National
Council of Churches (Representing 33 million Protestants)
Whereas, the churches, in the statement of 'The Social Ideals'
have stood for 'The right of employees and employers alike to organize for
collective bargaining'. Resolved: that the National Council record its
conviction that not only has labor a right to organize, but also that it is
socially desirable that is do so because of the need for collective action in
the maintenance of standards of living... National Council of Churches
(Representing 33 million Protestants)
Baptist Churches
We recognize the right of labor to organize and to engage in
collective bargaining to the end that labor may have a fair and living wage,
such as will provide and culture.@ (SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.)
We reaffirm the right of labor to organize into unions or to
affiliate with national labor bodies.@ (NORTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.)
Catholic Church
In the first place, employers and workmen may themselves
effect much in the matter which we treat-(saving the workers from being ground
down with excessive labor). The most important of all are workmen's
associations...but it is greatly desired that they should multiply and become
more effective. (LEO XIII).
What is to be thought of the action of those Catholic
industrialists who even to this day have shown themselves hostile to a labor
movement that we ourselves recommended.@ (PIUS XI.)
Labor can have no effective voice as long as it is
unorganized. To protect its rights it must be free to bargain collectively
through its own chosen representatives. Catholic Church
Church of the Brethren
Laborers are always to be regarded as persons and never as a
commodity. Industry was made for man, and not man for industry. Employees as
well as employers have the right to organize themselves into a union for wage
negotiations and collective bargaining.@ (BRETHREN SERVICE COMMISSION, CHURCH
OF THE BRETHREN.)
Congregational Christian Churches
We stand for the replacement of the autocratic organization of
industry by one of collective effort of organized workers and organized
employers.
The Disciples of Christ
ABe It Resolved by the International Convention of the
Disciples of Christ:
That It is our conviction that workers should have the right
to self-organization, to form, join, or assist in forming labor organizations,
to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing and to
engage in such activities as are within the limits of Constitutional rights
for the purpose of bargaining with employers and other mutual aid protection.
Evangelical and Reformed Church
In order that the Christian principles of respect for
personality, establishment of brotherhood, and obedience in the revealed will
of God may find more adequate expression in the economic order, we commit our
selves to work for ...the recognition of the right of employers and workers to
organize for collective bargaining, as a step toward the democratic control of
industry for the good of society.
Jewish Synagogue
The same rights of organization which rest with employers rest
also with those whom they employ. Modern life has permitted wealth to
consolidate itself through organization into corporations. Workers have the
same inalienable right to organize according to their own plan for their
common good and to bargain collectively with their employers through such
honorable manes as they may choose.@ (CENTRAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICAN RABBIS.)
We believe that the denial of the right of workers to organize
and to form group associations so that they may treat as economic equals with
their employers is tantamount to a curtailment of human freedom. For that
reason, we favor the unionization of all who labor. Jewish
Methodist Church
We stand for the right of employees and employers alike to
organize for collective bargaining and social action; protection of both in
the exercise of their right; the obligation of both to work for the public
good.@ (THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST CHURCH.)
Collective bargaining, in its mature phase, is democracy
applied to industrial relations. It is representative government and reasoned
compromise taking the place of authoritarian rule by force in the economic
sphere. In its highest form it is the Christian ideal of brotherhood
translated into the machinery of daily life.@ (GENERAL BOARD OF CHRISTIAN
EDUCATION OF THE METHODIST CHURCH.)
Presbyterian Church
Labor unions have been instrumental in achieving a higher
standard of living and in improving working conditions. They have helped to
obtain safety and health measures against occupational risk; to achieve a
larger degree of protection against child labor; to relieve the disabled, the
sick, the unemployed; and to gain a more equitable share in the value of what
they produce.@ (BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, U.S.A.)
The right of labor to organize and to bargain collectively
with employers is clearly an inalienable right in a democracy, and has so been
recognized by our government.@ (SYNOD OF TENNESSEE, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF
U.S.)
The Protestant Episcopal Church
We recognize the right of labor to organize and to engage in
collective bargaining to the end that labor may have a fair and living wage,
such as will provide not only for the necessities of life, but for recreation,
pleasure, and culture.
Lutheran Church
We are convinced that the organization of labor is essential
to the well being of the working people. It is based upon a sense of the
inestimable value of the individual man.@United Lutheran Church In America
It is the right of every man to organize with his fellow
workers for collective bargaining through representatives of his own free
choice. It is the duty of both management and labor to accept and support
conciliations and arbitration in industrial disputes...@ (BOARD OF SOCIAL
MISSION AND THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA.)