A friend of mine works in a vital American industry (which shall remain undisclosed) for a major corporate entity (which shall remain nameless). Suffice it to say that it was an industry hit particularly hard on 9/11, and it wasn’t exactly thriving before then.

For a number of years this industry has suffered from corporate failures, desperate mergers, and wrenching layoffs. The company that employs my friend is seeking to downsize its work-force once again through a combination of layoffs, restructuring and incentives offered to employees to quit.

Now here are some things that are odious but true. Some of the top execs at this company have in the recent past been, or are currently being, compensated at obscene levels. Some of the corporate decisions that have been made have been sans consideration for the families of the workers. For example, a recent shift in scheduling has eliminated steady schedules and requires workers to rotate days off. Since some of the workers actually live away from their families and commute home on the weekends, this plays havoc with family life and will require many of these workers to quit — which, frankly, is the company’s goal.

The company recently and unexpectedly offered a voluntary furlough — a kind of do-it-yourself layoff with certain benefits designed to encourage people to quit. However, the notice of the availability of the voluntary furlough was mere weeks and the window of opportunity to take advantage of it was equally short. Little enough time for family discussion, chances to contact other employment prospects, etc. The company in essence is encouraging — or we might even say pressuring — family heads (most of the affected people are male bread-winners) to gamble with their families’ finances and take the furlough while it is on the table.

So what we have is a flat-out case of corporate greed. We have families who will be plunged into poverty by cavalier and calloused managers who care only for their own bottom line.

Not so fast. Let’s start by acknowledging that the workers in this industry, for the most part, and especially in this company, have been very well compensated for their jobs. Even enviously so. Benefits have been generous and working conditions, considering the limitations inherent in the kind of work it is, have been optimized both in terms of safety and comfort.

Let’s throw into the mix that fact that everyone has known for a very long time that this industry was in trouble and that major shake-ups were inevitable. Let’s factor in that 9/11 was an obvious hit to this particular industry and that there was nothing secret about it — even if the handwriting on the wall was not clear before then, it certainly was from that point on and we are already nearly 4 years into borrowed time since then.

For years, even before 9/11, the company my friend works for has had in place generous resources to assist workers to transfer their skills to another corporation and even to another industry. For free, the company has made available resum&eacute-writing services, training in skills with transferable credit, and a program to pay for college classes and degree programs for its employees. The company allows time off with pay for such things as attending job fairs and other networking events as well as on-site career assessment and counseling. Additionally, professional guidance in every aspect of financial planning is there for the asking.

What is interesting to observe is the way so many of the men who are targeted for layoff in this industry respond. For one thing, many of them have had no qualms about living to the very limit of their means and well beyond, buying homes with high mortgages and heavy-duty vehicles with heavy-duty payments. Few have taken full advantage of the job training and educational benefits offered by the company. One man, a father of half-a-dozen kids, has refused, despite my friend’s constant exhortations for over a year, to do anything to prepare for his eventual layoff. He says he will continue to just hope it won’t happen.

But it will. And when the layoffs happen the sad stories will be all over the papers about why this family lost their home, and that one was reduced to poverty, and this other one doesn’t have any benefits anymore and the unemployment is about to run out and oh, isn’t it all just so cruel and unfair.

Now like I said, I won’t tell you what industry this is, but at least when you hear the stories, they won’t fly. You’ll know that these folks are coming into need more than anything else because of their own imprudent actions.

This raises an interesting question. Just what is our obligation when it comes to rendering aid to people who are simply refusing to properly care for their own responsibilities toward themselves and their dependants? From the repeated admonitions of the Wisdom books in the Bible to the apostolic injunctions runs the clear theme of the moral obligation to care for one’s family by means of hard work. It sits in Scripture alongside another consistent theme: to give liberally to those in need.

The Church has always placed the emphasis on the latter, not so much for the sake of those who are in need, but for the sake of those who give. By helping even those who do not deserve our help, those who have brought about their own condition of want through their own negligence, stupidity or even vice, we most resemble our Father in Heaven. Every kindness He gives us is underserved. By almsgiving we store up treasure with Him and prepare for our own eventual layoff.

© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange

Mary Kochan, Senior Editor of Catholic Exchange. was raised as a third-generation Jehovah’s Witness. She is a member of St. Theresa parish in Douglasville, GA and she is homeschooling four of her grandchildren. Her tapes are available from Saint Joseph Communications.