NEWS STORY: Archbishop of Canterbury backs mandatory union recognition

c. 1997 Religion News Service BRIGHTON, England _ Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, in an unprecedented appearance before trade unionists, won a standing ovation from labor leaders Tuesday (Sept. 9) announcing his support for a law that would make companies recognize unions.”I cannot see that it is consistent with ecumenical Christian social concern for workers […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

BRIGHTON, England _ Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, in an unprecedented appearance before trade unionists, won a standing ovation from labor leaders Tuesday (Sept. 9) announcing his support for a law that would make companies recognize unions.”I cannot see that it is consistent with ecumenical Christian social concern for workers to be denied a say in those decisions which concern them in a large part of their lives, or to be denied a right to be represented by a large trade union of their own choice in dealings with their employers,”Carey told the British Trade Union Congress.”I believe that, in broad terms, employers have a moral responsibility to recognize the chosen representatives of their employees, and that it is unjust when people suffer victimization on grounds of their membership of an independent union or participation in its legitimate activities,”he added.

Carey, a product of the working class and who, before entering the priesthood, was a member of two unions, is the first archbishop of Canterbury to address the TUC.


His reception was in marked contrast to the stony silence received by Prime Minister Tony Blair, the head of the Labor Party, who told the unionists that while he, too, favored statutory recognition of unions by companies, he would not turn the clock back to the days when unions were allowed to wield what he called”excessive”power.”We will not go back to the days of industrial warfare, strikes without ballots, mass and flying pickets, secondary action and all the rest,”said Blair.

Carey’s comments were made amidst a drive by labor unions for a law that would require companies to recognize organized unions at their firm. Some British companies refuse to recognize unions even when more than 50 percent of the workforce are union members and oppose union recognition because they say it would deny them flexibility in hiring.

Carey put his endorsement of the law in the context of a sharp critique of the unfettered free market.”We know from bitter experience … that market forces are very good servants but bad masters,”Carey said.”Few will deny that wealth must be created before it can be shared,”the archbishop said.”But markets must be made to serve moral and human ends; they are not sufficient in themselves.”Humane working conditions, social justice, an inclusive and cohesive society, responsible stewardship of the environment and natural resources: these cannot be regarded as second-order concerns, contingent on the iron laws of economics which are seen as primary,”he added.”That approach leads to an unsustainable and unjust society. They are the first-order concerns which economic activity should serve.” Carey’s comments, however, drew criticism from some.

Ann Widdicombe, the former Conservative government’s minister of prisons, said Carey”would be better sticking to spiritual matters and leaving political issues to people who understand them.” Carey was also criticized by Roger Lyons, the head of a white-collar union organizing Anglican clergy. He accused Carey of hypocrisy in calling for mandatory union recognition when the church refuses to recognize the clergy union.

A church spokesman said that clergy could not belong to a union because they worked for God.

Carey’s remarks, unusual for the head of Britain’s established church, echoed the stance of Britain’s Roman Catholic bishops, who earlier this year issued a report _ similar to the U.S. bishops’ pastoral on economic life _ calling on owners and managers, as well as the government, to shape the economy to meet the needs of workers, create jobs for the poor and to protect the environment.

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On Sunday (Sept. 7), Roman Catholic Bishop John Jukes of the diocese of Southwark opened the trade union meeting with a call for changes in the workplace to benefit the whole of society.”Innovation springs from human insights and ingenuity,”Jukes said.”It should not be mindlessly resisted. Yet it must remain under human control. No innovation should be allowed to be introduced or operate in such a way that it strikes at human dignity or solidarity.” Jukes said competition between firms _ and between nations _ coupled with threats to the environment, constituted the most urgent of the challenges facing humanity today in the work world.”Competition which simply seeks to overwhelm another enterprise or state is against the spirit of the gospel,”he said.”It is also repugnant to all properly motivated trade unionists.”


MJP END NOWELL

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