Minnesota Archbishop Becomes a Union Buster/ So that is what the Forthnight for Freedom is All About/Bishop's Authority Over Workers' Rights?

http://ht.ly/bOfbY

by Tom Gallagher on Jun. 22, 2012

"The conservative Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis is channeling his inner Scott Walker, the controversial, union-busting Republican governor of neighbor Wisconsin. Archbishop Nienstedt is unilaterally terminating the archdiocese's Catholic newspaper union. This really comes as no surprise given the tenor of these Tea Party Catholic times. Instead of working through whatever managerial challenges the archbishop might have had with the 13-member newspaper guild, he just disbands it.

And with a presumably straight face, he puts forward a worker-protection policy implemented by his predecessor, Archbishop Harry Flynn, called "Justice in Employment," which created certain safeguards for archdiocesan employees prior to being fired. Back in early 2009, I wrote an NCR story about the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis' Justice in Employment policy.

The purpose of Justice in Employment was to eliminate cases where a new pastor unilaterally fires the janitor or the cook or a case where a principal comes in and fires a teacher without any due process or an opportunity for improvement, and so on. The purpose of Justice in Employment was not to bust up unions. And it didn't. The policy has worked well alongside the existence of the 13-member newspaper guild.

Also in 2009 I wrote a story on whether church employees have any benefits or rights in the event that they are fired by dioceses, parishes and schools. Not much.

Meanwhile, the Fortnight for Freedom rolls on. Jeesh..."