Reflection on St Joseph the Worker and Bob Crow

Photos by Lawrence OP & Karen Fletcher at flickr.com

1 May is the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, a day on which the Church encourages us to celebrate the value of work, and the dignity and rights of workers. These issues are already in sharp focus this week for Londoners, due to strike action by London Underground workers. Writing in Thinking Faith, John Battle asks to what extent the understanding of trade unions in Catholic Social Teaching matches that of the late union leader, Bob Crow.

Any London-based readers are likely to be heading into the Feast of St Joseph the Worker on 1 May having experienced the chaos of a two-day tube strike organised by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT), the second such strike to take place this year. The public attitude to this industrial action, which caused widespread disruption to London’s transport network, has been largely unsympathetic. The fact that industrial strikes are an increasingly rare occurrence (not least because it is now legally much harder for union members to take such action) has meant that, when they do occur, they are regarded by many as throwbacks to a bygone age that have no place in a modern economy.

Read John Battle's article on Thinking Faith, here: www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/st-joseph-worker-and-bob-crow