Santiago, Chile, Mar 25, 2008 / 11:26 am
The president of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Alejandro Goic, said on Chilean TV this week that striking “is a legitimate right when there are no other options for reaching an appropriate solution to a conflict workers are having with their company.”
Referring to the debate in Chile currently over workers’ salaries, the bishop noted that “there is a lot of unhappiness among many people in the workforce, because they see a country that is growing and developing but not everyone is benefiting from it.”
Bishop Goic also voiced support for Cardinal Javier Errazuriz of Santiago who has called on politicians and society in general not to succumb to “the seduction to lie, offend, denigrate, humiliate or cause hurt in word or deed.”
“The Church appreciates the vocation to political life and political parties enormously,” he said, “but if they are not capable of entering into dialogue, between the ruling party and the opposition, they are going down the wrong road.”