CSWJ Symposium at Harvard Law School : Final Program
On June 2 and 3, 2010 CSWJ will host a symposium at Harvard Law School that features scholars and activists and that CSWJ activities over the past two years. View Agenda »

SIGN-ON to "Union Busting is a Mortal Sin."
This is an Open Statement that will be released on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, May 1, 2010. CSWJ members and supporting scholars are invited to sign this bold statement that supports the fundamental natural right to free association that is rooted in natural law and that is vigorously supported in Catholic Social Teaching. Please note that we do not actually accuse anyone of being in mortal sin; in the end this matter must be resolved between a penitent and his or her confessor (see last two paragraphs of the Sign on Statement). Send your name, terminal degree, academic title, and institution (for ID purposes only) to Joe Fahey, Chair, CSWJ: Sign-on now
View Sign-on Statement »

JOIN US! Registration information for the March 22-23, 2010 Conference.
Please see the attached invitation for details. more »

Join CSWJ in NYC at 5 p.m. on March 25!
Colleagues: join CSWJ in support of electrical workers in Nevada to protest NV Energy's receipt of and award for "excellence" in NYC. more »

JOIN US! Registration information for the March 22-23, 2010 Conference.
Please see the attached invitation for details. more »

Breaking News: Election for union at SRMH
An election is to take place at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital (SRMH) on December 17 and 18, 2009 in which the workers will choose between the newly established National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and SEIU-United Healthcare West. A third option is no union at all.
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CSWJ and Villanova Call to Conference
You are cordially invited to present a paper or discuss a work in progress at a conference on "Catholic Social Teaching and Worker Justice," March 22-24, 2010.
See our invitation »

Letter from Professor Holland about union 'bosses.'
In your Miami Herald article of today (2009-09-03) for the "Local & State" section, the headline objecively announces "Business Leaders... " and your article objectively refers to these "business leaders" as "officials," but then your article subjectively labels the leadership of the other side of the debate as "union bosses." (Italics added.) more »

CSWJ SIGN-ON STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE EFCA
CSWJ speaks as scholars who are committed to Catholic Social Teaching concerning the human right of workers to organize employee unions. Please consider adding your name to our sign-on sheet in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.
view sign-on statement »

Breaking News: CSWJ Ad Supporting EFCA in NCR and America
We are pleased to present to you a CSWJ ad on the Employee Free Choice Act that will appear this coming week in the National Catholic Reporter.
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Steering Committee Member Appointed to Historic Post
The Rev. Patrick Sullivan, C.S.C., member of the CSWJ steering committee, has been appointed the executive secretary and chaplain of The Labor Guild by Cardinal Sean O'Malley. more »

Labor Unions and the Church

by Joseph J. Fahey

This article appeared in The Catholic Worker, May, 2010 pages 1, 7

In 1949 Cardinal Francis Spellman used New York archdiocesan seminarians to break a strike by gravediggers at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y. Spellman alleged that the workers had come under the influence of Communist agitators and that he was "proud" to "be a strikebreaker." The Catholic Worker supported the strike and Dorothy Day wrote a letter to the Cardinal stating that, "Of course you know that a group of our associates at the Catholic Worker office in New York have been helping the strikers both in providing food for their families and in picketing…." Later, Dorothy lamented an "ill-advised" Spellman who "exercised so overwhelming a show of force against a handful of poor working men."

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Fr. Ray Decker Reflects on the Santa Rosa Hospital Campaign

by Fr. Ray Decker

The Experiences Of Raymond Decker With The Labor Union Organizing Efforst at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Santa Rosa, California – 2004-2010

On October 6, 2004 an employee representing a number of other employees together with two organizers from SEIU-UHW (Service Employees International Union – Union of Hospital Workers) contacted me to ask if I could help with the organizing efforts of the employees of Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to form a union. About 10 years prior to this date a number of employees tried to form a union affiliated with the Teamsters Union, but were so adequately rebuffed by the administration of the hospital they failed in this attempt. Now once again conditions at this hospital relating to job security, salaries, benefits and quality of patient care motivated a number of the employees (environmental services, imaging services, laboratory, nutrition services, respiratory therapy, surgical services and patient care services) to attempt the formation of a union which would represent their concerns.

full commentary »

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