Oklahoma Options

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091981_laborem-exercens_en.html

IOANNES PAULUS PP. II

LABOREM EXERCENS
To His Venerable Brothers
in the Episcopate
to the Priests to the Religious Families
to the sons and daughters of the Church
and to all Men and Women of good will
on Human Work
on the ninetieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum

20. Importance of Unions

All these rights, together with the need for the workers themselves to secure them, give rise to yet another right: the right of association, that is to form associations for the purpose of defending the vital interests of those employed in the various professions. These associations are called labour or trade unions. The vital interests of the workers are to a certain extent common for all of them; at the same time however each type of work, each profession, has its own specific character which should find a particular reflection in these organizations.

In a sense, unions go back to the mediaeval guilds of artisans, insofar as those organizations brought together people belonging to the same craft and thus on the basis of their work. However, unions differ from the guilds on this essential point: the modern unions grew up from the struggle of the workers-workers in general but especially the industrial workers-to protect their just rights vis-a-vis the entrepreneurs and the owners of the means of production. Their task is to defend the existential interests of workers in all sectors in which their rights are concerned. The experience of history teaches that organizations of this type are an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialized societies. Obviously, this does not mean that only industrial workers can set up associations of this type. Representatives of every profession can use them to ensure their own rights. Thus there are unions of agricultural workers and of white-collar workers; there are also employers’ associations. All, as has been said above, are further divided into groups or subgroups according to particular professional specializations.

Catholic social teaching does not hold that unions are no more than a reflection of the “class” structure of society and that they are a mouthpiece for a class struggle which inevitably governs social life. They are indeed a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice, for the just rights of working people in accordance with their individual professions. However, this struggle should be seen as a normal endeavour “for” the just good: in the present case, for the good which corresponds to the needs and merits of working people associated by profession; but it is not a struggle “against” others. Even if in controversial questions the struggle takes on a character of opposition towards others, this is because it aims at the good of social justice, not for the sake of “struggle” or in order to eliminate the opponent. It is characteristic of work that it first and foremost unites people. In this consists its social power: the power to build a community. In the final analysis, both those who work and those who manage the means of production or who own them must in some way be united in this community. In the light of this fundamental structure of all work-in the light of the fact that, in the final analysis, labour and capital are indispensable components of the process of production in any social system-it is clear that, even if it is because of their work needs that people unite to secure their rights, their union remains a constructive factor of social order and solidarity, and it is impossible to ignore it.

Just efforts to secure the rights of workers who are united by the same profession should always take into account the limitations imposed by the general economic situation of the country. Union demands cannot be turned into a kind of group or class “egoism”, although they can and should also aim at correcting-with a view to the common good of the whole of society- everything defective in the system of ownership of the means of production or in the way these are managed. Social and socioeconomic life is certainly like a system of “connected vessels”, and every social activity directed towards safeguarding the rights of particular groups should adapt itself to this system.

In this sense, union activity undoubtedly enters the field of politics, understood as prudent concern for the common good. However, the role of unions is not to “play politics” in the sense that the expression is commonly understood today. Unions do not have the character of political parties struggling for power; they should not be subjected to the decision of political parties or have too close links with them. In fact, in such a situation they easily lose contact with their specific role, which is to secure the just rights of workers within the £ramework of the common good of the whole of society; instead they become an instrument used for other purposes.

Speaking of the protection of the just rights of workers according to their individual professions, we must of course always keep in mind that which determines the subjective character of work in each profession, but at the same time, indeed before all else, we must keep in mind that which conditions the specific dignity of the subject of the work. The activity of union organizations opens up many possibilities in this respect, including their efforts to instruct and educate the workers and to foster their selfeducation. Praise is due to the work of the schools, what are known as workers’ or people’s universities and the training programmes and courses which have developed and are still developing this field of activity. It is always to be hoped that, thanks to the work of their unions, workers will not only have more, but above all be more: in other words, that they will realize their humanity more fully in every respect.

One method used by unions in pursuing the just rights of their members is the strike or work stoppage, as a kind of ultimatum to the competent bodies, especially the employers. This method is recognized by Catholic social teaching as legitimate in the proper conditions and within just limits. In this connection workers should be assured the right to strike, without being subjected to personal penal sanctions for taking part in a strike. While admitting that it is a legitimate means, we must at the same time emphasize that a strike remains, in a sense, an extreme means. It must not be abused; it must not be abused especially for “political” purposes. Furthermore it must never be forgotten that, when essential community services are in question, they must in every case be ensured, if necessary by means of appropriate legislation. Abuse of the strike weapon can lead to the paralysis of the whole of socioeconomic life, and this is contrary to the requirements of the common good of society, which also corresponds to the properly understood nature of work itself.

Why There’s So Much Ado About Labor in My Column

By Msgr. George G. Higgins

The Yardstick

April 10, 2000

A friend was kind enough to say in a recent letter that she generally finds “The Yardstick” informative and worth reading, but that she would prefer a wider variety of subject matter. “Your column,” she wrote, “seems almost exclusively labor-related. I am not sure that this is what you want it to be.”

That’s a fair critique. I accept it as such and will be guided by it. On the other hand, something tells me that if I were to go too far in de-emphasizing labor issues, few of my peers in the Catholic press would pick up the torch and run with it. The fact is that labor pretty well has dropped off the radar screen in both the electronic and print media.

As an avid reader of newspapers and magazines, I can think of only a handful of journalists who specialize in labor reporting and fewer still who regularly publish columns and articles about the ethics of labor-management relations.

Television, sadly, is a veritable wasteland in this regard. Even the best of the network anchors and TV talk-show hosts tend to ignore the subject or, when they occasionally take it up, tend to treat it superficially, seldom featuring union representatives as guests, even when the programs deal specifically with labor issues.

There is another reason I tend to emphasize labor issues in “The Yardstick.” I am convinced that we are not likely to have a fully free or democratic society over the long haul without a strong and effective labor movement. I know that this is a minority point of view in the United States at present. But I think it is confirmed by solid historical evidence.

The century just ended — one of the most violent in recorded history — saw the rise of dictatorships on both the left and the right which came into power by first destroying free trade unions. Conversely, communism’s collapse was hastened by the emergence of free trade unions, for example the Solidarity movement in Poland.

Surely it would be idle to expect democracy to come alive and flourish in countries such as communist China unless and until a free trade union movement, similar to Solidarity, comes into being.

A final reason I heavily emphasize labor issues is the growing hostility to unions in Catholic institutions, particularly at present in a number of Catholic hospitals. I know from personal experience that speaking out in favor of unions in this unfriendly atmosphere is the wrong way to go about winning a popularity contest. So be it.

Someone has to be willing to keep saying, in the words of Pope John Paul II’s 1981 encyclical “On Human Labor,” that unions are “an indispensable element of social life.” Someone must also keep saying with the U.S. bishops in their 1986 pastoral on the economy that “we firmly oppose organized efforts, such as those regrettably now seen in this country, to break existing unions and prevent workers from organizing.”

The bishops added that Catholic institutions must be exemplary in supporting Catholic social teaching on the subject of unions.

I wish I could drop the subject of labor or at least de-emphasize it, but I am afraid that I will have to keep coming back to it again until more of my peers are prepared to take up the torch and prepared also, if you will, to take the heat.

The sooner the better, so far as I am concerned. Meanwhile, I promise to take my friend’s advice seriously and to deal, at least now and then, with a wider range of subject matter.

Stay tuned.

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PAUL HARVEY’S HOMECOMING — HON. PHILIP M. CRANE (Extension of Remarks – August 05, 1994)

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—

HON. PHILIP M. CRANE

in the House of Representatives

FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1994

• Mr. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, they say you can never go back.

• And for many that is true.

• Things are not what they used to be and no amount of trying is going to make them exactly the way they were. Times have changed, people have come and gone, lifestyles have undergone transformation, and whole regions have altered their very face.

• Trying to turn the clock back will not turn the tables on change. But taking a stroll down memory lane, revisiting our old haunts, and getting in touch with our past can help us adjust to it.

• Plus, it can be a very rewarding learning experience.

• For me, recalling the days of my youth, growing up in the Midwest, brings back a whole host of fond memories–of a family so dear; of an era so different, of a world less complex, and of a particular window to that world.

• Back in those days, there were no TV’s to watch or computers to access if you wanted to find out what was going on in places near and far. If you wanted to hear the latest, you turned on your radio and tuned into your favorite newscaster, in my case, Paul Harvey.

• Then, as now, Paul Harvey gave his listeners the best of the news and `the rest of the story.’ And he did it in a way that made you feel right at home and right in touch with the basic, fundamental values that have made America great.

• Over the years, I have often wondered how Paul Harvey came by that knack. Now, having read a speech he gave not long ago about his own trip down memory lane to the place he first called home, I have a better idea. And I am both the richer and the wiser for it.

• With the thought that my colleagues might likewise wish to benefit, I insert Paul Harvey’s April 2, 1994, speech in Tulsa, OK at this time.

• The speech follows:

Over my shoulder a backward glance.

The world began for Paul Harvey in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Ever since I have made tomorrow my favorite day. I’ve been uncomfortable looking back.

My recent revisit reminded me why. The Tulsa I knew isn’t there anymore. And the memories of once-upon-a time are more bitter than sweet.

Of the lawman father I barely knew.

The widowed mother who worked too hard and died too soon. And my sister Frances.

Tulsa was three graves side-by-side.

Recently I came face-to-face with the place where a small Paul Harvey’s mother buttoned his britches to his shirt to keep them up and it down.

Tulsa is a copper penny which a small boy from East Fifth Place placed on a trolley track to see it mashed flat.

It’s slingshot made from a forked branch aimed at a living bird an the bird died and he cried and he is still crying.

That little lad was seven when he snapped a rubber band against the neck of the neighbor girl and pretty Ethel Mae Mazelton ran home crying and he, lonely, had wanted only to get her to notice him.

• Somehow he blamed Tulsa for the war which took his best friend, Karold Collis * * *

• And classmate Fred Mrarkgraff * * *

• And never gave them back.

• In Tulsa, Oklahoma, he learned the wages of sin smoking grapevine behind the garage and getting a mouthful of ants.

• Longfellow Elementary school is closed now; dark.

• Tulsa High is a business building.

• The old house at 1014 is in mourning for the Tulsa that isn’t there anymore.

• It was in that house that a well-meaning mother arranged a surprise birthday party when he was sixteen; invited his school friends, including delicate Mary Betty French without whom he was sure he could not live.

• He hated that party for revealing to her and to them his house, so much more modest than theirs.

• Tulsa is where the true love of his life waved goodbye to the uniform that climbed aboard a troop train.

• She was there waiting when he got back but they could not wait to say goodbye to Tulsa.

• Tulsa was watermelon picnics in the backyard and a small Paul blowing taps on his Boy Scout bugle over the fresh grave of a dead kitten.

• Tulsa, Oklahoma used to be the fragrance of honeysuckle on the trellis behind the porch swing.

Mowing for a quarter neighbors’ lawns that seemed then so enormous.

Only Tulsa’s delicious tap water is as it was.

That and the schoolteachers * * *

Miss Harp and

Miss Smith and Isabelle Ronan. These I am assured are still there somewhere–reincarnated.

In a sleek jet departing Tulsa’s vast Spartan Airport at midnight, I closed my eyes and remembered * * *

When Spartan was a sod strip * * *

And a crowd gathered * * *

And a great tin goose landed * * *

And Slim Lindbergh got out * * *

And a boy, age nine, was pressing against the restraining ropes daring to foretaste fame–and falling in love with the sky.

No * * *

The Tulsa I knew isn’t there anymore. But it’s all right.

A new Tulsa is.

I’ll not be afraid to go home again.

I have made friends with the ghosts.

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