Volume > Issue > Is a Union Good or Bad?

Is a Union Good or Bad?

CHRIST & NEIGHBOR

By John C. Cort | September 1985

When last we met we were discussing the am­biguous record of Roman Catholic institutions to­ward trade unions, particularly as analyzed in an excellent pamphlet written by Ed Marciniak. We agreed to continue the discussion by addressing the question why anti-unionism is not a “legitimate moral, Christian, Catholic option.”

The title of this column — “Is a Union Good or Bad?” — is a foolish question, a foolish title, and we stuck it up there only to lure the unwary read­er into reading the column, if only to find out why anyone should ask such a foolish question.

The question is foolish because a union is a human organization and it is either good or bad de­pending on the human beings who control it, some being very good, some very bad, and the rest somewhere on a continuum in between.

Unionism is something else. Unionism is sim­ply the principle that human beings working to­gether may derive benefits from banding together in an organization, usually called a union, guild, or association, on the elementary basis that “in union there is strength.”

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

Comments on the First Draft of “Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy”

The average Catholic will ask himself, “What can I and my parish do for economic justice? How should my spiritual life affect my social behavior and my habits of consumption?”

Nicaragua & Neighborliness

The U.S. could have weaned Nicaragua away from the Soviets by the exercise of a little good neighborliness and the avoidance of a large amount of international immorality.

Agreeing & Disagreeing With Lester Thurow

Lester Thurow is an interesting man. I first encountered him back in the 1970s when…