SEIU and other unions have won representation elections at eight other Catholic Healthcare facilities, but have yet to reach agreements with management on first contracts. They felt total ownership, generation after generation. Catholic teachings going back to at least the late 1800s support workers' rights to organize. The Rerum Novarum, an 1891 encyclical by Pope Leo XIII, deals with workers' rights. Pope John Paul II issued a statement in 1991, the 100th anniversary of the document, reiterating its teachings.
Unions are a part of the fabric of Catholic social teachings.
The mission of unions and of the church is basically the same, to take care of the poor and vulnerable. People will say our missions are the same, but the fact is they are very, very different. We come from a faith-based perspective with a religious mission. They have an obligation to the union to keep their membership up and stay financially strong. Roch Rocklage said that given current financial conditions, she is not surprised that employees have expressed dissatisfaction at health-care institutions.