Canadian clergy take the Church up on its declared support for the right to organize:

The Canadian Auto Workers union has agreed to help unionize stressed-out United Church of Canada ministers who claim parishioners are mistreating them. The organizing drive began Friday in Ontario, where about 30 per cent of the church's clergy preach, and will later extend to the other provinces. The church says it doesn't oppose unionization. Ministers say the pressures and challenges they face on the job can sometimes be considered abusive, and complain that their wages are comparable to sweatshop workers when overtime is figured in. They also believe that the church's leadership doesn't deal with problems adequately. A United Church minister's yearly salary starts at $30,000. David Galston, a United Church minister in Hamilton, Ont., says a lack of support for those who speak out against the abuse is one of the biggest problems. "If I did speak out, I would know that the courts of my church, the United Church of Canada, would not stand behind me. They would leave me alone, dangling in the wind," he said. "And that's the situation for several clergy right at the moment. They have nobody to support them."