TRADE UNIONS AT BLACKFRIARS
Hope for a strong, just and democratic economy should he an aspiration of the churches. Such hope is a prophetic strand of the Old and New Testaments, which influenced the early statements of purpose among the trade unions too.
The church displaying this window is at the heart of a busy industrial centre and offers facilities to 12 Trade Union branches. Whether renting, letting, hosting or using occasionally, all users of this centre can slowly develop the shared wish to search for what the World Council of Churches called in the 1980s 'a just, participatory and sustainable society'. Ministry, administration, management and meeting are all activities that can enhance the search for communities from which everyone derives benefit.
It is important that Trade Unions add their design to the symbolism of these windows. As the print unions were hosted in Chapels in their early years, so it is appropriate that this inter-church centre should re-enliven and widen the tradition.
Moreover, out from this centre go many encouraged people to pursue the implications of a faith in God made manifest in human form. Unions, Management and the Church would be wise to retain and make creative the tension between requiring rights and fulfilling duties. All others would be wise to do the same.
The 'unity is strength' theme is endorsed by the Christian faith and challenges us to apply it to the potential of the whole human family, set in an environment to be revered and sustained.
