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CWA Mourns Msgr. Higgins
CWA and, indeed, the entire labor movement lost a great friend on May 1 with the passing of Roman Catholic Monsignor George G. Higgins. He was 86.
Affectionately known as “labor’s pastor,” Higgins was a counselor and confidante to founding CWA president Joseph A. Beirne. He served as a board member of the Joseph A. Beirne Foundation from its inception in 1974 until his death, participating in the awarding of college and tech school scholarships to nearly 800 CWA members, dependents and family, as well as numerous grants for community and social services training, fellowships and internships.
“George Higgins was a sincere fighter for the right to organize and bargain collectively and an outspoken foe of corporate abuse of workers,” said CWA President Morton Bahr. “He will be missed.”
During a 1991 campaign to organize 600 workers at Buffalo’s Mercy Hospital, Higgins spoke out to quell rumors of anti-Catholic bigotry on the part of CWA and to ensure that registered nurses were aware of Catholic social teaching supporting their right to join a union. His support helped secure victory for the nurses in their second campaign at the hospital.
Local 1133 President Barbara Bauch said hospital management, as part of its anti-union campaign, made accusations that “CWA spent its money frivolously and invested in Israeli bonds.”
“It just so happened at the time that Monsignor was addressing a conclave of representatives from Catholic and Protestant churches and Jewish synagogues,” Bauch said. “He told them that the actions of the hospital were reprehensible and they should let the nurses decide for themselves whether they wanted a union.”
The Buffalo News published an editorial on the hospital’s campaign and Monsignor Higgins’ response, and organizers turned it into a leaflet they distributed as the nurses came in to vote.
“Monsignor Higgins spoke out for our right to make a choice, and I think the nurses were moved because it was a priest telling them it was okay,” Bauch said.
Higgins, well known and respected throughout the labor movement, for more than 20 years gave the invocation at AFL-CIO conventions. A noted labor economist, his advice was sought by numerous labor leaders including George Meany, Walter Reuther and current AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
“More than any other American in the 20th century, Monsignor Higgins argued that Christian beliefs must prominently include the notion that work must be valued and workers honored,” Sweeney said. “His preaching on Catholic social teaching educated generations of leaders within his church and helped them apply the justice gospel in their own areas.”
Higgins helped mediate numerous labor-management disputes and was influential in winning support among Catholics for the United Farm Workers’ grape boycott. In 1971, he helped the Farm Workers bargain significant, though short-lived, agreements with the growers.
As a media spokesman and consultant to U.S. bishops in Rome in the early 1960’s, Higgins framed and interpreted many of the Second Vatican Council’s landmark reforms for American Catholics. He was instrumental in building bridges between adherents of different faiths, particularly the Catholic and Jewish religions.
Higgins died from complications due to an infection at his sister’s home in LaGrange Park, Ill.
In August 2000, President Bill Clinton honored Higgins with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for championing workers’ rights, civil rights and religious tolerance.
Affectionately known as “labor’s pastor,” Higgins was a counselor and confidante to founding CWA president Joseph A. Beirne. He served as a board member of the Joseph A. Beirne Foundation from its inception in 1974 until his death, participating in the awarding of college and tech school scholarships to nearly 800 CWA members, dependents and family, as well as numerous grants for community and social services training, fellowships and internships.
“George Higgins was a sincere fighter for the right to organize and bargain collectively and an outspoken foe of corporate abuse of workers,” said CWA President Morton Bahr. “He will be missed.”
During a 1991 campaign to organize 600 workers at Buffalo’s Mercy Hospital, Higgins spoke out to quell rumors of anti-Catholic bigotry on the part of CWA and to ensure that registered nurses were aware of Catholic social teaching supporting their right to join a union. His support helped secure victory for the nurses in their second campaign at the hospital.
Local 1133 President Barbara Bauch said hospital management, as part of its anti-union campaign, made accusations that “CWA spent its money frivolously and invested in Israeli bonds.”
“It just so happened at the time that Monsignor was addressing a conclave of representatives from Catholic and Protestant churches and Jewish synagogues,” Bauch said. “He told them that the actions of the hospital were reprehensible and they should let the nurses decide for themselves whether they wanted a union.”
The Buffalo News published an editorial on the hospital’s campaign and Monsignor Higgins’ response, and organizers turned it into a leaflet they distributed as the nurses came in to vote.
“Monsignor Higgins spoke out for our right to make a choice, and I think the nurses were moved because it was a priest telling them it was okay,” Bauch said.
Higgins, well known and respected throughout the labor movement, for more than 20 years gave the invocation at AFL-CIO conventions. A noted labor economist, his advice was sought by numerous labor leaders including George Meany, Walter Reuther and current AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
“More than any other American in the 20th century, Monsignor Higgins argued that Christian beliefs must prominently include the notion that work must be valued and workers honored,” Sweeney said. “His preaching on Catholic social teaching educated generations of leaders within his church and helped them apply the justice gospel in their own areas.”
Higgins helped mediate numerous labor-management disputes and was influential in winning support among Catholics for the United Farm Workers’ grape boycott. In 1971, he helped the Farm Workers bargain significant, though short-lived, agreements with the growers.
As a media spokesman and consultant to U.S. bishops in Rome in the early 1960’s, Higgins framed and interpreted many of the Second Vatican Council’s landmark reforms for American Catholics. He was instrumental in building bridges between adherents of different faiths, particularly the Catholic and Jewish religions.
Higgins died from complications due to an infection at his sister’s home in LaGrange Park, Ill.
In August 2000, President Bill Clinton honored Higgins with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for championing workers’ rights, civil rights and religious tolerance.