CATHOLIC LAWYERS GUILD'S WORKERS FORUM II
Thursday, June 12, 2025
11:00 am - 2:00 pm CT
The freedom to join trade unions and the effective action of unions . . . are meant to deliver work from the mere condition of 'a commodity' and to guarantee its dignity. St. John Paul II
Catholic teaching supports unions as essential to advancing humane and just conditions for workers and to permit their participation in the workplace. Our new Pope Leo XIV has made the connection to Pope Leo XIII, author of the 1891 Encyclical Rerum Novarum which made clear that Catholic teaching supports collective bargaining to advance the rights of workers.The Catholic Lawyers Guild is hosting a Forum to educate and enlighten attorneys–and the larger community–about the relevance of Catholic social teaching for these developments and the legal and practical implications for the advancement of the worker rights in our country today.
The Forum will take place on June 12, 2025 from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. It will be held at the Carpenters Council Hall located at 12 East Erie in Chicago. Lunch will be provided.
KEYNOTE: The meaning of Rerum Novarum for worker rights and its potential for the future of labor organizing
Speaker: Don Villar, Secretary/Treasurer, Chicago Federation of Labor
Certain pending lawsuits challenge the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act and the NLRB. Our speaker will explore these as well as the Supreme Court ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and will discuss the impact on workers’ ability to organize should these challenges succeed.
Speaker: Professor Anne Lofaso, Esq. University of Cincinnati College of Law
SESSION II: TODAY’S UNION ORGANIZING – How Barista workers win unionization in the face of Starbuck’s opposition
Presentation by organizers of recent unionization efforts
Speaker: Starbucks Workers United in Chicago