CATHOLIC LAWYERS GUILD WORKERS FORUM
“The Dignity of Labor and Connecting with Catholic Social Teaching”
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
11:45 am - 2:15 pm CT
The Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago has undertaken an initiative to highlight the long-standing Catholic teaching supporting the rights of workers. A committee of CLG members has put together this forum to educate and enlighten attorneys- and the larger community - about the meaning of Catholic social justice teaching and its’ continuing relevance for workplace justice and labor advocacy.
The Forum will take place on June 11, 2024 from 11:45 until 2:00 pm. It will be held at the Carpenters Council Hall located at 12 East Erie Street in Chicago. Lunch will be provided.
SESSION 1: The History and Meaning of Catholic Social Teaching in Support of Worker Rights
The first session of this Forum will be about the history which can be traced to the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1881; and the continuing relevance and involvement of Catholic activism in the labor movement.
Featured will be two prominent speakers: Dan Graff, labor historian and Director of the Higgins Labor Program at the Center for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame and Adrienne Alexander, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, AFSCME Council 31 and Board member of the Catholic Labor Network.
KEYNOTE: Leaders Of UNITE HERE Local 1 And The “Hands Off Pants On” Campaign
This session will feature two leaders of UNITE HERE Local 1: Sarah Lyons, Communications Director, and Roushaunda Williams, Executive Board of Illinois AFL-CIO. Our speakers will describe the worker-led “Hands Off Pants On” campaign. Launched in 2016, the campaign was a response to widespread reporting of sexual harassment and assault from women working in Chicagoland hotels and casinos.
Under the leadership of the Chicago Federation of Labor, a landmark ordinance was passed in Chicago in 2017 to ensure that all Chicago hotel workers are equipped with panic buttons to protect them on the job. Similar legislation has since been passed in Illinois and other states and has become a model nationally and in international labor circles.
The speakers will also report on the May 2024 Conference in Rome entitled “The Future of Work, Labour After Laudato Si” hosted by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
SESSION 3: Lawyers Representing Clients: The Influence Of Catholic Social Teaching
A panel of two attorneys with extensive experience in the labor and employment field will discuss how their faith and Catholic teaching impacts their representation of their respective clients. Our speakers will be James J. Convery, Of Counsel, Laner Muchin for the management side; and Thomas Geoghegan, partner, Despres Schwartz and Geoghegan Ltd for the labor side.