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    burlivesleftnutHamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:42am

    Do Catholic grade school teachers have unions? Or any christian school? Legitimately curious.

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      benjaminalloverburlivesleftnut
      8/05/15 10:46am

      They sure do up here in Canada. Our teachers have pretty powerful unions, and our politicians know not to fuck with them. Untenured profs on the other hand? They get the short shrift here too.

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      ARP2burlivesleftnut
      8/05/15 10:48am

      Not really. They also tend to be underpaid compared to public school teachers.

      Source: Grew up in NW of Chicago with lots of friends, family and neighbors attending or teaching at Catholic schools (until many were consolidated or shut down).

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    Blown DidionHamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:39am

    I adjuncted at a Catholic university for seven years before landing a tenure-track job this past year. Adjuncting is dehumanizing, awful and unjust, and it is especially so when you’re doing it at an institution that carries on at length about the Catholic values of “social justice.”

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      The Noble RenardBlown Didion
      8/05/15 10:41am

      I had a relative adjunct at Brandeis University and it was equally dehumanizing and the talk there was about the Jewish values of social justice.

      So, yeah, adjuncting fucking sucks, no matter where, for no matter who.

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      benjaminalloverBlown Didion
      8/05/15 10:43am

      I imagine that in addition to being a union organizer (which, sorry but he’s going to have to explain to my catholic-raised union-town ass how this is a catholic sin) I bet there’s some tension in how they taught The History Of Science. That’ would be a nightmare to try to teach without insulting the catholic church.

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    m9105826Hamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:46am

    Uhhh... it’s been a while since I was in Catholic high school, but I’m pretty sure they believe in transubstantiation...

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      Cherith Cutestorym9105826
      8/05/15 10:56am

      I think their (stupid) point is a history of science professor talking about transubstantiation is not going to be talking about it in a positive light. Since, it’s impossible, scientifically.

      Catholic Church isn’t against science. Many of the greatest scientific discoveries (like the big bang and our understanding of genetics) have been done by members of the clergy. But I think their stance here is that the science is separate from the religious stuff.

      Not that I agree with any of their stance. It is bull shit.

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      m9105826Cherith Cutestory
      8/05/15 11:01am

      Considering that transubstantiation is some kind of cannibalistic alchemy, I can’t believe the church has held onto it for so long. Like... talk about things that immediately discredit all of your beliefs. I can understand some people believing that magical stuff happened thousands of years ago on faith, but to hand someone a shitty cracker and dime store wine and tell them that it is LITERALLY flesh and blood of some dead guy because a priest said some magic words and expect them to believe it is a stretch.

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    BurnedAtTheSteakHamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:40am

    Of course Jesus hated unions. Clearly someone hasn’t read the Parable of the Pinkertons, with its classic moral of “get fucked and stay poor, you dirty commies.”

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      CharitybBurnedAtTheSteak
      8/05/15 11:02am

      What’s funny is that even Allan Pinkerton himself support labor unions in his code of conduct:

      “The Agency will not investigate [...] trae-union members in their lawful union activities; they will not report union meetings unless the meetings are open to the public without restriction...”

      It’s kind of interesting the parallels actually. When Pinkerton died his sons turned his agency into the number one union-busting tools of government and industry, leading to so many abuses that even Congress was forced to act to formally ban the government from using them at all. And the Catholic Church has a long history of supporting union activity, but individual Catholics apparently can go their own way on this issue (unlike, say, with abortion or contraception...)

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      StenchofaburnerBurnedAtTheSteak
      8/05/15 11:14am

      Today I learned that there is a Dutch Christian cult operating in Greece who refuse to pay taxes because they claim “The Holy Spirit didn’t instruct them to do so”. I know this whole sentence sounds like something out of The Onion but I promise, every bit of it is real. Bonus unhinged rhetoric: their Facebook and their website (brace yourself for the Geocities throw back).

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    The Ghost of Cecil the LionHamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:41am

    US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2007: Catholic social teaching supports the right of workers to choose whether to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively, and to exercise these rights without reprisal

    USCCB, 1986: No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself

    USCCB, 1986: All church institutions must also fully recognize the rights of employees to organize and bargain collectively with the institution through whatever association or organization they freely choose

    Pope Leo XIII, 1891: The most important of all [workplace associations and organizations] are workingmen’s unions

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      ARP2The Ghost of Cecil the Lion
      8/05/15 10:52am

      To add a few more:

      Yet Pope John Paul II in his encyclical on labor, Laborem Exercens (1981) asserted the fundamental principle of “the priority of labor over capital.” While in actual fact capital has organized itself against labor in our society, John Paul II insists that capital exists to serve labor: “There is a need for ever new movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers…The Church is firmly committed to this cause, for it considers it to be its mission, its service, a proof of its fidelity to Christ…”

      ...and we all know how “cool Pope” feels about unions.

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      manomanihatethemfancyladsThe Ghost of Cecil the Lion
      8/05/15 11:00am

      Yes, something going on at this particular institution does not pass the smell test. I am curious how the “parent company” will react.

      Not that the Catholic Church is necessarily more consistent than any other institution, but something so at odds with its own teaching would hopefully result in some kind of action.

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    LordBurleighHamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:46am

    Fuck American academe.

    Signed: someone not on the tenure track.

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      Johnny ChundersLordBurleigh
      8/05/15 11:55am

      Would it make you feel better if I told you that we need you? I work at a public, primarily undergraduate university, and our classes are so overcrowded that the listed course cap is typically exactly what the fire code will allow. The TT faculty are underpaid and (because there are no TAs or graders and the sections are overcrowded) they are overworked. Budgets are so thin that adding additional, potentially underfull class sections would break departments. Course offerings, and the associated adjunct hirings, have to determined on a quarter-by-quarter basis, sometimes at the last minute.

      All of this makes you feel like an exploited resource, I understand, but we need you to help keep our students on track in their programs.

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      story645Johnny Chunders
      8/05/15 12:44pm

      I’d ask if you’re also at CUNY, but sadly I’m pretty sure the situation you’re talking about is pretty consistent across the public uni landscape.

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    LeNoceurHamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:56am

    Catholic popes have consistently supported unionism since 1891. Most recently, both John Paul II and Francis have issued unequivocal public statements in support of workers’ right to organize and that the social justice mission of the church supports unionism. Duquesne is full of shit.

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      NicoLeNoceur
      8/05/15 3:45pm

      “We’re a religious organization” worked for hobby lobby’s right to fuck with their employee’s health insurance, so I won’t be surprised to see plenty of business trying to use this precedent to get out of treating their employees like humans.

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      LeNoceurNico
      8/06/15 10:46am

      That is true. But even the Hobby Lobby majority recognized that “religion!” is not a blanket shield from complying with the law. They cited paying of taxes and discrimination laws, as I recall, as two examples. Hobby Lobby is an interesting decision; it purports to be a narrow one, simply interpreting one definition within the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but I suspect, as you do, that corporations will try hard to broaden it as much as possible. It will be interesting to see how that turns out. Hobby Lobby will either be seen as a colossal decision endangering the entire regulatory framework of the federal government (the fear of the dissent), or it will be an insignificant and obscure blip on the SCOTUS radar (Kennedy’s concurrence). The other difference in this case is that I think it is not difficult to show that the “religion!” cited by Duquesne isn’t actually part of their religion.

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    j4x_Hamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 11:27am

    Few things are more hilarious than the idea of a religous “university”.

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      eagercolinDSj4x_
      8/05/15 12:13pm

      You understand that universities were invented by religious bodies, right? Your comment is a meta critique of the stupidity and self-righteousness of too many modern atheists, right?

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      j4x_eagercolinDS
      8/05/15 12:39pm

      And? I would point out that the most lauded of those schools have distinctly moved away from any strict Christian principles.

      Being deeply religious and being highly intelligent is simply not possible by modern standards. All religions have been proven to be pure bullshit so we should no longer tolerate its influence over education.

      Let us not compare the Diests to Liberty University. They would have tolerated none of this fuckery.

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    SpringSprungHamilton Nolan
    8/05/15 10:43am

    “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. But more blessed is a seven foot tall player who can sink a three point shot from downtown. Amen”.

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      DolemiteHamilton Nolan
      8/05/15 1:33pm

      Funny, I worked at a Christian college about 12 years ago. The employees were all paid minimum wage, and many professors were paid about 30-50% less than they would be at most other schools. However, profits were through the roof, and the top administration lived the lifestyles of the rich and famous. I worked in the Distance Learning department, which was online courses. We’d seen our revenue and growth explode about 20% every year, yet our pay remained the same. Eventually we went to our manager and asked about raises. She put in for raises for us and was immediately fired. Our new manager gathered us together and told us that doing God’s work should be reward enough.

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