VL 'Stokely's dog' 49.1

[Michael Bailey]

bandwraith wrote:

> One of Zoyd's attributes which I find endearing
> is his lack of participation in organized labor. I
> guess I support unions, but I find the reality of
> having to work for someone else's profits and
> then having to fight for basic rights, while being
> a wage slave, a hideous option. Can't think of
> a better reason for becoming a gypsy roofer.
>

somebody on the list a few months ago posted about how they observed
non-union roofers working in dangerous conditions with inadequate
tools
I myself met a roofer who became disabled falling through a rotten roof deck.
It's almost like Pascal's wager in a couple ways:
1) early Christians faced a situation where Pascal would sound like an
idiot: "what, I risk nothing by professing Christ - what about these
lions here and this public burning there?"

2) in Pascal's own time, his postulation was tenable;
for most people today union membership is like his wager not only in
that joining an available union is a nugatory effort, and paid
holidays, overtime, benefits, recourse, and contracts are affirmed -
or in some cases gained for the first time...but also because like
Christianity, the labor movement has opportunities for deeper
investigation and commitment. In no particular order, f'r-instances
include attractive logos, solidarity and training, careers in labor, a
new perspective on the news, a course of study in college, a
specializition in law practice...

http://rooferslocal20.com/apprenticeships.html
http://ibew.org/
fair usage quote: Most of us have very limited bargaining power as one
person, but as a group, we are strong. And, with a good negotiated
contract, we have legal protections we would not have otherwise.

and for good measure, a side of Rerum Novarum to go with that:

3. In any case we clearly see, and on this there is general agreement,
that some opportune remedy must be found quickly for the misery and
wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working
class: for the ancient workingmen's guilds were abolished in the last
century, and no other protective organization took their place. Public
institutions and the laws set aside the ancient religion. Hence, by
degrees it has come to pass that working men have been surrendered,
isolated and helpless, to the hardheartedness of employers and the
greed of unchecked competition. The mischief has been increased by
rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the
Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with like
injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must
be added that the hiring of labor and the conduct of trade are
concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so that a small number
of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the
laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.

20. Of these duties, the following bind the proletarian and the
worker: fully and faithfully to perform the work which has been freely
and equitably agreed upon; never to injure the property, nor to
outrage the person, of an employer; never to resort to violence in
defending their own cause, nor to engage in riot or disorder; and to
have nothing to do with men of evil principles, who work upon the
people with artful promises of great results, and excite foolish hopes
which usually end in useless regrets and grievous loss. The following
duties bind the wealthy owner and the employer: not to look upon their
work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity
as a person ennobled by Christian character. They are reminded that,
according to natural reason and Christian philosophy, working for gain
is creditable, not shameful, to a man, since it enables him to earn an
honorable livelihood; but to misuse men as though they were things in
the pursuit of gain, or to value them solely for their physical powers
-- that is truly shameful and inhuman. Again justice demands that, in
dealing with the working man, religion and the good of his soul must
be kept in mind. Hence, the employer is bound to see that the worker
has time for his religious duties; that he be not exposed to
corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and that he be not led
away to neglect his home and family, or to squander his earnings.
Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work people beyond their
strength, or employ them in work unsuited to their sex and age. His
great and principal duty is to give every one what is just. Doubtless,
before deciding whether wages are fair, many things have to be
considered; but wealthy owners and all masters of labor should be
mindful of this -- that to exercise pressure upon the indigent and the
destitute for the sake of gain, and to gather one's profit out of the
need of another, is condemned by all laws, human and divine. To
defraud any one of wages that are his due is a great crime which cries
to the avenging anger of Heaven. "Behold, the hire of the laborers . .
. which by fraud has been kept back by you, crieth; and the cry of
them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath."[6] Lastly,
the rich must religiously refrain from cutting down the workmen's
earnings, whether by force, by fraud, or by usurious dealing; and with
all the greater reason because the laboring man is, as a rule, weak
and unprotected, and because his slender means should in proportion to
their scantiness be accounted sacred.

Were these precepts carefully obeyed and followed out, would they not
be sufficient of themselves to keep under all strife and all its
causes?

48. In the last place, employers and workmen may of themselves effect
much, in the matter We are treating, by means of such associations and
organizations as afford opportune aid to those who are in distress,
and which draw the two classes more closely together. Among these may
be enumerated societies for mutual help; various benevolent
foundations established by private persons to provide for the workman,
and for his widow or his orphans, in case of sudden calamity, in
sickness, and in the event of death; and institutions for the welfare
of boys and girls, young people, and those more advanced in years.

49. The most important of all are workingmen's unions, for these
virtually include all the rest. History attests what excellent results
were brought about by the artificers' guilds of olden times. They were
the means of affording not only many advantages to the workmen, but in
no small degree of promoting the advancement of art, as numerous
monuments remain to bear witness. Such unions should be suited to the
requirements of this our age -- an age of wider education, of
different habits, and of far more numerous requirements in daily life.
It is gratifying to know that there are actually in existence not a
few associations of this nature, consisting either of workmen alone,
or of workmen and employers together, but it were greatly to be
desired that they should become more numerous and more efficient. We
have spoken of them more than once, yet it will be well to explain
here how notably they are needed, to show that they exist of their own
right, and what should be their organization and their mode of action.