What is a Union?
Understanding Its Role and Importance
by CAPP-USA
What is a Union?
A union is an organization comprised of workers with shared goals usually pertaining to benefits, wages, working conditions, and other workplace issues. A union represents the workers with management, often negotiating contracts between them.
The Church answers the question ‘what is a union’ with, it is a right.
The concept of a union is no stranger to Catholic social teaching.
Do Workers Have a Right to Form Unions?
Yes!
The right to form unions is firmly rooted in Catholic social teaching — with even their historical antecedents confirmed: “History attests what excellent results were brought about by the artificers’ guilds of olden times.” (Rerum Novarum, 49)
Pope Leo XIII devotes much of his encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which ushered in the modern Catholic social teaching, to the importance of unions. Of all the associations and organizations created in the service of mankind, “The most important of all are workingmen’s unions” and he hoped “that they should become more numerous and more efficient.” (Rerum Novarum, 49)
The Catholic Church’s Consistent Support for Labor Unions
The Catholic Church has consistently defended the right to unionize across multiple pontificates:
- “[L]abour unions…have always been encouraged and supported by the Church.” (Pope Benedict XVI, 7)
- “To the Encyclical of Leo, therefore, must be given this credit, that these associations of workers have so flourished everywhere.” (Pope Pius XI, 22)
- “Pope Leo XIII also defended the worker’s natural right to enter into association with his fellows.” (Pope St. John XXIII, 22)
A century after Rerum Novarum, Pope St. John Paul II reminded the world that “The right of association is a natural right of the human being”. (Centesimus Annus, 7) He further emphasized: “This means above all the right to establish professional associations of employers and workers, or of workers alone.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 7)
Pope St. John Paul II also devoted major sections in Laborem Exercens to the importance of unions:
“[T]he modern unions grew up from the struggle of the workers…to protect their just rights…Their task is to defend the existential interests of workers in all sectors in which their rights are concerned.” (Laborem Exercens, 20)
“They are indeed a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice, for the just rights of working people in accordance with their individual professions.” (Laborem Exercens, 20)
Catholic social teaching unequivocally affirms the right to unionize.
“Labour unions…have always been encouraged and supported by the Church”. (Pope Benedict XVI, 7)
The Role of Government in Supporting Unions
Pope Leo XIII calls workers’ unions “real societies”. (Pope Leo XIII, 50) He explains:
“Since to enter into a ‘society’ of this kind is the natural right of man; and the State has for its office to protect natural rights, not to destroy them; and, if it forbid its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very principle of its own existence.” (Rerum Novarum, 51)
Pope St. John Paul II reinforces this, stating that “the formation of unions ‘cannot … be prohibited by the State’”. (Centesimus Annus, 7)
However, the State can intervene when “men join together for purposes which are evidently bad, unlawful, or dangerous to the State”. (Pope Leo XIII, 52)
Even here though, Pope Leo XIII cautions that “every precaution should be taken not to violate the rights of individuals and not to impose unreasonable regulations under pretense of public benefit.” (Rerum Novarum, 52)
Overall, “The State should watch over these societies of citizens banded together in accordance with their rights, but it should not thrust itself into their peculiar concerns and their organization”. (Pope Leo XIII, 55)
As for unions — “In order that an association may be carried on with unity of purpose and harmony of action, its administration and government should be firm and wise.” (Pope Leo XIII, 56)
The True Purpose of Labor Unions
Unions must serve the common good — avoiding damaging forms of self-interest or undue political manipulation.
Pope St. John Paul II warns that “Union demands cannot be turned into a kind of group or class ‘egoism’, although they can and should also aim at correcting — with a view to the common good of the whole of society.” (Laborem Exercens, 20)
“[T]he role of unions is not to ‘play politics’.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 20)
Pope Francis emphasizes that unions “are required to be a voice for the voiceless”. (Address to Managers and Delegates of the Italian General Confederation of Labor)
Unions also “serve the development of an authentic culture of work and help workers to share in a fully human way in the life of their place of employment”. (Centesimus Annus, 15)
What About Strikes?
Regarding strikes, Pope St. John Paul II notes:
“[W]orkers should be assured the right to strike, without being subjected to personal penal sanctions for taking part in a strike. While admitting that it is a legitimate means, we must at the same time emphasize that a strike remains, in a sense, an extreme means. It must not be abused; it must not be abused especially for ‘political’ purposes.” (Laborem Exercens, 20)
Catholic Social Teaching on Unions: The Bottom Line
What is a union? It is an association of workers, and it is a right! (Pope St. John Paul II, 20)
Pope Francis succinctly stated, “There is no trade union without workers, and there are no free workers without trade unions.” (Address to Managers and Delegates of the Italian General Confederation of Labor)
Pope Leo XIII summarizes:
“To sum it up, We may lay it down as a general and lasting law that working men’s associations should be so organized and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable means for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual member to better his condition to the utmost in body, soul, and property.” (Rerum Novarum, 57)
