United Church clergy consider joining union
The United Church of Canada, long a champion of workers' rights and the labour movement in Canada, is set to square off against one of its traditional union allies over a unionization campaign by Ontario ministers who accuse the church of not doing enough to protect them from workplace abuse.
Citing poor working conditions, verbal abuse and low wages, a group of 30 ministers are teaming up with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) in an unprecedented attempt to unionize the UCC's 4,000 ministers across Canada. The campaign will begin in Ontario and, if successful, expand to other provinces.
"For me, it was a shock after studying stories of heartbreak and abuse [of UCC ministers]. That convinced me that we needed to do this," says David Galston, pastor of Eternal Spring United Church in Hamilton, Ontario. "The United Church is not protecting its clergy."
The union drive—which, if successful, would be the first time clergy in Canada would be unionized—has unleashed a flood of media stories about the physical, emotional and monetary stress under which clergy work. Organizers cite the church's own statistics indicating that 18 per cent of its clergy is on stress leave, while 60 per cent acknowledge some form of conflict with their congregations.
But while Joe Ramsay, UCC's pastoral relations consultant, emphasized that it would be, "against our principles to prevent people from asking the question [of whether to join a union]," UCC general secretary Jim Sinclair has put the CAW on notice that the church intends to fight the unionization of Canada's largest Protestant denomination.
"Trade unions can and do work for good in society, but they are not a good fit for United Church clergy," says Sinclair. He argues that the role of the minister is based on a covenantal relationship between different parties, under God, rather than a contractual one between employer and employee.
"Labour relations legislation was not designed or intended to regulate the relationship between a minister and the church," says Sinclair. "It is also difficult to imagine how ministers could be members of a bargaining unit and at the same time continue to exercise their presbytery responsibilities of governance and management within the United Church of Canada."
But Mike Shields, the CAW's national director of organizing, says the CAW is convinced that after meeting with UCC ministers and hearing their grievances, there are issues of "dignity and respect" for a group of workers he believes have a right to be protected like any other employees.
"Just because you're doing God's work doesn't mean you shouldn't have the right to organize," said Shields. "This is not an attack on the UCC, but an effort to alleviate the problems."
Ed Bosveld, Ontario provincial director for the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC), is not surprised that some ministers have decided to explore unionization. "I hear regularly from clergy as well as missionaries about the difficulties they face," he says. "They work for volunteer boards who often don't have human resources expertise. The world is expected of them and unfortunately they are not always treated with respect."
Bosveld says he is disappointed that the UCC clergy did not seek out his Christian-based union and instead chose to seek out the "militant and secular" CAW.
While the CAW and clergy organizers are confident that a planned traveling "information" road show across Ontario will result in the needed 40 per cent of ministers signing a union card to then take the issue to a vote of all UCC clergy in the province, neither the CAW or CLAC see unionization of clergy as a significant growth area for them.
However, campaign organizer David Galston has already been contacted by clergy from other denominations asking for information about the unionization drive. Many of the inquiries are from Anglican priests who have seen their counterparts in England unionize in that country.
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