Economics: Labour: Vision needed for the spread of Christian unions in North America and China
If you are a member of a labor union, most likely you are a member of the overall global labor federation called the"World Trade Union Confederation." Some of the WTUC members are unions of Christian inspiration and principle, like the national Christian Labor federation in the Netherlands (CNV) and the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) -- but not (yet) the Christian Labor Association in the USA (CLA-USA).
The present WTUC has evolved from previously separate global labor centers of different principles: the secularist and hence atheist labor central embracing the main capitalist and socialist unions and the more Christian-hospitable union then called the World Confederation of Labour. Both bodies worked assiduously with the UN-affiliated International Labour Organization. The WCL of which the CNV (Netherlands) and CLAC (Canada) have long been members was the bastion of Catholic-inspired global unionism, with a few Protestant-inspired unions also principially in this day of ecumenism actively affiliated. One of the causes, the Catholic and formerly Catholic unions championed, a cause which the CLAC atypically concerned itself with, was the independent trade unions of Cuba where the unions were severely restricted and their leaders, including leaders of Christian labor there, were jailed -- with the keys to their cells virtually tossed into the ocean. Instead, in old Soviet-style the Cuban govt established its affiliated Communist-inspired unions with a monopoly of representation / repression of workers.
Catholic unionism, now within the WTUC, still exists, but because of changes in the interpretations of the Catholic social encyclicals since Vatican II, the nature/grace conceptualization underlying these unions has become seriously attentuated, not least in regard to passing of the old concepts thru Vatican II's new dogma of the "preferential option for the poor" and the broader rubric "solidarity" (made famous by Lech Walesa's leadership of the Solidarity organization in Poland). The transition from the grace side of the schematic to the nature side is a global phenomenon among formerly forthr+tly Catholic unions, once outfitted with priestly chaplains who kept the affiliates and the locals at large industrial facilities on the strait and narrow. But solidarity-thinking and an option preferential to the poor helped move Catholic industrial organization of workers to a more secular way of existence and functioning. I think of Hendrik Hart's rubric, "biblical secularity" in my own attempt to fathom the necessity of Christ-principled labour unions distinct from institutional churches (denominations), genuinely free organizations for representing workers in the h+ly differentiated-zone of industrial labor that marks our Western societies, and which is exploding enormously in China in its quick-paced capitalist transformation under a Communist govt (with again soviet-style govt labour organizations to control workers).
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It is out of solidarity with industrial workers of all faiths and ideologies, that I call for and advocate for explicitly Christian labor organization. In the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA, I advocate for the historically existing Christian unions (the CLA-USA was founded in 1931, the heyday of Communist and then Nazi militancy in America) and their further extension Christian unions thru pluralization into the autoworkers (now controlled by UAW), mineworkers (now controlled by United Mineworkers), and also further expanded into the construction industry where special conditions exist that have made it possible for CLAC and CLA-USA to make inroads and gain certification and negotiate new contracts for the workers it represents. I know of no case in the USA or Canada where there has been an actual pluralization of workers represenation extended to all in the workforce of a given company, facility, or project. Altho labour-representation is the case in much of Europe. Like the Netherlands, France is an outstanding example of a theory of labour-representation that in principle embraces all workers according to their differing community-values for their working lives.
In Britain, there's a case in point to be found in the hegemonic establishment union that monopolizes labour representation in the construction union -- Union of Construction [Trades], Allied Trades and Technicians -- "There is now only one trade union dedicated to the rights and protection of workers in construction and allied trades," says UCATT in its tendentious self-description. Alan Ritchie is general secretary of UCATT. He writes on the union's webs+t:
ucatt.info - About Us: UCATT was formed in 1971 to represent all building trades. UCATT's true foundations, like those of fine buildings, run deep below the surface. The four unions which came together to create UCATT,Obviously, there's a lot to applaud in the developments recorded here by UCATT. There is also considerable ground for suspicion, as UCATT's sustained attack on self-employment in construction. Why is so large a percentage of the industry's labour force refusing to join a union? Why do they prefer self-employment to what the one established monolithic hegemonic sole-representative UCATT offers?
•the ASW (Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers),
*the ASPD (Amalgamated Society of Painters and Decorators),
*the ABT (Association of Building Technicians) and
*the AUBTW (Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers)
were themselves the products of mergers among construction trade unions, some of which could trace their pedigree back over two centuries or even claim to be the descendants of the craft guilds of medieval times.
UCATT's birth proved to be a baptism of fire, the summer of 1972 saw Britain's longest and biggest construction industry dispute. The 13-week strike, characterised by a surge of rank and file organisation and action on building sites around the country, was for a minimum wage of £30 a week. Many employers settled for that sum during the course of the dispute. The rest were eventually brought into line by the national settlement which gave craft workers an immediate rise of £6 a week and labourers £5 - the biggest ever increase in the industry. Further instalments of the two-year deal took the craft guaranteed minimum weekly earnings rate to £32 and that of a labourer to £27.20.The strike confirmed UCATT as a force to be reckoned with in the construction industry. It produced one of the causes celebres of the trade union movement of the 1970's - the jailing at Shrewsbury Crown Court months after the end of the strike of six building workers found guilty of common law conspiracy as a result of their picketing activities. And through the activities of groups of strike breakers, it also brought to light the extent to which lump labour and the new phenomenon of labour-only self-employment had taken root in the industry.Over the subsequent three decades UCATT has been forced to devote more and more of its time and resources to campaigning against the negative effects of the self-employed status of the majority of Britain's private sector construction workers. Self-employment enables employers to avoid sick pay and holiday pay and to attempt to deny basic employment rights and protection against unfair dismissal. It undermines safety and training standards and it erodes trade union organisation. The union finds it harder to persuade the new breed of self-employed building workers, most of them forced to accept a CIS4 classification in order to get a job, of the benefits of collective organisation.The public sector has fared little better during these past three decades. Stringent curbs on spending, along with the introduction of the Private Finance Initiative and Best Value, and the sell off of much of the nation's council housing stock, have depleted local authority direct labour organisations. This has been bad not just for UCATT, but has depressed training and skill standards throughout construction.But there have been gains as well as setbacks. The legal status given to safety representatives through the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act was a major breakthrough for UCATT and unions in other industries with historically high accident levels. The stream of construction safety regulations which has flowed since then, many of them as a result of UCATT lobbying in Britain and Europe has without doubt saved countless lives and limbs of building workers.UCATT has started to make progress on a fully registered workforce following the launch of the Construction Skills Certification Scheme in 1995. A skills register for building workers was one of the key demands of UCATT during the previous two decades as a means of stamping out the unsafe cowboy element of the industry which has prospered as a result of casualisation.UCATT itself is now well placed to seize the opportunities presented by these positive changes. The new lay Executive Council, elected in 1995 following a rule change a year earlier, has brought the union closer to the rank and file building worker. Most of the debt accumulated during the 1980's has been paid off and we are now operating on a financial surplus. UCATT has much to look forward to in the future with your help and support.
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