Six Southern Bishops, including Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan of Atlanta, have issued a statement on the subject of the union-management dispute of the J. P. Stevens Company plants in the Southeastern United States. The statement is as follows:

It has now been ten months since the Catholic bishops of the Province of Atlanta and the Diocese of Richmond issued a public statement concerning the labor-management dispute at the J. P. Stevens Co., Inc. At that time, we made clear our concern for the problems of the working man and woman and the economic health of the community. We reemphasize here that our interest in the economic welfare of the community finds its source in long-standing religious teaching on social justice and the rights of workers to organize and to have a just share in the rewards of their labors. We are conscious that there are those who wish that the church, and churchmen, would "stay in the pulpit," but we insist that the implications of the gospel itself force us to become involved in issues of justice and the basic rights of working people.

In the light of this concern, since our last statement we have met at some length with representatives of both labor and management in order to express our continued willingness to assist in reconciling the differences that too long have separated them. In both cases our meetings were cordial and candid, allowing for an exchange of views and an expression of positions leading to the current impasse. In reflecting on these meetings, we feel we should make public our present assessment of the J. P. Stevens dispute.

We are encouraged by certain advances made by J. P. Stevens management, which have resulted in some improvements for the workers. These changes have, however, been minimal and they cannot disguise the strong, and acknowledged, anti-union philosophy of the company. As long as this attitude on the part of management continues, it constitutes a serious obstacle to the realistic resolution of the Stevens dispute. The company's anti-union position radiates a climate of disapproval, which cannot fail to discourage workers from joining unions, and it makes every union advance a struggle between opposing forces. We feel that this is an area for basic change if progress is to be made, and we call upon J. P. Stevens Co. to reassess its position and at least, remain neutral in the process of union decisions by the workers.

Moreover, the evidence is overwhelming that, in practice as well as in theory, the J. P. Stevens Co. has followed a path of discouragement, and even repression, of union activity. That policy is reminiscent of an earlier management-labor stance which has, for the most part, happily disappeared from the American scene. The National Labor Relations Board, on many occasions, and indeed the federal courts have used strong and denunciatory language in reviewing the recalcitrant Stevens' behavior and made headlines across the country. In the light of this, any fair-minded observer is forced to acknowledge that the blame for the present social crisis lies heavily upon the company.

The long delays in the pursuit of justice, extended by many court appeals, have not contributed to any public confidence in the willingness of J. P. Stevens to adopt reasonable solutions. These delays have taxed the patience of the workers and scandalized the public so much as to suggest that new national legislation must be passed to make such dilatory efforts impossible in the future.

In short, we find a sad record of continued opposition to the formation of unions, in philosophy and in action, by the J. P. Stevens Co., and we find it to be irreconcilable with the clear demands of social justice in the Christian Gospel. This evaluation of the record does not in any way constitute an endorsement of irresponsible activity or conduct on the part of union representatives. We acknowledge that the record of the union activists has had its rough spots, especially in the early attempts at organization.

At this time, as leaders in the Catholic community, we appeal again to the J. P. Stevens Co. to rearrange its priorities and make social justice and the needs of the worker a matter of its primary concern. We, as Bishops of the Southeast, continue to hope that a turnabout is possible and a new path to the future attainable. The recent Supreme Court decision declining a review of the J. P. Stevens case may provide the occasion for a more enlightened approach by the company to its pressing problems.

We reserve the right, and indeed accept the obligation, of further review if some change in the present situation does not soon eventuate. At the same time, if our efforts can in some manner promote the course of social justice for all, we put ourselves once again at the service of both parties involved in the dispute.

Most Reverend Thomas A. Donnellan, Archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia

Most Reverend Michael J. Begley, Bishop of Charlotte, North Carolina

Most Reverend F. Joseph Gossman, Bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina

Most Reverend Walter F. Sullivan, Bishop of Richmond, Virginia

Most Reverend Ernest L. Unterkoefler, Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina