PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONRIGHTS□ NATURAL LAWANDRELIGIOUSINSPIRATION Papal Encyclicals: the social teaching of the Catholic Church FortheCatholicChurcha Papal encyclical is a letter, usuallytreating some aspectof Catholic doctrine, sentbythePopeand addressed either to bishops (ofa region orthroughout theworld)or more generally toa wider audience. TheThe based social oldest upon teaching a specific corpus ofthe encyclical of Catholic papal encyclicals. is Church Rerum is based upon a corpusof papal encyclicals. The oldest specificencyclicalis Rerum novarum (1891).Theencyclicals canbe classified atfirst sight on thebasisofan often explicit linkage either to Rerum Novarumor to Populorum progressio(1967). Whereas Rerum novarum assessesthe'socialquestion' atthemicro levelof the employment relationin a Nation State, Populorum progressio tacklestheissue of social justice atthemacroleveloftherelation between Nation States, constituting the'human family', The latest encyclical (Cantasinveritate , 2009)continues thetradition started byPopulorum Progressio. Bothapproachesneed to be construed as complementary , rather thanas twodistinct, letalone conflicting 'actionprogrammes'. Theofficial socialteaching oftheChurch does notcoincide withCatholic SocialThought orwith the Social Tradition of the Church.The papal encyclicals do constitute the mostauthoritative sourcefrom a hierarchical pointofview.Noneof theencyclicals has everbeen 'repealed'.In fact, thesubsequent Pontiffs havefrequently referred to previousencyclicals. For a moresystematic overview oftheSocialTeaching, tworecent documentsproduced by the Vatican'sPontifical Council for Justice andPeace,canbe very useful. A Compendium of the Social Doctrineof the Church (2004)provides a 'synthetic', but'exhaustive 'overview of thesocialteaching. It has not yetbeen updatedtointegrate theideasincluded inthelatest encyclical. Another useful tool,isthe Dizionariodidottrina socialedellachiesa(2005), an authorised dictionary whichhelpsto understandsomeoftheconcepts oftheCompendium. In countries markedby tradeunionpluralism based uponreligious, philosophical and political convictions,the encycical Rerum novarum (1891)is generally believedtohaveconstituted a starting pointfora Catholicor Christian labour movement. SincetheCatholic Church consistentlyrejected mostoftheideologies that marked the 19thand 20thCenturies, ittendsto contribute to maintaining identities based upon theseconvictions .Ever since otherEncyclicals have been adopted,whichhave shapedwhatis calledthe Social Teachingof the CatholicChurch.Ever sinceRerum Novarum ,theChurch hasdevoteda lotof attention to theroleof workers' associations ,especiallytradeunion and to industrial relationsand collectivelabour law in these encyclicals. In orderto highlight this, thiscontributionis focusing on threeintertwined workers' rights (rightto organise,freedomof collective bargaining and the rightto strike).For trade unionsofa catholic denomination, theyareconsideredto havebeen and to a lesserextent continuetobe a sourceofinspiration. The Churchand labour law Sincelabourlaw was primarily developedatthe leveloftheNationStates, theencyclicals which sprangfromRerumnovarumand subsequent encyclicalscontainmultiplereferences to the development ofdomestic labourlaw:freedom of association,collectivebargaining, the rightto strike, theright towork, right totheprotection of healthand safety, including theissueofworking time,theright to fairremuneration. Explicit referencesto labourlaw intheencyclicals arerare. In viewoftheobjectofsocialjusticewithin the 'humanfamily', itseemsobviousnevertheless to relatetheir messageto therecognition offundamentalworkers 'rights in international human rights cataloguesand to thegrowing awareness ofsomemulti-national (corporate) companiesof their social responsibility in a globalisedeconomy .These humanrights cataloguesare relevant fortheemployment relations within theNation States as well.In sum,itis essential nottodisregardthePopulorum progressio lineofencyclicals whilestudying issuesoftheemployment relation at microlevel;justas itis essential notto disregard the Rerumnovarumline of encyclicals while studying the issue of social justiceat a global level. Thus, 'caritasin veritate' is being construed as a generalprinciple underlying the entire SocialDoctrine oftheCatholic Church. In Sollicitudorei socialis John Paul II has definedthesocial teaching in a 'negative' way, disqualifying itas an ideology. Itsmainaimis to interpret theserealities, determining their conformitywithor divergence fromthe lines of the Gospel teachingon man and his vocation,a vocationwhichis at once earthly and transcendent ;itsaimis thustoguideChristian behaviour. Ittherefore belongstothefield, notofideology, butoftheology and particularly ofmoraltheology . However,the Churchhas not been very reluctant tocondemnideologies, especially liberal capitalism, socialism, andMarxist collectivism. Trade unions and trade unionfreedom Freedomofassociation is an essential condition for the developmentof industrialrelations. Rerumnovarumconsiders'thespirit of revolutionary change'as a disturbance ofa political and economicnature'. Paradoxically, trade unionsare notseenas a cause ofsuchdisturbance, butas a keyto the solutionof theproblemsprovoking sucha disturbance. Collectivelabour ■ has been a I recurring issue in I papal encyclicals. ■ Pontiffs have fl stressed the I crucial roleof I trade unionsand I have recognized I freedomof I association I FILIP D0RSSEM0NT is Professor of Labour Law in the Centre Droit, Entreprise et Société Jean Renauld at the Université Catholique de Louvain Page 3Volume 18Issue 4201 2 INTERNATIONAL union rights PHILOSOPHY OF TRADE UNIONRIGHTS□ NATURAL LAWANDRELIGIOUSINSPIRATION The stance adopted bythe Churchinrespect ofstrikeshas evolved from initialrepression to a fairly timid and heavily restricted recognition In line with its predecessorQuanta Cura (1864),Rerum novarum primarily contains a negativemessage ,id est the veryrejectionof res novae , such as the remediesproposedby 'the socialists'. Itthusrejects theresnovaeto which itstitlerefers. It ends witha moreconstructive approachto thesolutionofthesocialquestion. Leo XIII...