The union times., 1947-08-16
Building Trades Want Answer On Open Shop Work
Cite Paradox Between Ser /, mons And Business Prac-
 tices Of Some Churches

(The fOlIOsOing letter, made
 public today by the NesC HGuen
 Building Trades Council, is seIf-
 e1PLGnGtOry.-EditOr.
 Rev. Frank M. Swaffield, President The New Haven Council of
 Churches
 5 Wall Street
 New Haven II, Conn.
 My Dear MT. Swafie1d:
 This letter is written upon instruc- tions from the New Haven Building Trades Council, A.F.L., which is composed of all of the building trades unions in Greater New Haven.
 We have been instructed to request that you arrange a meeting between the executive board of the Council of Churches and of the Building Trades Council. The reasons for this request are as follows:
 l. During the last few weeks, both Center Church and Trinity Church have awarded painting con- tracts to- open shop contractors. This has been done despite the fact that we had been led to believe that the churches support organ ized labor.
 2. In our efforts to obtain a con- ference with the officers of Center we were turned down. Even private industry recognizes the need to confer with organized labor to dis cuss controversial matters. Churches, in our opinion, have been a greater obligation in this field. We have re- quested conference with the officers of Trinity Church, but have not as yet received an answer. /, PARADOX CITED
 3. We think it will help our en- tire community if our executive boards can meet, and settle the issue of the relationship between New Ha- ven's churches and organized labor. Frankly, we see paradox between sermons which favor recognition of the right of working men to collec- tive bargaining; and practices by some churches which ignore this right.
 As basis for discussion, may we point out that we have been told that both Center Church and Trim ity Church are using nOn-uniOn la- bOr because the bids presented by the Open-shOp contractors were lower than those offered by union Our answer to this is: Of course the Open-shOp cOntrac- tors have lower bids. They do not pay the prevailing or union rate, and thus are able to underbid un- ion contractors. In effect, this means that the churches which use Open-shOp contractors have their work done by men who receive sub- standard wages We doubt that re- IigiOn favOrs this policy. This policy also means that the working con- ditiOns of the nOn-uniOn men are 
 One of the basic reasons for the ex- stence of organized labor is to in sure decent wages and working con- 1itions for working people When churches ignore the unions, they go counter to many of the basic princi- Dles of religion.
 We cannot permit this condition to continue in New Haven, because we must protect the standards es- tablished by organized labor; and because we wish to avoid the pub- lie cynicism which is inevitable if the churches do not bring their business practices into line with their theological principles. You will be interested to know that Bishop Henry J. O'Bfien of the Connecticut Diocese has instructed all pastors that their construction and repair work must be done by union contractors.
 We trust that this meeting can be held i'll the near future.
 Sincerely,
 NEW HAVEN BUILDING
 TYR AnEG C0TTNCTT