We are shocked by President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P.’s recent attack on the two faculty labor unions at St. John’s University. On Thursday, February 19, 2026, Father Shanley informed faculty via email that the university will no longer recognize its two unions that were formed in 1970—the St. John’s University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (SJU-AAUP) and the Faculty Association (FA). This union-busting move was abruptly announced on the faculty’s 234th day of working without a contract, following the administration’s prolonged stalling of contract negotiations and hiring of the notorious union-busting firm, Proskauer Rose LLP.                                  

For nearly 135 years, official Catholic teaching has affirmed the necessity of labor unions for ensuring economic justice and for society's common good. The tradition views unions as necessary for ensuring that workers, families, and communities secure their basic social and economic rights. Catholic social teachings consistently oppose concentrated control over workers and economic activity by “the few,” and regard labor unions as expressions of the human right to freely associate. Moreover, Catholic teaching has long promoted formation of labor unions and other worker associations as a necessary means for workers to become partners in ownership and decision-making in their workplaces. A fundamental principle anchors Catholic teaching on labor and labor unions: The needs of labor ought to take precedence over the needs of capital.

However, Father Shanley distorts Catholic teaching's affirmation of workers' rights and the vital importance of labor unions. He claims to “believe in the right to organize and the right of free association” but severely distorts Catholic teaching by describing labor unions as “burdens” to management and obstacles to the common good. The university’s Board of Trustees must not allow such deception and hypocrisy to harm university workers and families, to further damage this Catholic university, or to harm the credibility of the church and its teachings. 

We, the undersigned, call on the university Board of Trustees to send President Brian J. Shanley, O.P. back to the bargaining table with St. John’s faculty unions. St. John's University must adhere to Catholic social teaching by honoring workers’ rights.