Right to Work is Social Justice
Various parties have attempted
to suggest that a vote for right to work somehow violates
Catholic teachings. It does not.
In fact, I believe that passage
of right to work is actually closer to the spirit of the
great Catholic teachings like Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum,
and the related documents it spawned by subsequent popes.
Recently the Priests' Council
of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City issued a statement which
reached no clear conclusions but raised some interesting
questions regarding Catholic teaching. Having worked for
the archdiocese I am well aware of the council's treatment
of workers. It should be noted that the council's statement
carries no canonical or juridical weight as a church teaching
document. It merely expresses the opinion of this particular
group of men.
Space obviously does not permit
an exhaustive analysis of authentic Catholic teachings on
labor issues -- which I fully support and which I have addressed
in some of my earlier essays -- but I would like to respond
to the invitation to consider the questions they raise.
Far from violating justice, in my view the passage of a
right-to-work law would not lead to injustices, but serve
to correct injustices that have arisen under the status
quo.
Right to work is not 'union
busting' but fully supports the church's view that workers
should be free to organize and participate in collective
bargaining. Nowhere does church teaching support the notion
that workers must either belong to a union or at least pay
fees equivalent to union dues. Right to work upholds freedom
of association -- or the freedom not to associate.
Some invoke the principle of
subsidiarity and solidarity. The principle of subsidiarity
essentially is to reduce bureaucracy. Right to work would
protect the right of a worker to deal directly with management
if he so wishes without that relationship being absorbed
into the union. Again, if one desires union involvement
he is still free to pursue it.
Solidarity recognizes our unity
and equality before God. One of the most urgent calls to
solidarity in the church today is for solidarity with the
unborn child. One of the injustices committed by unions
today is use of workers' dues and fees to support political
candidates who vociferously support abortion on demand.
This is something no Catholic may turn a blind eye to. It
is gross hypocrisy to speak of justice for one group (workers)
as supported by the church, but ignore the duties of justice
toward another group (the unborn), the rights of whom the
church fiercely insists on. To do so is a gross violation
of the principle of solidarity which demands justice for
all.
John Sweeney, president of
the AFL-CIO, who frequently refers fondly to his Catholic
upbringing, has frequently reaffirmed 'I believe in full
reproductive choice for all women.' (Catholic News Service,
Sept. 28, 1995). In referring to God's unborn children as
a 'reproductive choice' eligible for disposal he places
himself outside of what the church means by solidarity and
justice.
Jesus said, 'The poor you will
always have with you' but it seems to me that part of our
Gospel duty toward the poor is, wherever possible, to create
conditions and opportunities for them to rise out of poverty.
I believe right to work will do that. To be brutally frank,
Oklahoma must shed its image as an economic backwater where
Oklahoma's children graduating from college have to get
jobs in Dallas in order to be close to home, and where others
must leave the state to make a decent living.
I urge all my fellow Catholics
to read Rerum Novarum and vote 'yes' on right to work --
'yes' on State Question 695.
John Mallon is contributing
editor for Inside the Vatican magazine and a member of The
Daily Oklahoman's Opinion Board of Contributors. He recently
became Communications Director for Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Mary
Fallin. This article originally appeared in The Daily Oklahoman
on September 21, 2001 and is reprinted with permission.
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