"It is important not to quote selectively from Church documents to justify a predetermined position", says Brian O'Connell. "So this quotation from the encyclical does not mean that the social teaching of the Catholic Church always favours the workers over the employers. It is one principle among many in this encyclical, and this is only one encyclical among many others. Pope John Paul II also wrote Centesimo Anno in which he affirmed the legitimacy of the market, though not absolute", he says.

In New Zealand at present there are several major industrial disputes happening. These include the Ports of Auckland standoff, the Affco Meat Company works lockout, and The strike by resthome workers, and at least one other.

Read Fr Brian O'Connell's Marist Messenger Focus article

Patrick Snedden is a veteran of community and government entity boards, previously serving on the boards of Auckland District Health Board and Housing New Zealand.

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The leaflet gives an overview of Catholic social teaching as a guide in considering the rights of both employers and workers in industrial relations. It states that media reports have not done justice to either side of the Ports of Auckland dispute, and believes it is important to look beyond the headlines to understand what the impact of the proposed changes will mean.

The distribution of this leaflet follows an offer made earlier to both parties in the Ports of Auckland dispute by Bishop Dunn and Bishops Ross Bay and Kito Pikaahu of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland, in which they offered to help, by sitting down with the Maritime Union and the Ports Company.

There has been another twist in the Ports of Auckland dispute: the port company has agreed to go back into mediation with the Maritime Union. Although both sides have welcomed the resumption of mediation, the Ports company has indicated that it still intends to contract out the stevedoring and hours after the agreement was reached, issued another lock-out notice to take effect in two weeks.

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Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Catholic Diocese of Auckland
• Image: saveourport.com