Marquette
University has rejected the requests of professors and workers to organize a
union to bargain collectively. In doing
this, Marquette has rejected Catholic Social Teaching which has been a backbone
for workers’ rights.
This is some
of what Marquette has rejected: the 1892
encyclical of Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, which declares the right of
workers to organize; the 1919 statement by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, supporting
the Popes’ Encyclicals on workers’ rights authored by Monsignor John Ryan; the 1931
encyclical by Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, defining the social structures
of solidarity and subsidiarity; the 1965 document from Vatican II, Church in
the Modern World, declaring workers’ right to independence and their right
to strike; the 1981 encyclical by Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens,
explaining how labor unions are a
necessity and that labor is prior to capital; and, finally, the 1986 Pastoral
Letter by the U. S. Catholic Bishops, “Economic Justice for All,” saying that Roman
Catholic institutions are obligated to respect workers’ rights as presented in
Catholic Social teaching.
Currently
there are new unions formed in various industries: the baristas working for Starbucks and the Milwaukee
Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH). Martin Luther King, Jr. supported the garbage
workers in their fight for workers’ rights in 1968. The support for workers’ rights is in
Catholic Social Teaching. Where do we
look now for the backbone for workers’ rights?
Marquette
University professors and workers have a right to form a union.
