A nasty battle of wills between three local Catholic medical centers and an aggressive union has ignited a passionate debate among national and local clergy about the church's role in dealing with labor disputes in its own backyard.
The clash between Catholic Healthcare West, which is operated by nine orders of nuns, and the Service Employees International Union is among the most contentious in a growing number of disputes between Catholic-run health care facilities and labor organizations.
It puts what has become a standard management response to an organizing drive--hiring consultants who specialize in defeating unions--under the scrutiny of church doctrine, which historically has been pro-labor.
"The teachings in the church documents are quite clear," said Msgr. George G. Higgins, a respected Catholic leader who served as labor consultant to the nation's bishops for more than 45 years. "Workers have a right to organize. If they're hiring a firm that is anti-union, then the sisters are wrong."
Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical in 1992 saying unions are "indispensable."
Some church leaders are troubled by allegations that managers at the three hospitals--St. Francis in Lynwood, Robert F. Kennedy in Hawthorne and St. Vincent in Los Angeles--have used religious authority to dissuade workers from joining a union. In separate letters to employees at Kennedy and St. Francis, three sisters and a chaplain argued that a union would interfere with the hospital's mission and drive a wedge between workers and supervisors.
Bernita McTernan, a Catholic Healthcare West senior vice president, said that there was no systematic effort to pressure workers and that the company was merely trying to ensure that employees had balanced information before voting on forming a union.
McTernan said 30% of the company's employees belong to labor unions. Just last year, registered nurses at St. Vincent Medical Center voted to join the California Nurses Assn.
The dispute will get a very public airing this weekend, as 3,000 church activists converge on Los Angeles for the National Catholic Gathering for Jubilee Justice, the largest meeting addressing social justice in the history of the church.
Some Clergy Members Plan Silent Protest
The four-day event will take aim at the health care conflict. AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney is set to join Mgsr. Higgins at a breakfast today to honor the church's "history of support for organized labor." Some clergy members have said they will wear pro-union buttons in a silent protest.
