wfn.org | British Methodist clergy turn to unions for support

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 16, 2001  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{540}

By Kathleen LaCamera*

CORNWALL, England (UMNS) - When the Rev. Margaret Roskilly received a flyer
about a trade union catering to the needs of clergy and others in the
not-for profit sector, she filed it away. 

As the superintendent minister of the Camborne circuit in Cornwall, she saw
no need for the union membership she had held as a schoolteacher years
before. She had worked for the church for more than 20 years. Her
accountability was to God. 

That was before she found herself at the sharp end of a complaint from a
church member, the organist at one of her parishes. Roskilly only learned
that a complaints procedure was under way against her after a
church-appointed investigator phoned her. Her accuser refused to meet with
her face to face. 

Soon caught up in procedures and accusations that seemed to have a life of
their own, Roskilly resurrected the union flyer and contacted the
Manufacturing, Science and Finance (MSF) trade union for advice. She is now
one of some 150 British Methodist clergy who are union members. 

"Talking to the union was like a rainbow, a friendly voice concerned about
me in my situation," she said. "He didn't say anything to me about
procedures or constitution. He was immediately concerned about me as a
person."

MSF is one of two trade unions representing Methodist clergy. Its members
include a wide range of people in the helping and service professions, such
as health care professionals, research scientists and people working in
charities and the voluntary sector.    

MSF official Chris Ball explained that because clergy are considered
"self-employed" under English law, they do not enjoy the same legal rights
and protection afforded to employees. Trade unions not only deal with
questions of fair pay, but also get involved with issues such as unfair
dismissal and health and safety concerns. The British press has reported
recently a rise in attacks on clergy that puts some pastors at the same
level of risk for on-the-job injury as police officers. 

"We offer a tremendous amount of support to clergy in difficulty," Ball told
United Methodist News Service. "We have a network of local, ecumenical
representatives who are trained and can provide support on a whole range of
issues."

Historically, Methodism has close links with Britain's trade unions and
played a large role in helping educate the working classes in the 19th
century. Many of the labor movement's first leaders were Methodists. In
industries like tanning and coal mining, workers all over Britain sang
Methodist hymns together as a way of keeping warm and spirits high. Today,
local union meetings are still called "chapel" meetings because they were
held in Methodist chapels for so long. 

In an infamous chapter of British trade union history, a group of farm
workers called the Tolpuddle Martyrs was deported to Australia in 1834 for
trying to form an agricultural union. Four of the six martyrs were
Methodists, including their leader, local lay preacher George Loveless. Each
year in the Dorset area, a trade union festival and a Methodist service
marks the anniversary of their arrest. 

Despite the close links to trade unionism, most clergy are not union
members. According to Kenneth Howcroft, team leader for the Methodist
Church's Formation in Ministry office, one of the unions' problems is that
they do not have the official right to bargain with the church. Technically
speaking, the Methodist Church does not employ clergy.

"Ministers are not employees," Howcroft said. "They can't have a job
description, can't have descriptions of an appointment. ... We're looking at
this whole thing. It is murky, it is ambiguous, and it can be an enormous
advantage or disadvantage." 

British government officials are considering whether to change the rules so
that clergy are classified as employees, and many expect a change in the
near future. But whether that change occurs or not, Margaret Roskilly is in
no doubt that the union was a godsend when she was in most need of help. 

When the local complaints panel eventually appointed an official "friend"
for her from the circuit for support, Roskilly still wanted her union
representative to accompany her to two formal hearings. He dealt with
related correspondence and even helped the official complaints committee
find a way out of procedural entanglements after the church member withdrew
his complaint.

"I really felt the benefit of having support from outside the church. ...
He was so diplomatic and caring, quite sensitive to the whole situation, but
he could see a wrong was happening." 

Roskilly reported that even the chair of the church's complaints panel
publicly thanked her union representative for his helpfulness.

The Rev. Nigel Collinson, secretary to the conference, said the British
Methodist Church wants to encourage people to have the support they feel
they need in such difficult situations. He pointed out that trade unions are
experienced in this area and that their expertise can be helpful to a church
that wants to make its procedures as fair and open as possible.

"Part of the process is that people on both sides of a complaint need to
feel they have been heard, that their rights have been protected and their
case has been made," Collinson explained. "The whole spirit of our new
complaints system is to ensure everyone is dealt with fairly." 

Although ministers are not technically considered employees, the church
wants Methodist ministers to be treated as well under their system as they
would be if they were official employees, Collinson said.

Despite the church's best efforts to get important processes like complaints
procedures right, there are still good reasons to join a union, Roskilly
said. At the conference's next annual national ministerial session, she
plans to tell her story to her clergy colleagues.  

"I think more people will join unions in the future ... and I'm certainly
advocating for union membership," she said. 

John Simmonds, a local pastor and former national secretary for the
Methodist Church's Continuing Development in Ministry office, said he
understands why ministers might want an advocate from outside. He cited
problems caused by the ambiguous or "muddy" situation where supervisors, who
serve as "pastors to the pastors," also are supposed to be impartial
administrators of church policies.  

The church in Australia set up a separate "ministry to ministers" program as
a way to avoid this confusion of roles, he noted. The Australian church's
pension fund supports this ministry, believing it not only benefits clergy
but the pension fund as well when pastors stay happier in their jobs for
longer. 

Union membership appeals to those who no longer trust the church
establishment to stand by them when the heat is on, Simmonds explained.
"People who feel marginalized for whatever reason ... will feel a trade
union will stand by them through thick and thin."

The Rev. Robert Kohler, who works on ordained clergy matters for the United
Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.,
expressed surprise at the news that British clergy are unionizing. 

"This would be unheard of in America," Kohler said. "Although United
Methodism in the United States supports the union movement, it is not seen
as a refuge for pastors." The United Methodist Church's range of internal
support groups for pastors and their families, as well as national groups
aimed at strengthening systems of support for clergy, has helped reduce the
need for outside mediators and advocates, he said.

Like Kohler, the Rev. Anne Burkholder found news that her British
counterparts were unionizing "curious."  

"That kind of conversation isn't even close to the table here," commented
Burkholder, a district superintendent in Melbourne, Fla. But while union
membership isn't a hot topic for U.S. clergy, the kinds of issues that have
pushed British pastors to turn to unions are familiar, she said. As a
district superintendent, she has firsthand experience with the problems
raised when one person is both pastoral supporter and administrator of
church discipline. 

Burkholder pointed to a new initiative in the Virginia Annual (regional)
Conference, where each district superintendent appoints a separate district
chaplain as a pastor to the pastors. It is a creative way to address the
longstanding muddle of roles that Methodists on both sides of the Atlantic
know create difficulties.   

Said Burkholder: "This is definitely an issue we all need to address."

# # #

*LaCamera is a UMNS correspondent based in England.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org