Is it immoral to cross a picket line?

[signit]

I guess it all comes down to your view of the right of workers to form a union for the purpose of collective bargaining and whether you wish to express your solidarity with their cause. I think I would only wish to undermine strike action if I felt that the union’s cause was clearly unjust. However, I am not surprised to find that people on this site are hostile toward unions. The World News forum consists mostly of links to Breitbart articles.

Conservative Republican here (and Catholic), not hostile toward unions.

Neither for nor against “unions,” but fully supportive of the right of individuals to form and support unions.

Whether I’d cross a picket line as a consumer would depend on circumstances. But I’d have to consider, if I support the union, if there would be an unfair increase in the cost of goods or services that would have to be borne by others.

 

[StudentMI]

Conservative Republican here (and Catholic), not hostile toward unions.

Neither for nor against “unions,” but fully supportive of the right of individuals to form and support unions.

Whether I’d cross a picket line as a consumer would depend on circumstances. But I’d have to consider, if I support the union, if there would be an unfair increase in the cost of goods or services that would have to be borne by others.

That’s a very sensible position and one I, as a union member, share.

 

[VonDerTann]

Don’t let my posts fool anyone: I too support the rights of workers to unionize.

Historically, US labor unions formed because of horrible abuses by employers. IHMO workers’ rights, and civil rights, have progressed to the point where unions may not be needed much (key work much), but that can be another debate.

If anyone wants to see a great union-oriented movie, it’s FIST with Sly Stallone: it shows the rise and fall of a labor union leader modeled on Jimmy Hoffa, and his fictitious union the Federation of Interstate Truckers, obviously modelled off the teamsters. Great flick, showing the need for unions, and also how they became involved with partnerships with organized crime.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

I’m sorry, but what you’re saying really is class warfare IMHO. It’s war on the rich, not the middle class…but it is war IMHO.

What you call an “elite academy” I might call “Catholic high school,” and I just don’t see that - and the sacrifices parents make to afford it - as some mark of elitism.

Country club memberships generally require huge initiation fees, often in the form of pledging a bond, as well as annual dues running to the multiples of tens of thousands. Even upper middle class professionals can’t afford those things.

As to assuming what people’s savings “should be,” I’ll say this. I’ve known very rich people; very poor people; and the in-between. What I’ve learned is that it is very easy, in fact seductively so, to count other people’s money. I knew a guy (X) who attacked a friend (Y) who was a lawyer, alleging the lawyer Y was a “fat cat.” The lawyer proceeded to talk about his student loans and all the other costs he had that Mr. X didn’t have: malpractice insurance; rent on his office; suits; dry cleaning costs; extra gas because he had to drive to many courthouses in different counties, continuing legal education courses required under law, etc. He went to a good but by no means Ivy League school and had all sorts of costs Mr. X didn’t have.

Look, there are truly obscenely rich (and BTW those peoples’ millions are often given to many charities!) but I respectfully detect an undercurrent of almost joy that maybe some upper-class person might get foreclosed on or “have to sell their BMW.” I hope I’m wrong, and I know from your many excellent posts that you don’t think that. But as a Catholic Christian, I wouldn’t want anyone to experience the pain of losing a home or having to pull kids out of a private school, rich or poor - heck, kids are the most innocent of all, regardless of their social standing.

God has a preferential option for the poor, the present Holy Father has a preferential option for the poor (boy, does he ever!), and I have a preferential option for the poor. I am not a socialist — I’ve seen socialism at work, and it doesn’t work, I am all in favor of capitalism and entrepreneurship — but I would indeed like to see a more egalitarian society, similar to the Scandinavian countries, France, or Germany. Even Canada does a lot of things right, that the United States doesn’t (or not as right, perhaps I should say). I’d pay higher taxes. I’ve never begrudged a dollar of tax I’ve ever paid in my whole life. And as far as the principle of subsidiary is concerned, there are some things that nobody else can do as efficiently, as uniformly, as consistently, or as fairly as the government. I was forced to select a party preference the other day (for absentee voting), and I chose Democrat. It was one of the more honest things I’ve done in a while.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

I wouldn’t say that I take joy or delight in someone “having to sell their BMW”, and certainly not in losing their home — nobody needs a BMW but everybody needs a home — but I do confess that I have far less sympathy for the loss of luxuries than for the loss of necessities. I will even concede that many professional people and entrepreneurs more or less have to join country clubs for business purposes, and even for reasons of social standing. I’ve been to some of the finest country clubs in the land, and if someone can afford it (and if there is no racial, religious, or social discrimination), then that’s wonderful.

Catholic schools should be free, or available at very low cost, to any practicing, faithful Catholic families. There is a way to do that, but it would involve a massive paradigm shift among Catholics — more vocations resulting in more priestly and religious teachers, larger families to make the schools more viable in the first place, larger contributions almost to the point of tithing, establishing Catholic schools as mandatory for the faithful where such schools exist, as was the practice before Vatican II — and that paradigm shift isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

I am fully aware that many professionals — doctors, lawyers, et al — have expenses that the average layman doesn’t realize.

 

[VonDerTann]

Free catholic school. Hmmm…

There you go again, coming up with interesting ideas, after I disagreed with you.

Know what? That’s one I’m going to think hard about.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

Free catholic school. Hmmm…

There you go again, coming up with interesting ideas, after I disagreed with you.

Know what? That’s one I’m going to think hard about.

Yes, free Catholic school. When I was in Catholic high school, it was free for all parishioners. You could give a dollar a week, and send a dozen children there, and nobody would ever say a word to you. Fundraisers, such as they were, were infrequent and were for athletics or for the benefit of the class (school trips and the like), not for academic support. Our faculty consisted of mostly priests and sisters who received room and board (plus a small salary for the priests). Books were free, they were old, but they were free. I always joke that I became a traditionalist because they were still using the books from before Vatican II! Everything was bare-bones but you got as good an education as the effort you put into it. (I graduated third in my class, and it was a very small class, and got full scholarship to undergraduate school.) Nowadays, Catholic schools have to offer “the best of everything” to attract non-Catholic families who pay full rack rate, to keep the schools viable. I have every expectation that the fullness of Catholic faith and morality are taught without omission or compromise.

 

[VonDerTann]

I really didn’t know this. Fascinating!

 

[Welshrabbit]

I pay a small fortune to send my kids to a Catholic school.

Not complaining because it is an incredible, wonderful, loving place and I would pay double what I’m currently paying but still…

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You would need to accept a job with them to be crossing the picket line.

Well, not necessarily. If you buy non-union product then you are figuratively “crossing a picket line”. But in most cases you are correct that buying from a company facing a strike is just increasing the workers’ leverage.

 

[do_justly_love_mercy]

I pay a small fortune to send my kids to a Catholic school.

My mind was truly blown when I discovered that the Catholic girls’ school where I grew up now charges tuition of over $54,000 p.a.! That makes a Catholic school education more expensive than Harvard.