The Catholic case for an excluded workers fund

In the coming weeks, elected leaders at every level of government in Iowa will begin to decide how to invest $2.7 billion dollars coming our way from the American Rescue Plan.

Around $1.4 billion will go directly to the governor. But a new state tax cut could trigger a forfeiture clause. jeopardizing hundreds of millions of dollars of this funding.

We hope and pray the governor will use the rest of her share to refill the state’s badly depleted unemployment trust fund.

In Catholic social teaching, for a public policy to be just, it must promote the dignity of the human person, the common good and have a preferential option for the poor.

But what of the other $1.3 billion coming to Iowa’s city, county and tribal governments? Johnson County municipalities will collectively receive $54 million. Muscatine County and its cities, $15 million. Scott County, Davenport and area towns, more than $80 million.

The COVID pandemic has impacted all Iowans, but not equally. Front-line, essential workers, immigrants, Black, indigenous, rural, elderly and disabled people have been hardest hit. Local leaders across Iowa should allocate these funds in a way that addresses the historic inequities against these communities, inequalities exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic.

In Catholic social teaching, for a public policy to be just, it must promote the dignity of the human person, the common good and have a preferential option for the poor. Communitarianism emphasizes the responsibility of the individual to the community and the social importance of the family. Distributism is wealth and power widely shared, not concentrated in the hands of the few. Subsidiarity means decisions should be made by those impacted most.

Accordingly, we should first turn to the most directly impacted Iowans to ask where these new investments would do the most good. So that’s what we did.

In our vocations as priest and physician, and as Catholic Workers, we spent the last year walking with migrant workers. From infections, hospitalizations and deaths, to loss of jobs and income, there is little question Iowa’s immigrant workforce was among the most devastated by the pandemic. They were also left out of stimulus payments, unemployment insurance and new monthly childcare checks.

Over the last year, Catholic Workers also partnered with labor, rural community and racial justice allies who spent the pandemic bargaining new contracts for school and hospital workers, surveying rural seniors and marching in the streets.

Together with other like-minded groups, we formed the Johnson County Fund Excluded Workers Coalition as a vehicle for immigrants, low-wage workers, and previously incarcerated people to lead the way. Their presence and their voices at recent town hall forums, Iowa City Council and Johnson County supervisors meetings has been ubiquitous. Their program for an Excluded Workers Fund is the only comprehensive plan on the table.

We have a historic opportunity to write a new story, not just for Johnson County and Iowa City, but for all of Iowa. Working together without the governor or state Legislature, local governments should coordinate the investment of $1.3 billion in discretionary funding to put people first.

$1.3 billion is enough to give:

The Excluded Workers Fund is an outline of specific investments local and county governments can adopt, rooted in the needs and the priorities of Iowans, and focused on addressing the disparate impact the pandemic has had on the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.

We have an opportunity to enact a bold vision for a more just and democratic Iowa. We can’t go wrong when we listen, and then do what we hear.

The Reverend Guillermo Trevino, Jr. is parochial vicar at St. Patrick in Iowa City and St. Joseph in West Liberty. Dr. Kathy Lee-Son is a physician and a parishioner at St. Patrick Catholic Church.