Read Justice together: solidarity and unions in the winter 2021 edition of Australian Catholics and take part in the following questions and activities.
QUESTIONS
- How does the ability to form unions fit with Catholic Social Teaching?
- Why would union struggles be civil rights struggles? Can you give some Australian examples of unions promoting civil rights issues?
- Why would unions be heavily involved in workplace health and safety?
- What are the benefits of banding together in like-minded groups? What are the pitfalls?
- How could you guard against the possibility of groups being ‘hijacked’ – where the group is not true to its aims, or decides to use dubious methods?
ACTIVITIES
History: Select, research and write about a significant change brought about by a group or groups of people working together. What was the initial purpose of the group? Did it achieve all or only some of its aims? Did it stay together after its success/failure? Did it adapt its purpose? This can be anything from Australian Indigenous land rights to Poland’s Solidarity Movement, or the campaign for Votes for Women to landmark health and safety court cases.
Scales of justice: How do unions counterbalance the rights and demands of employers? Draw or compose a poster depicting the balance of workers and employers rights.
Catholic Worker Movement: The Catholic Worker Movement arose in the 20th century as a way for Catholics to band together to promote and protect the welfare of workers. Dorothy Day was one of the key figures in the movement. You might like to read this article on her life , then put together an article outlining what advice Dorothy Day would have for young people leaving school and entering the workforce today.
Students on strike: What power do students have when they act together? Drawing on the ‘School Strike for Climate’ as an example, write an argumentative essay outlining whether or not you think students have the power to create social change by acting together.
FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS
Read or summarise Justice together: solidarity and unions in the winter 2021 edition of Australian Catholics and talk with the students about the power that comes from working together. What activities do they help with around the school or at home? How do they feel when they are left to struggle by themselves, or conversely how do they feel when they get help?
Activity: The water chain
Clear a space in the classroom. [This may be an opportunity to note that moving furniture around is easier when there are two more people doing it, rather than someone trying lift heavy objects by themselves.]
Have two buckets placed some distance away from each other. One bucket is half-filled with water.
Have the students line up behind the bucket that is half-filled. Using a cup, the aim is to fill the bucket at the other end of the classroom. The first student takes a cup of water to the other bucket and then brings the cup back and gives it to the next student, who takes a cup of water up to the bucket, and so on. When the students finish their turn, they join the back of the line. Keep a record of how long it took to replace the water from one bucket into the other.
Next repeat the activity, but have the students form a line between the two buckets so they can easily pass the cup from one to another. Using each other as a human chain, pass the cup up the line to the bucket. The person at the far end after emptying the cup in the bucket joins the end of the line, fills the cup and passes it the next person to be passed on up the line. Compare the different ways of filling the bucket. Was working cooperatively more enjoyable? Quicker? Streamlined?
Ask the students to think about the advantages of working together on a project.