermo management, there is something missing, i.e., workers having a collective voice in the management of the company for the achievement of justice for workers and the common good.  The Palermo dispute cannot be resolved unless there is a union with legal status to negotiate.

   In one of his earliest writings, PHILOSOPHIC AND ECONOMIC MANUSCRIPTS – 1844, Karl Marx notes that in the Capitalist system the worker is alienated (entfremdung).  For example, the worker has no say concerning the product produced, working conditions, and is a commodity competing with other workers for wages.  The workers are alienated from themselves in the sense that in their work they are not able to use their specific human characteristic, the ability to make creative decisions.  The alienated worker is an enemy of his fellow human being, i.e. other workers competing for his job. (N. Lobkowicz, THEORY AND PRACTICE: HISTORY OF A CONCEPT FROM ARISTOTLE TO MARX, Notre Dame Press, 1967,  pp. 293-373.)

    Advocates of Catholic Social Teaching, the Distributists, agreed.  Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker stated in a 1936 editorial:

   “OUR STAND ON STRIKES” LET US BE HONEST, LET US SAY THAT    FUNDAMENTALY, THE STAND WE ARE TAKING IS NOT ON THE GROUND OF WAGES HOURS AND CONDITIONS OF LABOR, BUT ON THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH THAT MEN SHOULD NOT BE TREATED AS CHATTELS, BUT AS HUMAN BEINGS, AS ‘TEMPLES OF THE HOLY GHOST.’  WHEN CHRIST TOOK ON OUR HUMAN NATURE, WHEN HE BECAME MAN, HE DIGNIFIED AND ENOBLED HUMAN NATURE.  HE SAID, ‘THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS WITHIN YOU.’  WHEN MEN ARE STRIKING THEY ARE FOLLOWING AN IMPULSE, OFTEN BLIND, OFTEN UNINFORMED, BUT A GOOD IMPULSE – ONE COULD SAY AN INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  THEY ARE TRYING TO UPHOLD THEIR RIGHT TO BE TREATED, NOT AS SLAVES, BUT AS MEN.  THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR A SHARE IN THE MANAGEMENT, FOR THEIR RIGHT TO BE CONSIDERED PARTNERS IN THE ENTERPRISE IN WHICH THEY ARE ENGAGED.  THEY ARE FIGHTING AGAINST THE IDEA OF LABOR AS A COMMODITY TO BE BOUGHT AND SOLD.” (Dorothy Day, ON PILGRIMAGE, Introduction Mark and Louise Zwick, Erdmans, 1999, pp. 43-44.)

        

THE DUTY

Responsibility of Workers and the Community

   PACEM IN TERRIS states that workers not only have the right to a union but also the duty to organize.  The community also has the duty to facilitate workers organizing and not to impede such organizing. John XXIII wrote:

   FOR, IF A MAN BECOMES CONSCIOUS OF HIS RIGHTS, HE MUST BECOME EQUALY AWARE OF HIS DUTIES.  THUS, HE WHO POSSESSES CERTAIN RIGHTS HAS LIKEWISE THE DUTY TO CLAIM THOSE RIGHTS AS MARKS OF HIS DIGNITY, WHILE ALL OTHERS HAVE THE OBLIGATION TO ACKNOWLEDGE THOSE RIGHTS AND RESPECT THEM. (PACEM IN TERRIS, #44)

   Also: “EVEN IN PRESENT DAY CIRCUMSTANCES, HOWEVER, THE STRIKE CAN STILL BE NECESSARY, THOUGH ULTIMATE, MEANS FOR THE DEFENSE OF WORKER’S OWN RIGHTS AND THE FULFILLMENT OF THEIR JUST DEMANDS.” (Vatican II Documents, Gaudium et Spes, #65, 1965)

Responsibility of Employers

    

   What about the Palermos?  In 1961 Pope John wrote in MATER ET MAGISTRA:

   “LET THEM (Laymen) PUT SINCERE TRUST IN HER (The Church) WISDOM; LET THEM ACCEPT HER ADMONITIONS AS SONS.  LET THEM REFLECT THAT, WHEN IN CONDUCT OF THEIR LIFE THEY DO NOT CAREFULLY OBSERVE PRINCIPLES AND NORMS LAID DOWN BY THE CHURCH IN SOCIAL MATTERS, AND WHICH WE OURSELVES REAFIRM, THEN THEY ARE NEGLIGENT IN THEIR DUTY AND OFTEN INJURE THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS.”  (MATER ET MAGISTRA, #241)

   This 1963 document expressing such duties in reference to support of labor unions is not recognized in U.S. positive or written law. Disputes are settled by the adversarial method in court. Would an appeal based on reason – the natural law have the potential to be more successful?

The Responsibility of the Clergy

What about the Milwaukee clergy and the Palermo strike?  The    Vatican II Document PRIESTS states: “BUT THEY (priests) CANNOT BE OF SERVICE TO MEN IF THEY REMAIN STRANGERS TO THE LIFE AND CONDITION OF MEN.” (PRIESTS, C.I, #3)  And: ALTHOUGH HE HAS OBLIGATIONS TOWARD ALL MEN, A PRIEST HAS THE POOR AND LOWLY ENTRUSTED TO HIM IN A SPECIAL WAY.” (PRIESTS, C.II, #4)

 The Responsibility of the Bishop

   What about Archbishop Listecki and the Palermo dispute?  The

Vatican II DECREE ON THE BISHOP’S PASTORAL OFFICE IN THE CHURCH mandates, “FINALLY, THEY (The Bishops) SHOULD SET FORTH THE WAYS BY WHICH ARE TO BE SOLVED THE JUST DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL GOODS, PEACE AND WAR, AND BROTHERLY RELATIONS AMONG ALL PEOPLES.”… “WITH A SPECIAL CONCERN THEY (The Bishops) SHOULD ATTEND UPON THE POOR AND LOWER CLASSES TO WHOM THE LORD SENT THEM TO PREACH THE GOSPEL.” (C. II, #13)

THE GRAVITY OF THE MATTER

  Those on strike at Palermo are among the poorest most vulnerable and exploited of workers.  If the community and the labor law structure are unable to facilitate their modest quest for a fundamental human right, that of forming a union, how can we expect a just and prosperous economy?

  John Paul II taught in his Encyclical, LABOREM EXERCENS, that labor unions: … “ARE AN INDISPENSABLE ELEMENT OF SOCIAL LIFE, ESPECIALLY IN MODERN INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES.”  “THEY ARE INDEED A MOUTH PIECE FOR THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE.” (#20)

   Former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, wrote: “The fundamental problem isn’t the decline of American manufacturing, and reviving manufacturing won’t solve it.  The problem is the declining power of American workers to share in the gains of the American economy.  Stronger unions are needed – in both manufacturing and in services.” (Robert Reich, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, “Unions not manufacturing, key to economic revival.” 2-26-12)

   We are all responsible to help to the workers in this struggle.  Lutheran pastors have been especially active in supporting the workers.  Catholic Social Teaching would indicate that support from the Milwaukee Catholic clergy and Archbishop should be expected. There is a boycott of Palermo Pizza; which side are you on? 

Official Church documents for Catholic Social Teaching are listed on the October 18, 2011 posting.

  

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

   This is the title of a song written and sung by Harlan County, Kentucky coal miners during a strike in the ‘30s.  “Which side are you on?  They say in Harlan County – There are no neutrals there – you are either a union man or a thug for owner J.H. Blair.”  Thomas Geoghegan, Which Side Are You On? Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, p. 22.

   The Palermo Pizza workers are on strike in Milwaukee.  Most are Latinos and the picket line is only a little further than an Aramis Ramirez “bombaso,” home run from Miller Park.  Workers lost their lives at Miller Park during the construction. You can see a monument to them outside of the stadium.  They were all members of Local 8 of the Iron Workers. 

   The Palermo strike issue is simple for those who have allied themselves with the exploited immigrant workers.  It is also simple since Catholic Social Teaching unequivocally supports their quest.   The workers have a natural right to a union.

  But it is also complicated.  There is the immigration issue – are the workers documented?  Did the company use the documentation issue to stop union organizing? 

   A workers’ vote was scheduled for June 6^th, but it was delayed by a U.F.C.W. (United Food and Commercial Workers) intervention.  The U.F.C.W. wants the Palermo workers to connect with them rather than the Steel Workers.  Voces de la Frontera and the workers favored the Steel Workers. 

   Do the strikers get to vote – how about those fired – what about the replacement workers?  The Milwaukee NLRB will have to sort this out.

   How will the workers and their families hold out financially ‘til the end of July when the vote is now scheduled? The courage of the Latino workers to stand up to the company in the current immigration climate is unprecedented. (See Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6-25-12, and www.vdlf.org)  

   The Palermos owners are presumably Italian Roman Catholic.  Voces de la Frontera’s New Sanctuary Movement was asked to get a Roman Catholic priest involved. A collar, and or a habit, might be a catalyst for moral responsibility.  Several were contacted without success.  The Capuchin Friars are strong supporters of the Voces New Sanctuary program.  A Capuchin priest, a member of the New Sanctuary Steering Committee, was asked if he would visit with the Palermos.  He said there was problem:  Palermo donates to the Capuchin sponsored St. Benedict the Moor Community Meal.  His Provincial in Detroit agreed that it would be best to find another way.  Our Capuchin colleague on the “Comite Timon” of the New Sanctuary Movement questioned, why a priest – what about the nuns?”  He gave the committee the phone number of the “Nuns on the Bus Tour.”  The nuns were traveling around the country protesting Paul Ryan’s budget that was passed by the Republican House.  The nuns say the Ryan Budget does not conform to Catholic Social teaching. 

   No problem.  The bus stopped at the St. Benedict the Moor Community Meal, and the next day the nuns visited with the Palermo strikers and the management.  Sister Simone Campbell, a lawyer, saw a ray of hope and encouraged further dialogue and prayer.    

   The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6-25-12 article on the strike by Georgia Pabst gave a good summary of the situation.  The headline was:  “Workers seek union at Palermo.”  The last paragraph states that a Palermo spokesman said that the decision to form a union will be decided by the employees, “whatever the end result, we will respect it.” 

Let’s look at Catholic Social Teaching and pose a few more questions.

THE NATURAL RIGHT TO ORGANIZE

     Vatican II began in October of 1962 and closed on December 8, 1965.  The Council opened the window to working with other Christians, Muslim, Jews and atheists on social justice issues. (e.g. Ecumenism, #2. Gaudium et Spes, #21. Nostra Aetate, #2.)  The shift from corporate economics to a more democratic model was presaged by the recognition of other opinions as valid. (Lumen Gentium, #4, Dignitatis Humanae)  John XXIII issued two important encyclicals, Mater et Magistra – 1961 and Pacem in Terris 1963, on social justice before the Council concluded in 1965.  Let us look at these encyclicals in reference to the Palermo strike. Of course we must remember, the Vatican II documents have been forgotten or never read by the “official church”- the noble hierarchy and their acolytes.  Promotion of Catholic Social Teaching is left to: “Nuns on a Bus: Nuns Drive for Faith, Family and Fairness.”

   In Mater et Magistra John XXIII noted that in the first social encyclical, Rerum Novarum, - 1891“Leo XIII did not hesitate to proclaim and defend the sacred rights of workers.” (M.M. #16)  John XXIII pointed out that in Quadragesimo Anno – 1931, Pius XI reaffirmed workers’ right to organize.  “And workers themselves have the right freely and on their own initiative within the above-mentioned associations, without hindrance as their needs dictate.” (M.M. #22)  This statement of John XXIII in Mater et Magistra anticipates the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes which says, “Among the basic rights of the human person must be counted the right of freely founding labor unions.”  Another such right is that of taking part freely in the activities of these unions without risk of reprisal.” This was a clear reprimand of the fascist Franco in Spain that was supported for many years by the Vatican.  (G.S. #68. ft. note 220 p.277, The Documents of Vatican II, Walter Abbot, SJ., Editor, Guild Press, New York, 1966.)  

IMMIGRATION

   Again in reference to the Palermo strike, consider John XXIII on immigration.

   Every human being must also have the right to freedom of movement

   and of residence within the confines of his own country, and when the

   there are just reasons for it, the right to emigrate to other countries

   and take up residence there.  The fact that one is a citizen of a

   particular state does not detract in any way from his membership

   in the human family, nor from his citizenship in the world community

   and his common tie with all men. (Pacem in Terris, #25.)

RIGHTS AND DUTIES

   John XXIII not only reaffirmed workers natural right to form a union but he also outlined the corresponding duties related to this right.  By establishing natural rights and duties he set a guide for civil labor law.

   Workers have the duty to claim their right to a union and all others have the duty to respect this right.  Pacem in Terris states:

    …“it is also clear that in human society to one man’s natural right    there corresponds a duty in other persons:  the duty, namely, of    acknowledging and respecting the right in question.  For every fundamental human right draws its indestructible moral force from the natural law, which granting it, imposes a corresponding obligation.” (Pacem in Terris, #30)     “Thus he who possesses certain rights has likewise the duty to claim these rights as marks of his dignity, while all others have the obligation to acknowledge those rights and respect them.” (P.T. #44)

  

HOW DO WE ACT FOR JUSTICE?

   But what about the Palermo situation?  A Palermo management spokesperson said, “The decision to form a union will be decided by the employees and ‘whatever the result we will respect it.’”  (M.J.S. 6-25-12)  Really!  Palermo has hired union busting law firm Jackson Lewis.  Their advertising boasts, “Jackson Lewis has been retained to offer legal assistance to many employers who have succeeded in winning NLRB elections or in averting union elections altogether.”  www.jacksonlewis.com/practices.php?PracticelD=22

  Is there any hope for the workers?  A boycott of Palermo Pizza has been declared.  Which side are you on?

NOTE: Official church documents for Catholic Social Teaching are listed on the October 18th, 2011 blog.