Ethical guidelines for a religious institution confronted by a union. - book reviews

In a brief paper, Ed Marciniak, president of the Institute of Urban Life, Loyola University, Chicago, give administrators of Catholic institutions eight simple guides for the process of moving from shock and disbelief when employees of the institution decide they want to engage in collective bargaining to recognition that a union can be a resource.

Marciniak patiently reminds administrators that Catholic social doctrines apply to Catholic institutions as employers as well as to other employers. He draws upon papal documents, bishops' statements, and the published commentaries of many church leaders, both clerical and lay, to suggest that labor-management relations should be characterized by mutural respect rather than paternalism.

Putting to rout the notion that Church teaching regarding the rights of workers to seek collective bargaining gives unfavorable advantage to unions, the author goes on to inform administrators that the desire of employees of religious institutions for collective bargaining will grow, now diminish in the coming years. In closing, he recommends that institutional executives consider labor-management relations without personal agitation.

This seasoned and objective presentation could be recommended for its bibliography alone, even if its message were not so clear and persuasive.

COPYRIGHT 1985 AFL-CIO
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group