I was listening to a This American Life podcast yesterday. It was their "Poultry Slam 2008" episode. A show dedicated to birds and the supernatural.
One of the stories was about a labor dispute that has been going on in a poultry processing plant in North Carolina. The workers in this plant have been trying to unionize due to horrible unsafe working conditions and their rights being violated. A few years back, the man who leads the workers in this effort, went and talked to the plant managers Episcopal priest in an attempt to see if he could appeal to the managers core value system. The idea that if a man claimed to be a Christian and to follow Christ, shouldn't that man be treating his workers better. Shouldn't that manager be standing with the poor and weak and helping them instead of hindering them.
The priest did come down to the plant on the day of the union vote to talk to the manager, ultimately it seems, the manager felt the priest was involving himself in something that was none of his business.
The reporter of this particular story also cited other examples of workers talking to clergy of all walks about helping their causes in situations where the workers rights were being violated.
What is the job of clergy in modern day? Is bringing a priest, pastor, or rabbi in to deal with such matters going to far? How far should the influence of a person's community reach?
In the past and even in some places today a man and his boss would have attended the same church.Would that circumstance make it more acceptable for clergy to be involved? Should clergy be involved at all?
I am interested to hear your thoughts on this.
May your work week be peaceful and safe.
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I need to put your blog in my reader so I see when you post. As for this particular issue, I think the answer unfortunately is "it depends." The reality is if the man IS a Christian, then bringing his priest into the discussion was appropriate, because he should be Christian in all walks of his life, not just on Sundays.
ReplyDeleteIt's a difficult balance. I manage a staff of 6 and one of them is a Jehovah's Witness and another is Mormon. I know little about Jehovah's Witnesses, other than they don't celebrate birthdays and Christmas and such, and my experiences with Mormons were very positive until the whole Prop 8 thing. But it's my experience with both of them that their religions are respectively part of who they ARE, not just something they DO. And if you have someone like that, then I do think the Priest or pastor can be helpful in turning someone in the right direction.
Ultimately though, this issue is about human rights in the workplace, and Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, shouldn't matter.