Voices
Clayton Sinyai is a trade union activist and the author of Schools of Democracy: A Political History of the American Labor Movement (Cornell, 2006). He is a member of the Catholic Labor Network, the American affiliate of the World Movement of Christian Workers. He can be reached at clayton@catholiclabor.org.
In All Things
Today the US Conference of Catholic Bishops nbsp added its voice to those supporting the union rights of Wisconsin s public employees Supporting the nbsp clear stand of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference nbsp a letter by Bishop Stephen Blaire in his capacity as Chairman of the Bishops Committee
In All Things
Weighing in on the legislative debate in Wisconsin over the right of public employees to join unions and engage in collective bargaining Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee ndash speaking in his capacity as President of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference ndash nbsp issued a forthright defen
In All Things
In the summer of 2009 after years of dialogue between the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Catholic hospitals typically operated by religious orders and labor unions that represent health care workers the three groups issued a joint document on ldquo Respecting the Just Rights of Workers rd
In All Things
It looks like public employee wages are emerging as a major public policy issue nbsp A number of prominent conservatives have been making a loud case that government workers are spoiled and overpaid President Obama while not endorsing the characterization has agreed that the current economic c
In All Things
The US National Labor Relations Board NLRB has called upon Borgess Medical Center of Kalamazoo Michigan to appear before a hearing to respond to accusations of union-busting activity The charges describe actions taken in the course of contract negotiations with the Michigan Nurses Association
In All Things
For America rsquo s Catholic workers September 6 marks the second of two lsquo labor days rsquo of the calendar year Most of the world honors the laboring man and woman on May 1 a feast duly marked in our liturgical calendar as the Feast of St Joseph the Worker Later the first Monday in Septe
In All Things
Phoenix AZ-- ldquo The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few rdquo the Lord tells us in the Gospel last Sunday ldquo so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest Luke 10 2 rdquo It rsquo s an observation that takes on a curious double meaning in Arizona the
Books
The former White House speechwriter Michael Gerson widely credited with authorship of such George W Bush catchphrases as ldquo axis of evil rdquo and ldquo the soft bigotry of low expectations rdquo is no stranger to big ideas And here he has assumed no small task In Heroic Conservatism Ge
Books
In recent decades a growing number of social scientists like Theda Skocpol whose Diminished Democracy I reviewed in this space 10 20 03 have rediscovered the voluntary associations of civil society that flourish in the social space between government agencies and profit-seeking firms Today bus
Books
According to a certain triumphalone might say self-satisfiedview of recent American history our nation today is a far more democratic place than it was 50 years ago Then our republic was defaced in so many ways by invidious discrimination Today thanks to the civil rights crusades and the women r