Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Will Chicago Teacher Union Fight Get Same Catholic Headlines and Angst As Wisconsin ?

In case you have been living under a rock the Chicago teachers are on strike. Depending on how long this lasts one wonders if this will  garner the same Catholic Social Teaching headlines and angst as we saw in Wisconsin last year as to their teacher strike.

To say the least it was the Catholic issue of the hour in which we were all called to give our attention too and give our two cents. See from last year :

Labor pains: What Wisconsin tells us about Catholics and unions ( U.S Catholic )
UPDATE: Bishops of Wisconsin: Say union YES! ( U.S. Catholic )

Catholic teaching and unions: Framing the debate ( Madison Catholic Herald ) ,
Archbishop addresses right of workers, value of unions  ( Madison Catholic Herald with link to Wisconsin Catholic Conference Statement) ,
Catholic teaching's pro-union bias ( Opinion piece by Rev. Robert A Sirico in the Journal Sentinel ),
Faith leaders voice support for unions ( Journal Sentinel ) ,
Catholic social teaching opposes Walker's attack on unions, defends collective bargaining as fundamental human right. ( Democurmudgeon blog) ,
Catholics and Wisconsin Labor Union Dispute ( Catholic Advocate) ,
Catholic Social Teaching and Worker Benefits Part 1 and Catholic Social Teaching and Worker Benefits (II) ( Catholic Vote )
A good Catholic cannot support Gov. Walker's plan. Discuss. ( Mirrors of Justice )
Reid on Rerum Novarum and the right's demonization of labor unions ( Mirrors of Justice )

The list could go on and on and on.

I suspect this time the debate will be a lot more muted. There are different issues involved of course in Chicago vs Wisconsin. Also I think Wisconsin ended sort of badly all things considered on a PR sense  as to public sector unions. So we shall see if people take much interest in the Catholic ghetto where these are discussed at length.

I caught two Catholic pieces on the Chicago teacher  situation and they were NOT  very sympathetic at all . From Mirrors of Justice  we have Law Prof Rick Garnett and his post Rerum novarum and the Chicago Teachers Union strike and  this one  from Catholic Vote Chicago Teachers Union Strike: Some Thoughts .

There was only one PRO Chicago Teacher strike piece from a Catholic viewpoint  I saw from the the National Catholic Reporter ( SUPRISE ) . See Why I stand with Chicago's teachers

We shall see , but for numerous reasons I think the Catholic Social teaching debate here is going to be far more muted than Wisconisn
















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