Catholic Social Teaching

The Dignity of the

WorkerThe Missionaries of the Sacred Heart USA Province305 S. Lake Street, PO Box 270 Aurora, IL 60507Phone: (630) 892-2371 Email: info@misacor-usa.org

There is dignityin work. Throughwork, humanbeings participatein creation andhelp realize God'splan on earth.

Work honors thegifts and talents that God has

given to each one of us.

Work is ‘forthe worker,and not the worker for

work’.Above: Silk Workers, by Andrew Hitchcock Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

Likewise, the economy must servepeople, and profit cannot be the

ultimate goal or purpose of

economic activity.

The Church teaches that workers havecertain rights, including:

• Just wages which provide them the means to live a human life and care for their family

• The right to gainful employment• Freedom from unjust discrimination• Freedom to join unions and to strike when it is

necessary

Sources: Mater et Magistra, #71 ; Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2433-2435

So what does this mean for us today?

The teaching of the Catholic Church regarding thedignity of the worker has many implications for ustoday. Below are a couple of examples:

• Paying employees a just wage• Providing employees with a safe

working environment • Working to end unjust discrimination• Working to end forced labor• Changing our buying habits to support

companies that treat workers fairly

We must work to remove practices of unjust discrimination from the hiring and promotion process, including discrimination based on gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation.

We must also work to end discrimination against women who are pregnant.

We must work for the end of slavery, which has taken the form of human trafficking. Forced labor of any kind, including within the sex industry, reduces the person to a means of profit, violating his/her dignity as a human being made in the image of God. To learn more about human trafficking in the USA, please visit: http://misacor-usa.org/ihuman-trafficking.

Photo by Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department Photo by Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department

We should supportfairly traded goods. Wecan do this by changingwhat type of coffee weorder & looking for FairTrade items in thegrocery store.

We can also research the companies we buyproducts from and giveour support to the oneswhich have responsiblebusiness practices andtransparent supplychains.

We can each do our part to respect the dignity ofwork and the worker, through our hiring andemployment practices, through advocacy for betterworking conditions, just wages and for an end tounjust discrimination, and through our daily purchasedecisions.