1945 The Labor Guild is Founded

The Labor Guild of the Archdiocese of Boston was established in an effort to help people fight for dignity, better wages and benefits in the workplace. During the 1930’s and 40’s the Catholic Church set up and sponsored over one hundred Labor Schools in the northern United States. The schools were set up to provide workers with the basics in the trade union movement “including grievance handling, negotiating, parliamentary procedure, labor law and ethics. The Labor schools also established the support of the Catholic Church for the Labor Movement and trade unionism.

The Boston Labor Guild was established by Father Mortimer Gavin. Labor schools in the Boston area have shifted from church based centers and now their membership includes workers from all religions and all areas of labor. Programs now include “administration of various kinds of union elections, publication of a popular guidebook on Massachusetts employment law, occasional labor-management conferences, and a speakers bureau.” The Guild is a great place for people in the Labor Movement to network and collaborate for causes of labor justice.