@1 f4ora|K| ooon4 • - - i\ r>u M45 2." \ Sound View the nion "THE overwhelming majority of . . . Catholics justify the union shop in theory and practice and oppose the pres- ent campaign to outlaw it. At least a dozen archbishops and bishops have publicly taken stands against state ‘right to work’ laws. The Social Action De- partment of the National Catholic Wel- fare Conference in Washington has sim- ilarly condemned them, as has the direc- tor of the Institute of Social Order at St. Louis University. The vast majority of Catholic social scientists who have written on ‘right to work’ laws have de- nounced them as mischievous at best and at the worst as dangerous and per- nicious.” —Rev. Benjamin Masse, S. Associate Editor “America ” National Catholic Weekly Review '"Right TO WORK’ laws are im- moral according to Catholic social teach- ing . . . All good men and women, Protestants, Jews and Catholics, should seek by every just means to get ‘right to work’ laws repealed and should oppose them whenever they are proposed . . . The ‘right to work’ bills don’t guarantee the individual any right at all. They provide him with an opportunity to work alone, to work at less than union wages . . . The ‘right to work’ laws may will be an invitation to disaster. . . .” —Rev. William J. Kelley, O.M.I. , LL.D. Former Chairman , New York State Labor Relations Board neacM®** "Stripped of deceptive wording and deprived of prejudical catchwords used to defend them, the so-called ‘right to work’ laws lose their power of appeal to the normally intelligent objective observer . . . [‘Right to work’ laws] distort the dignity of the individual person to such a degree that the end re- sult of their universal application could be nothing short of anarchy.” —Father William J. Smith, S.J., Director St. Peter’s Institute of Industrial Relations [‘right to work’] legislation claim that a fundamental right of the individual is invaded if he must join a union. I do not agree with this viewpoint. It is neither immoral nor unethical to re- quire union membership for the common good of the group.” —Archbishop Henry J. O’Brien Connecticut ''The term ‘right to work’ in these statutes is a fraud and a misnomer to conceal their true purpose. These stat- utes do not guarantee anyone the right to work but represent merely an at- tempt to capitalize on the hopes raised by a ‘right to work’ slogan in order to restrict or outlaw all forms of union security arrangements worked out in collective bargaining by labor and man- agement.” —Dr. Israel Goldstein Rabbi of the Congregation B’nai Jeshurun New York , Neiv York " 'Right TO WORK’ legislation, in our opinion, is a misnomer whose pur- pose is to camouflage an attempt to undermine and weaken responsible dem- ocratic trade unionism. Experience has shown that under the guise of freedom of decision for each individual, the con- cept of collective bargaining is de- stroyed. Honest, democratic and clean labor unionism is essential for Ameri- can democracy.” —Rabbi Solomon J. Sharfman, President Rabbinical Council of America 1 Right to work’ bills would prohibit the union shop and other union security agreements that have two benef- icent purposes: (1) protecting em- ployee organizations against efforts by employers to destroy them, and (2) in- suring that the costs of a union’s ac- tivity are shared by all who benefit. ‘Right to work’ laws do not, in fact, guarantee the right to work, as any un- employed worker can testify.” —Dr. Joachim Prinz, President American Jewish Congress "Every man in a free society should have the right to work. But every man, once he finds employment, also has the moral duty to join an organization of fellow workers which achieved for him through its organized efforts the favor- able conditions he enjoys in his employ- ment and affords him protection for the future. Everyone is morally obligated to share in the responsibilities if he wishes to avail himself of the rewards of collective effort. The theoretic ‘right to work’—which no one questions—is qualified by man’s moral responsibility to assume the obligations which assure the very things which he seeks in his employment.” —Rabbi Abba HiUel Silver The Temple Cleveland , Ohio ft The ‘right to work’ laws are a vir- tual conspiracy of the crafty, the ignor- ant, or the misguided to subvert indus- trial peace, exploit men’s need to work, and deluge the community with indus- trial irresponsibility. ‘Right to work’ laws do not create jobs; they only vic- timize the worker and make his organi- zation ineffective.” —Rev , Dr. Walter G. Muelder Dean and Professor of Social Ethics Boston University School of Theology unp JL HUS, while people do not usually like compulsion in any form, they may accept some degree of it in order to achieve values which cannot be secured without it. They recognize that in any social order the exercise of individual freedoms may be self-defeating, and that freedom must of necessity in some circumstances be exercised in terms of group decisions ... It is the opinion of the Executive Board of the Division of Christian Life and Work that union membership as a basis of continued em- ployment should be neither required nor forbidden by law; the decision should be left to agreement by management and labor through the process of collective bargaining . . .” —Statement Approved by the Executive Board The Division of Christian Life and Work National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA "So-CALLED ‘right to work’ laws are fraudulent. They are neither intended nor designed to guarantee work or to establish the right to work. These laws are sponsored by the same reactionary forces that once sought to destroy labor organizations. Americans believe in the right to work. They resent the parasite, and see work as an obligation. But just as the communist deliberately misuses such worthy terms as ‘peace,’ ‘democracy,’ and ‘justice,’ so, too, clever, crafty and highly paid public relations experts have designated these endeavors to weaken labor as ‘right to work’ laws. They would return to the jungle of in- dustrial struggle, instead of marching forward to the bargaining table with its sensible and scientific cooperation.” —Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam , President Council of Bishops of the Methodist Church "Whether there is a union shop or not should be left to agreement by management and labor through the pro- cess of collective bargaining. The so- called ‘right to work’ laws are, in my opinion, a hindrance to freedom because they limit the scope of collective bar- gaining. They actually make the open shop compulsory. In doing so they deny the social values which are obtain- able through the properly safeguarded union shop.” —Rev. Dr. J. Edward Carothers , Pastor First Methodist Church Schenectady , New York Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO Walter P. Reuther James B. Carey President Secretary-Treasurer Albert Whitehouse Director Vice-Presidents I. W. Abel J. A. Beirne L. S. Buckmaster Joseph Curran Gordon Freeman A. F. Hartung Albert J. Hayes 0. A. Knight Paul L. Phillips William Pollock Frank Rosenblum Peter T. Schoemann Louis Stulberg Arnold Zander For Additional Copies INDUSTRIAL UNION DEPARTMENT AFL-CIO 815 Sixteenth Street, N. W. Washington 6, D. C. PRINTED IN’ U.5.A. 8-58