The Rev. Dr. Michael Szpak, a clergy member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, has spent his ministry ministering within the labor movement. He has served as a liaison between labor unions and the religious community and as an organizer of church support for labor campaigns. He has agreed to discuss the relationship between United Methodism and labor this Labors Day weekend. His previous responses are here and here.
Question: Some might see labor organizing as political work more than ministry. How has your work on behalf of the labor movement and workers fulfilled your call to ministry?
Rev. Szpak: When explaining my ministry a starting point for me is the following Scripture: “... in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself ...” (II Cor. 5:19)
When I began the process of seeking ordination in the United Methodist Church, I had an initial interview with a member of the District Board of Ordained Ministry at my home. When I told him that I believed that God was active in the labor movement, he advised me not to mention this belief in my upcoming meetings with the board. I am as convinced now as I was then that God is active and present in the labor movement. I have witnessed and continue to witness that reality in my ministry.
God’s action in Christ takes place in the world and the church is constantly challenged to identify and respond to that action in the world. Organized labor represents over 13 million working persons and millions of family members. It is an arena in which God’s activity can be identified, and it is here that God has positioned me for ministry. Living the culture of organized labor is a location that most United Methodist pastors have never experienced. I have learnt during my ministry that organized labor is a context for ministry, and I am constantly assessing where the Holy Spirit is leading my own ministry. The following are a few of my own observations about organized labor as a context for ministry.
At their best, labor unions are committed to a vision of a just society where all persons are treated with dignity and respect. This is an ethical goal which the union movement shares with the United Methodist Church, and upon which local United Methodist congregations and labor in local communities can develop relationship. Positions on so many moral issues represented in the Social Principles and the United Methodist Book of Resolutions are shared by labor union organizations. This is a building block for relationship.
I have understood one particular social teachings found in the Social Principles as a basis for my own ministry within organized labor. In essence, my ministry makes real or incarnates various Social Principles of the United Methodist Church that speak to the rights of workers. For example, Paragraph 163.B: '"Collective Bargaining" states,
We support the right of public and private (including farm, government, institutional, and domestic) employees and employers to organize for collective bargaining into unions and other groups of their choosing. Further, we support the right of both parties to protection in so doing and their responsibility to bargain in good faith within the framework of the public interest. In order that the rights of all members of the society may be maintained and promoted, we support innovative bargaining procedures that include representatives of the public interest in negotiation and settlement of labor-management contracts, including some that may lead to forms of judicial resolution of issues. We reject the use of violence by either party during collective bargaining or any labor/management disagreement. We likewise reject the permanent replacement of a workers who engages in a legal strike.
Other sections of the Social Principles and Book of Resolutions address workplace justice concerns such as living wage, workplace health and safety, child labor, and justice for migrant farm workers.
Over the past 15 years that I have been appointed to an outreach ministry to organized lanor and have worked at the AFL-CIO national headquarters, I have facilitated the building of bridges between the national and local labor movement and the United Methodist Church and many local congregations around the United States. Through worker rights advocacy activities during strikes, lockouts, boycotts and union organizing campaigns, I have assisted labor unions and their members to confront corporations, many that are global in nature, who would destroy their union or rob them of dignity and respect.
My ministry has repeatedly experienced the negative approaches employers utilize to dissuade workers from unionizing their workplace. From a Wesleyan lens, I believe these employer actions would be considered morally deficient, if not reprehensible.
Henri Nouwen said that “ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one’s search for God, with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and hope, at the disposal of those who want to join this search but do not know how.” Through my ministry I have learnt much about the social justice commitments of union leaders and activists and the sacrifices they make to maintain those commitments. I have consistently struggled and experimented with ways to be present to those who want “to join in this search” for God within the context of the union movement.
In my ministry, I have observed that both the United Methodist Church and labor unions are mass organizations. They are both deeply involved with meeting needs and serving as witnesses to the greater good. From a church perspective, I would say, using Social Gospel and Liberation Theology language, that they are both seeking the Kingdom of God. If The United Methodist Church is to intentionally involve itself with the welfare of masses of people it is quite natural that the Church should have a deep and on-going relationship with the labor movement at all levels.
I have found that, although many union members, leaders and activists are already church members, a significant number are not or are dissatisfied with their current church relationship. Many union leaders have had little contact with the church or are uncomfortable approaching pastors. Some have felt or actually been rejected when they have asked the church for assistance during severe , emotionally, and spiritually depleting traumas in the lives of their members. These traumas are the result of strikes, lock-outs, workers discriminated by employers while engaged in union representational/organizing activities, and so many other outrageous and morally questionable employer tactics to discourage and defeat unionization efforts. Moreover, union activists who are members of United Methodist local congregations often feel that the subject of unions is “off limits” in the church.
On the local church level, I am convinced that we can be intentional about identifying labor union members in our congregations and seek to understand their attitudes to the union and other workplace concerns. We will meet other union members as we witness to the worker justice teachings of the United Methodist Church in local communities. As we are present to those workers who are seeking to form or maintain their unions and are experiencing employer opposition, we can begin to develop on-going relationships.
I believe that the labor movement offers the United Methodist Church a real mission opportunities. The labor movement is an instrument through which the church can contact and develop relationships with persons who share so many of our moral commitments. The labor movement is a window that opens onto the lives of so many men, women, and persons of diverse economic levels and cultures. It is an arena where the Holy Spirit beckons and social and relational evangelism approaches can be pursued.
There can be no doubts that the United Methodist tradition points to our historical roots in the labor movement. The workers whom Wesley discovered in the mines of Britain and factory villages were considered nothing more than animals. These workers came to Jesus, Wesley equipped them for ministry, and many became active participants and leaders in British labor movement. For those in the Wesleyan tradition, the labor movement offers a broad range of possibilities for ministry. If we seek to develop an evangelistic approach that addresses the lives of union members and those who desire union representation in their workplace, we will stamp ourselves as descendants of John Wesley.
In a 1948 letter to religious leaders, Dr. Cameron P. Hall, a Methodist Church leader and executive secretary of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America Department of Church an Economic Life, asked: “What should and can the churches do with, for, and through their members who are potential or actual leaders and members of labor unions?” This question is still valid today.
I believe that the starting point for all Christian ministry is Jesus, and, as Jesus ministered to those on the margins, so the church is called to do the same. Labor union leaders, union activists, union members, and workers who are seeking workplace justice are on the margins of our. society. They present both a challenge and an opportunity for ministry. Wesley taught the value of small groups whose members support each other on their journey and provide an opportunity for accountability. From what I have experienced in the labor movement, groups modeled after covenant discipleship groups may be a way to integrate spirituality into the lives of union activists and members who are deeply engaged in workplace justice advocacy.
To be continued ...
Comments