April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
OUR NEIGHBOR'S FAITH
How to celebrate Labor Day 2011
Labor unions, which Catholic teaching insists are "indispensible for the universal common good," have negotiated living-wage salaries for many residents of New York State. That is one of many reasons I celebrate both workers and unions on Labor Day, the first Monday of September.
Beyond a living wage, there is the need for respect. What motivated 25,000 textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., to strike 99 years ago was not only the need for humane pay and working conditions; it was to gain respect. Their cry was, "We want bread and roses."
The Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State has, for three decades, supported workers in their dreams and struggles for dignity and justice. For 30 years, it has been blessed by the leadership of Bishop Howard J. Hubbard as statewide co-chair.
Bishop Hubbard stands on a platform of Catholic teaching about workers and economic justice that is summarized in Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate" ("Charity in Truth").
The pope writes: "I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity."
How can we "safeguard and value" this primary capital of workers on Labor Day 2011 in New York State? I have two suggestions.
First, I recommend that Catholics in New York State ground themselves in "Economic Justice for All," an important summary and application of Catholic teaching published by the U.S. bishops in 1986. Many people are confused about the myriad religious and political voices giving a point of view on the economy. Nothing I've read speaks to principled, practical solutions like this document.
For example, it states that "all economic life should be shaped by moral principles. Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family and serve the common good." It also notes: "A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring."
This principle drives my second suggestion: Because the minimum wage is mired at the poverty level ($7.25/hour, or $15,080 a year), New York should raise it to $10 an hour - not only because it's fair and right, but also to shrink the huge and growing income gap. As writer Holly Sklar notes, "The median CEO pay was $10.8 million last year among 200 big companies measured by Equilar."
Raising the minimum wage would help both workers and the economy. As John Shepley of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage puts it: "The notion that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs is just bunk. People at the lower end of earnings tend to spend 100 percent of their after tax-income. They put it right back into local businesses."
(Brian O'Shaughnessy is executive director of the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State. To help, email briano@labor-religion. org or see www.labor-religion.org. Fair-trade products are available for sale through the website.)[[In-content Ad]]
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