TEC and Unions

Here's a bit more on the story I blogged this morning regarding people now unemployed, who used to clean the offices at Episcopal Church Center.

Over at the Episcopal Café, Ann Fontaine reminds us that General Convention 2006 passed this resolution:

Resolution Number: 2006-D047
Title: Support Worker Unions and a Living Wage
Legislative Action Taken: Concurred as Amended
Final Text:
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention support actively the right of workers to form a union, and increase the support in our cities and states for passage of “living wage” legislation; and be it further
Resolved, That the Convention commit the Church at all levels to contract solely with union hotels in its meetings, or to obtain confirmation that local prevailing “living wages” are paid by all hotels the Church uses; and be it further
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention strongly urge the Church Center staff and especially the General Convention Planning Office to assure that dioceses that host events of The Episcopal Church comply with GC2003-A130 and provide a living wage for their employees; and be it further
Resolved, That we commend to the Church at all levels the services of Informed Meetings Exchange (www.inmex.org), a new non-profit agency committed to helping organizations make informed decisions regarding convention and meeting planning.

That resolution, of course, merely related to the venues in which the Episcopal Church would hold meetings.

Nowhere did it express any commitment by our church to unions with whom TEC contracts, nor to the union workers who do the work of our church.

So TEC management is quite free to treat union contractors and workers however it wishes. And the church’s Chief Operating Officer is totally within her rights.

Within her rights, yes.

On the side of Christ and the Gospel? Well … that’s another question, isn’t it?

I have at least one more blog-post yearning to come out on this topic. Stay tuned.