18 Comments
User's avatar
Richard's avatar

Organized private sector labor needs to cut its ties to public sector unions. The power is enticing but it comes with the loss of their souls and their ultimate destruction.

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Kurt's avatar
Oct 6Edited

All workers have the right of association. Rerum Novarum affirms that.

(BTW, Fr. Fecteau, the priest who is mentioned in the article, is chaplain to a group of public sector union members)

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Richard's avatar

Or non association

As their interests dictate.

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Liberal, not Leftist's avatar

Indeed.

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Steve Shannon's avatar

I’ll wait for the Republican controlled Senate, House and White House to quickly pass the First Contract Act before I believe anything else in this piece.

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Kurt's avatar
Oct 6Edited

They have a long way to go, but we should appreciate these small, wobbly first steps. After all, one always prays for the conversion of a sinner.

The Senate has a very vague hearing scheduled on labor law reform with President O'Brien scheduled to testify.

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Steve Shannon's avatar

I would put this bill passing and being signed into law at near zero. The US Chamber of Commerce and big business (read: donors) will work as hard at defeating this bill as they do at stopping union organization.

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Kurt's avatar

I don't disagree. But I welcome even a few small steps by some minor portion of these folks in a favorable direction.

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Karl's avatar
Oct 6Edited

Aren't the recent comments of the current Pope Leo more relevant than the 19th century version? The comments where he calls out Don's "inhuman treatment" of immigrants...

As to what Don's "new" right feels about workin stiffs, doesn't the BBB tell you all you need to know? When forced to act instead of inflame, the BBB proves to be the "new" right's revealed preference.

Meanwhile, all the self-described conservatives need to watch Don and Pete's lectures to our top military leadership last week. Watch all of it. First, reflect on the mental state of our aging, incoherent president, whether he is more or less lucid than Joepa, and what his condition will be when he's 82. Then reflect on whether you support the deployment of the US military to combat your fellow Americans on his whim, as both his public comments and his executive orders envision. The generals and admirals, thank god, seemed nonplussed.

What could possibly go wrong?

Another Commonplace column, another exercise in "other than that Mrs Lincoln" delusion... I'll know Oren is serious about Don's agenda and its impact on the economy when he analyzes Don's attacks on the rule of law. After all, we have plenty of historical examples to compare ourselves too:)

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Quentin Wilson's avatar

“Commonplace.” Sometimes it seems as if that’s exactly what they really think of Catholics and labor. Unless of course they need to peel off more of us to avoid a midterm crash.

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SubstaqueJacque's avatar

I sure would love to see the Teamsters and other Unions come back into the forefront of labor rights. The only question is, how do we keep out corruption/the mob this time around?

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Y. Andropov's avatar

So the pope's first job should be to have the Teamsters organize the employees at the Vatican and in every diocese around the world, and begin the collective bargaining process. The unions will of course wish to see their employers' income statements and balance sheets; balance sheets marked to fair value and not historical cost.

.

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Kurt's avatar

The employees of the Holy See already have a labor union -- Associazione Dipendenti Laici Vaticani -- making the Vatican the most unionized country in the world.

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Y. Andropov's avatar

Do they bargain collectively? Go on strike? Sue their employer?

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Earl's avatar

Indignation is the driving force, not envy. Statements arguing "neither this nor that" always favor the status quo.

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Kurt's avatar

I'm upset I was not invited to this event!

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Richard McGahey's avatar

I was hoping for an interesting discussion about organized, labor, ethics, and politics. But this is just another exercise in Republicans good, Democrats bad. It is the Republicans in Congress, and in states across the country who are blocking the formation of labor unions,, making it harder for people to organize, and fighting unionization at every turn. You’ve taken an interesting topic and turned it into just one more tired, ideological speech.

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Joseph Sadove's avatar

Such a terrible load of nonsense. The Teamsters have been run by, yes, a Catholic mafia. Like that great saint Jimmy Hoffa —may the lord reveal his burial place , amen. They have been violent in ways and tradition that have given us a whole literature of bloody violence. But, then again, what would you expect. The Catholic Church has for centuries been itself a worldwide violent mafia going back to the crusades. The last and the current pope are trying rectify the evil this organization has perpetrated for 2 millennia, but with still very little success. Stop the whitewash and be honest: the Catholic Church is a gang.

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