A look at Catholic principles on social justice and the dignity of human labor

Last Monday we observed Labor Day. For many it marks the end of summer and a new academic year. But its historical importance should not be lost. So, while some see the day now behind us, and millions of youths are already involved in school activities we should continue to reflect on the dignity of human labor and the rights of workers.

Labor Day originated in connection with a General Assembly of the Knights of Labor in New York City in September 1882. It took decades to become a federal holiday and was only a holiday for federal employees at first. Ultimately, Congress approved a federal holiday for all. At its heart it’s a celebration of the dignity of human labor for every man and woman. Though our society has strengthened the rights of all workers improvements are still needed.

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I’d like to offer a perspective on the importance of labor and the labor movement from the vantage point of the moral teaching of the Catholic Church. Catholic principles of social justice are as old as the Church itself. And in the modern era Catholic social teaching on the rights of workers, specifically on their right to organize in labor unions, has been clear, consistent, and explicit for more than a century. Several key documents demonstrate this.

An encyclical letter written by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, Rerum Novarum (“Of New Things”), is often considered the founding document of modern Catholic social teaching. Alarmed that industrialization and laissez-faire economics were becoming the occasion of great injustice and misery for the working classes, the pope called on the faithful to “save unfortunate working people from the cruelty of men of greed, who use human beings as mere instruments for money-making.” He argued that the worker’s right to a living wage took precedence over the free market.

Pope Leo also wrote that if employers laid burdens upon their workmen which degraded them or if health were endangered by excessive labor, or by work unsuited to sex or age, it would be right to invoke the authority of the law. He endorsed the formation of unions, arguing that they should become more numerous.

In 1931, Pope Pius XI, on the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, reaffirmed its teaching. His letter, Quadragesimo Anno (“Forty Years”), expressed continuing concern about the unjust distribution of wealth. He noted the grave evils due to the huge disparity between the few exceedingly rich and the “unnumbered propertyless.” He insisted that social regulation of the market was essential to justice and the common good.

One of the key documents that emerged from the historic Second Vatican Council was Gaudium et Spes (“Joy and Hope”) in 1965. The Council Fathers, thosee bishops from around the world, declared that the right to form labor unions without fear of retaliation was a basic human right. Unions should be able to represent workers and contribute to the organizing of economic life in justice.

In 1981, on the 90th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II revisited the themes laid out by his predecessors in a new encyclical letter, Laborem Exercens (“On Human Work”). The pope observed that “the experience of history teaches that organizations of this type are an indispensable element of social life” and that they serve as “a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice.” He made further clarifications. “Workers should be assured the right to strike, without being subjected to personal penal sanctions for taking part in a strike.” He also wrote that work is in the first place “for the worker” and not the worker “for work.” Work itself can have greater or lesser objective value, but all work should be judged by the measure of dignity given to the person who carries it out.

America’s Catholic Bishops issued “A Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy” in 1986 to help our nation’s faithful think through the implications of Catholic Social Teaching for our social and economic life. They taught that “the most urgent priority for domestic economic policy is the creation of new jobs with adequate pay and decent working conditions.” The bishops defended the right to organize in the strongest terms and called for labor law reform to better protect that right. They said that “migrant agricultural workers today are particularly in need of protection, including the right to organize and bargain collectively.”

As citizens we must be vigilant in defending the rights of all workers.

Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan is the pastor of Christ the King Church in Worcester.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Keep the Faith: On the dignity of labor ...