Remarks by Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Erroneous Autonomy: The Catholic Case Against Libertarianism
Born and raised in California’s Central Valley, I was never supposed to set foot on a university campus such as this.
I grew up as one of 11 kids in a migrant farm worker family . . . toiling in the fields during the ‘50s and ‘60s—before Cesar Chavez’s movement brought us any relief.
Some things never leave me:
• A baby brother who died from a common illness that was easily treatable—if we had been able to afford a doctor in time.
• My older sisters constantly battling sexual advances from foremen and labor contractors.
• These were the days before toilets in the fields…
…before clean drinking water…
…before state-guaranteed lunch and work breaks.
• The crop dusters flew low to spray pesticides on the fields right before we entered. Or poisons were sprayed in adjacent fields and drifted to where we were picking.
• We worked day to day to buy food. Too often, because we earned so little, there was not enough food—particularly for a family with 11 children.
• My oldest sisters, who were good students, had to drop out of school to support the family.
* * *
Two things changed my life.
In the ‘60s there was Cesar Chavez and his movement that led my people out of the wilderness of poverty and oppression.
There were also the social teachings of the Catholic Church, revealed to me as a young girl at our parish in west Fresno—especially Rerum novarum, “The Condition of Labor,” the papal encyclical from Pope Leo [the 13th] that promoted human dignity through just distribution of wealth and the right of workers to organize.
Our Republican brethren often forget about that part of Catholic doctrine . . . that part that embraces the flourishing of the human spirit plus the daily struggle to help the most vulnerable human beings flourish . . .
. . . that part that affirms Pope Francis’ words—that “Poverty in the world is a scandal.”
The radical right too often acts as if it has cornered the market when it comes to respect for family and work.
But part of respecting families is respecting what it takes to raise a family.
Part of respecting work is ensuring that those who work hard for a living enjoy the fruits of their labors through decent pay and benefits, and the sacred right of workers . . . enshrined in Papal encyclical and Catholic doctrine . . . to band together and demand a just share of what they themselves produce.
I grew up in this Catholic tradition, of a loving God, a passion for the least among us, and a faith deeply rooted in commitment to social justice.
That Catholic tradition’s embrace of community and empowerment and shared sacrifice for the common good flies in the face of the narrow and selfish individualism and materialism of libertarianism that has come to dominate the Republican Party.
What does it tell you when House GOP leaders such as Paul Ryan, who is Catholic, are inspired by the philosophy of Ayn Rand?
* * *
The challenge for all of us is how to exercise our faith in the real world.
Almost my entire life has been spent either as a worker or in the labor movement—dedicated to empowering the workingmen, -women and -children whose lives I have shared.
The lessons I learned growing up came with me when I organized and led the hotel and restaurant workers union in Los Angeles. Now I apply those lessons each day as leader of the L.A. labor movement.
Like Cesar Chavez and other progressive labor activists, the Catholic tradition informs my interpretation of self-organization and collective bargaining.
One of the great joys of my life has been seeing meek and compliant men and women turn through self-organization into fearless champions for their families . . . and into active participants in the civic and political affairs of their country and community.
We in L.A. Labor taught housekeepers, cooks, janitors, dishwashers—and now port drivers, sanitation workers, car washers and airport security officers—in courageously standing up for their rights.
We taught mostly immigrant workers to nonviolently march and picket and sometimes get arrested.
Progressive trade unionism is transformational.
Ramon Mendez is a roofer in L.A.—and undocumented. His employer exploited Ramon and his co-workers, using their immigration status:
Demanding work without pay.
Practicing a complete disregard for jobsite safety.
Ramon’s face was splashed with boiling tar. Rejecting his request for medical care, Ramon’s supervisor mocked his injury—calling him a crybaby and saying he looked like a Dalmatian because of the tar spots on his face.
Ramon knew the risks when he filed a complaint against his employer for wage and hour violations. A week after his hearing on the complaint, ICE showed up at Ramon’s house.
Instead of hunting down an employer who violated its worker’s most basic human rights, the government hunted down the worker.
Luckily, Ramon and his wife were gone. L.A. unions helped Ramon. We supplied food and emergency aid—and applied for him to get a U visa for immigrants who are crime victims so Ramon and his family can stay in this country.
The courage Ramon discovered within himself transformed him. It also transformed the workers around him. Now they too are standing up to their employer’s abuses.
* * *
L.A. Labor’s embrace of Ramon reflects a modern-day application of the social unionism of early 20th Century America. Then, many workers were also recent immigrants—the Poles, the Italians and the Russian Jews—who didn’t speak the language . . .
. . . who suffered ethnic and religious
discrimination . . .
. . . and who knew little about American civic and political affairs.
So back then unions such as the old Amalgamated Clothing Workers and International Ladies Garment Workers ran co-op housing, community banks and classes in English and civics.
Cesar Chavez modeled his union after that early social unionism. He was not satisfied with creating a business union only focused on wages, hours and conditions.
He knew it would take more than a union to overcome the crippling injustices farm workers faced—both at the workplace and in the community; it would take a movement.
So years before Cesar thought there would be union contracts, the early UFW organized people by providing them with community services.
Cesar’s vision was of a universal movement of farm workers, other poor Latino workers and other poor people enduring oppression. Perhaps that is partly why he opposed the Vietnam War in the ‘60s and supported gay rights in the ‘70s.
Critics still condemn Cesar for his vision that can be described by the Latin noun communitas—the spirit of community. Isn’t that what a union is—a community of people?
That vision inspires progressive activists in the labor movement today, including this one.
That is why L.A. Labor is on the cutting edge of the national labor movement, boldly leading American labor in standing up for immigrant rights . . .
. . . in proactively aiding our affiliated local unions in their organizing and contract campaigns . . .
. . . in forging diverse coalitions with outside groups . . .
. . . and in realizing that these campaigns can’t just be about workers’ jobs—they must also be about improving the communities in which workers live.
* * *
We in L.A. Labor are broadening our own perceptions. We cannot be limited by how things have always been done.
We can create a new vision of what a labor movement can do to make ourselves more effective and relevant.
If we fail to act, I fear our movement will atrophy; we will become a dinosaur.
L.A. is now one of the low-wage capitals of America. If we fail to act, who will speak for the middle class in Los Angeles?
There is no one else.
The labor movement is the only hope for those who enjoy a middle class status of living—and for those who aspire to it.
As one who have been raised in this movement and who loves it so, I will not stand by and watch that hope slowly become extinguished.
For activists such as Cesar Chavez and myself, the Catholic social teachings were a light leading the way to a new vision that labor must embrace if it is to revive.
May those Catholic teachings also guide us away from libertarianism and towards a recommitment to community and commonweal that represents our country’s best hope of salvation.
Thank you.