Union leader pays tribute to cardinal

by Angus Macdonald CARDINAL Basil Hume received a giant trade union banner depicting one of his illustrious predecessors, Cardinal Manning, from Ron Todd, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), during a ceremony at Westminster Cathedral this week.
The 120-foot-square banner was a tribute to Cardinal Manning from London's watermen and lightermen after his historic support for the 1889 dock strike.
Seen as a model of Catholic social teaching in action, the cardinal's intervention on behalf of the dockers contributed to the successful outcome of the strike. He endorsed their main claim for a wage of sixpence per hour, which was eventually met by employers.
The TGWU is lending the banner to Westminster Cathedral as part of an exhibition to mark the centenary of Cardinal Manning's death.
Manning was the Archbishop of Westminster from 1865-92, and was made a cardinal in 1875. He supported the founding of the agricultural labourers' union before Pope Leo XIII had written about industrial relations in his encyclical Rerum Novarum, and worked on behalf of the poor in education and housing at a time when such practical support for working people was frowned upon.
The banner will be on display in St Joseph's Chapel at Westminster Cathedral as part of the exhibition for at least another three weeks.
Continuing the church focus on industrial relations matters, Cardinal Hume will preside at a special requiem mass for the victims of construction site accidents to be celebrated at Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday.
The mass, which begins at 12.30pm, has been organised by the World of Work Committee of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales in conjunction with the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) and will be attended by relatives and co-workers of those who have died.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, which monitors safety at work, an average of one construction worker is killed at work every three days.
In a report in December, the executive revealed that there were 129 deaths on construction sites last year, and more than 3,800 serious injuries.
"There is an enormous and unacceptable death toll in the British construction industry," said Catholic MP Tony Lloyd, who will be attending the mass.
"It behoves all of us to at least pay tribute to those who have given up their lives, if only in the hope that their sacrifice may lead to other lives being saved in the future," he said.
Bishop John Jukes, auxiliary in Southwark, will concelebrate the mass with Cardinal Hume.