THE DIGNITY OF WORK AND THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS

The economy must serve the people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of
continuing participation in God’s creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must
NOTES
be respected – the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private More on Laborem Exercens:
property, and to economic initiative. 1 – Human dignity and the role of the
church
ENCYCLICALS 4 – God commanded human beings to
Laudato Si 127-128 work
6 – Individual humanity can see
Work should be the setting for this rich personal growth, where many aspects of life enter into play: creativity, planning himself or herself in the product of the
for the future, developing our talents, living out our values, relating to others, giving glory to God. It follows that, in the world
7 – Materialism & Economism:
reality of today's global society, it is essential that "we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for Human beings as instrument for profit
everyone," no matter the limited interests of business and dubious economic reasoning. We were created with a vocation and production, alienation of labor
(means of production including labor,
to work. The goal should not be that technological progress increasingly replace human work, for this would be machines, raw materials to product),
detrimental to humanity. Work is a necessity, part of the meaning of life on this earth, a path to growth, human people are viewed as materials that
produce work. Labor and capital
development and personal fulfillment. Helping the poor financially must always be a provisional solution in the face of should be balanced
pressing needs. The broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work. 13 – Private property and common
good
Evangelii Gaudium 204
Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programs,
mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment
and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an
irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to
increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.
Caritas in Veritate 25 quoting Gaudium et Spes 63
I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that
the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: "Man is the source, the
focus and the aim of all economic and social life
Caritas in Veritate 36
The economic sphere is neither ethically neutral, or inherently inhuman or opposed to society. It is part and parcel of
human activity and precisely because it is human, it must be structured and governed in an ethical manner.
Caritas in Veritate 63
In many cases, poverty results from a violation of the dignity of human work, either because work opportunities are
limited (through unemployment or underemployment), or "because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow
from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family
Centesimus Annus 43
The obligation to earn one's bread by the sweat of one's brow also presumes the right to do so. A society in which this
right is systematically denied, in which economic policies do not allow workers to reach satisfactory levels of
employment, cannot be justified from an ethical point of view, nor can that society attain social peace.
A Catholic Framework for Economic Life 5
All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working
conditions, as well as to organize and join unions or other associations.
Laborem Exercens 16
Work is, as has been said, an obligation, that is to say, a duty, on the part of man. . . Man must work, both because the
Creator has commanded it and because of his own humanity, which requires work in order to be maintained and
developed. Man must work out of regard for others, especially his own family, but also for the society he belongs to, the
country of which he is a child, and the whole human family of which he is a member, since he is the heir to the work of
generations and at the same time a sharer in building the future of those who will come after him in the succession of
history.
Laborem Exercens 9
Work is a good thing for man-a good thing for his humanity-because through work man not only transforms nature,
adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes "more a
human being.  Self-obligation/Duty of Man to
provide for family and self
Laborem Exercens 20  God works and He wanted to share
All these rights, together with the need for the workers themselves to secure them, give rise to yet another right: the right this nature to us

of association, that is to form associations for the purpose of defending the vital interests of those employed in the various
professions. These associations are called labor or trade unions.
Octogesima Adveniens 14
As the Church solemnly reaffirmed in the recent Council, "the beginning, the subject and the goal of all social institutions
is and must be the human person." All people have the right to work, to a chance to develop their qualities and their  Work is geared towards self-
personalities in the exercise of their professions, to equitable remuneration which will enable them and their families "to actualization
 It is a prerequisite towards full human
lead a worthy life on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level" and to assistance in case of need arising from potential
sickness or age.

 For workers to create unions

 Unions: Association of workers
 This is needed for workers to voice
out their concerns

The Priority of Labor Over Capital

Central to any response to new demands of the modern economy must be a respect for the dignity of the worker. The
Pope noted how Jesus spent most of his earthly life working at the carpenter’s bench:
This circumstance constitutes in itself the most eloquent ‘Gospel of work’, showing that the basis for determining the
value of human work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one who is doing it is a person. (#
6)
While the materials and processes of production are the objects of work, the worker is the subject and is owed a greater
importance. The dignity of the worker highlights the ‘very ethical nature of work’. The Pope emphasized that this must be
the case for every worker – even those in jobs that society considers ‘the merest “service”, as the most monotonous even
the most alienating work’.
He warned of the re-emergence of a very narrow economic valuation of work:
... the danger of treating work as a special kind of ‘merchandise’, or as an impersonal ‘force’ needed for production (the
expression ‘workforce’ is in fact in common use) always exists, especially when the whole way of looking at the question
of economics is marked by the premises of materialistic economism. (# 7)
The Pope warned of a ‘reversal of order’, where human labor is given the same value as any factor of production or,
worse, made secondary or inferior to material things. He said that this error of early capitalism – addressed when Leo
XIII issued Rerum Novarum in 1891 – can be repeated wherever there is rapid economic change driven by a ‘one-sidedly
materialistic civilization’. (# 7, 13)
He identified the casualties of what he referred to as ‘materialistic economism’:
And the ‘poor’ appear under various forms; they appear in various places and at various times; in many cases they
appear as a result of the violation of the dignity of human work: either because the opportunities for work are limited as
a result of the scourge of unemployment, or because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially
the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family. (# 8)
He called for solidarity with workers wherever they are degraded or exploited, and a concern as well for their families
and communities subject to poverty and even hunger.
Work – Key to the Whole Social Question
Work has significance at a number of levels: in terms of applying human skill and achieving personal fulfilment; in
providing the means to start a family and to raise and educate children; and to contribute to the life and the common good
of broader society (# 9, 10). The negative consequences are obvious at all levels of society where work is exploitative,
devalued or denied.
Pope John Paul II highlighted the central message of this encyclical:
... that work is a key, probably the essential key, to the whole social question, if we try to see that
question really from the point of view of man’s good. And if the solution ... must be sought in the
direction of ‘making life more human’, then the key, namely human work, acquires fundamental and
decisive importance. (# 3)
He also spoke of the importance of just wages and adequate conditions:
... wages, that is to say remuneration for work, are still a practical means whereby the vast majority of
people can have access to those goods which are intended for common use ... Hence, in every case,
a just wage is the concrete means of verifying the justice of the whole socioeconomic system and, in
any case, of checking that it is functioning justly. (# 19)
In addition to this concern for the common good, the Pope expressed a special concern, a ‘preferential
option’, for unemployed people, young people, impoverished agricultural workers, people with disabilities
and immigrant workers – and highlighted the special assistance that should be provided (# 18, 19, 21–23).
The State as ‘Indirect Employer’
The emerging economic program of neo-liberalism espoused free markets, unhindered competition, nonintervention on the
part of government, and the withdrawal of protections and benefits. Pope John Paul, however, spoke of the role of all
agents of economic policy, principally the state, as being the ‘indirect employer’ and having the responsibility to address
imbalances in the distribution of wealth, employment and social welfare.
The indirect employer has responsibility ‘to meet the danger of unemployment and to ensure employment for all’ through
‘overall planning with regard to the different types of work by which not only the economic life but also the cultural life of
a given society is shaped.’ (# 18)
Particular responsibilities include:
• conducting a just labor policy in the context of the broader operation of the economy
• finding suitable employment for all who are capable of it
• acting against unemployment in order to avert individual and social disaster
• providing unemployment benefits for the subsistence of unemployed workers and their families
• operating a suitable system of instruction and education for labor market participation
• coordinating employment, wages, infrastructure and industry policies to ensure a healthy balance of employment in communities. (# 17–19)
The Pope reaffirmed the vital importance of work to the life of the community and emphasized how ‘these new conditions
and demands will require a reordering and adjustment of the structures of the modern economy and of the distribution of
work’ (# 1)

INTRODUCTION
Humans derive dignity from work even though it involves suffering and toil (#1)
Recent changes in the realm of work (#1)
 automation
 increase in price of energy and raw materials
 environmental awareness and respect
 people claiming right to participate
Role of the Church (#1)
 Call attention to dignity of workers
 Condemn violations of dignity
 Guide changes to ensure progress
Work is at the center of the social question, the key to making life more human (#2)
Catholic social teaching has evolved and now considers the “world” as well as the “class”
perspective; the Church calls for structural transformation on a more universal scale (#2)
WORK AND HUMAN BEINGS
Perspective on Work
 Genesis states God’s command to subdue the Earth; work is the menans to do so (#4)
 Human beings are the proper subject of work (#5)
 Aspect of technology (#5)
Positive: Facilitates work
Negative: Can supplant or control humans
 Work must serve an individual’s humanity (#6)
Materialism and Economism
Materialistic thought treats humans as instruments of production rather than as subjects of work (#7)
Workers are considered as merchandise (#7)
Justice and Work
Leo XIII’s call to solidarity was a reaction against the degradation of people as subjects of work (#8)
Within unemployment of intellectuals, a new “proletarianization” of workers is occurring (#8)
Church is committed to justice for workers; it wants to be a “Church of the poor” (#8)
Nature of Work
People achieve dominion over the earth and fulfillment as human beings (#9)
Work and family life (#10):
 Work makes family life possible
 Work makes possible the achievement of purpose of the family;
 It increases common good of human family
CONFLICT BETWEEN LABOR AND CAPITAL
The Conflict
Conflict has changed from one between capital and labor to an ideological struggle and now to a
political struggle (#11)
Fundamental principles (#12)
 Priority of labor over capital
 Primacy of people over things
Humanity has two inheritances: nature, and the resources people have developed (#12)
Need to develop a system that will reconcile capital and labor (#13)
Property
On ownership, Catholic social teaching differs from Marxism (collectivism) and capitalism (#13)
Right to private property is subordinated to the right of the common use (#14)
Property is acquired through work to serve labor (#14)
Socialization of certain means of production cannot be excluded (#14)
Church favors a joint-ownership of means of production (#14)
RIGHTS OF WORKERS – Work is an obligation/duty (#16)
Indirect Employers
Indirect employers (persons, institutions, sets of principles, states, socio-economic systems) determine
one or more facets of the labor relationship (#17)
Policies need to respect the objective rights of workers – the criterion for shaping the world economy
(#17)
Employment
Suitable employment for all is needed (#8)
Indirect employers need to act against unemployment through (#18):
 Unemployment benefits (springing from principle of common use of goods);
 A system of overall planning on economic and cultural levels;
 International collaboration to lessen imbalances in the standard of living.
Resources must be used to create employment (#18)
Workers
Just remunerations of workers is the key (#19)
Wages are a practical means whereby people can have access to goods intended for common
use (#19)
Church calls for (#19)
 Wages sufficient to support a family
 Allowances to mothers raising a family
 Reevaluations of the mother’s role to ensure proper love for children and fair opportunities
for women
Other social benefits for workers are needed, including health care, right to leisure, pension, and
accident insurance, and a decent work environment (#19)
Right to Form Unions
Indispensable element of social life (#20)
Originated with struggles of workers (#20)
Mouthpiece of the struggles for justice (#20)
Constructed factor of social order (#20)
Can enter political order to secure rights and the common good (#20)
Strikes are legitimate but extraordinary (#20)
Two cautions (#20):
 demands can become “class egoism”
 can stray from specific roles
Other
Agriculture work is the basis of healthy economies (#21)
Disabled people should participate in work (#22)
People have a right to leave their native countries in search of better conditions (#23)
Elements of a Spirituality in Work
Humans share in the activity of their God (#25)
Work imitates Gods activity and gives dignity (#25)
Jesus was a person of work (#26)
There are many references to work in the Bible (#26)
Vatican II: work allows people to fulfill their total vocation (#26)
Work is sharing in the Cross and Resurrection (#27)
Work is necessary for earthly progress and the development of the Kingdom (#27)