Church-Labor Connection

I never thought the Catholic Church would find enough time to get involved in matters relating to labor and employment. But it actually did. In a forum specially organized for the Church-Labor Conference, claiming to be an alliance of church groups and labor organizations in the Philippines, the Catholic Church expressed its concern on the long-standing issues of workers (unemployment, security of tenure and right to self-organization) and vowed to support the workers in their fight to address these issues.

Labor and employment issues are usually tackled in policy discussions among labor, management and government representatives. You would not expect the priests and all other sacred cows to preach about how employers should behave and what workers should get in return for their hard work. But I was amazed to find out that the Church had its own literature on such topics as human work, wages and unionism, eventually making its way connected to labor advocacy.              

The connection is found in what the Church calls the Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Fr. Enrico Adoviso of the Archdiocese of Manila Labor Center explains that CST refers to “a limited body of literature written in the modern era that is a response of papal and episcopal teachers to the various political, economic and social issues of our time.” It “encompasses all the ideas and theories that have developed over the entire history of the Church on matters of social life.” Simply put, it is understood as “an effort by the pastoral teachers of the church to articulate what the broader social tradition means in the era of modern economics, politics and culture.”

Believe it or not, the Church has its own substantial explanation of what a “wage” is as found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2434:

“A just wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice. In determining fair pay, both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into account. Remuneration for work should guarantee humans the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for themselves and their family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good (Gaudium et Spes, #67). Agreement between the parties is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages.”

Another scripture on the relationship between the workers and employers is articulated in Rerum Novarum # 20:

“Among the most important duties of employers, the principal one is to give all workers what is justly due them. Assuredly, to establish a rule of pay in accord with justice, many factors must be taken into account. But, in general, the rich and employers must remember that no laws, either human or divine, permit them for their own profit to oppress the needy and the wretched or to seek gain from another’s want. To defraud anyone of the wage due him/ her is a great crime that calls down avenging wrath from Heaven: Behold, the wages of the laborers . . . which have been kept back by you unjustly, cry out: and their cry has entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts (Jas 5:4).”

Summarizing the scriptures in Tagalog, Fr. Adoviso says: “Dapat tandaan ng mga mayayaman na walang batas ang nagbibigay sa kanila ng karapatan upang alisan o bawasan ng takdang sahod ang manggagawa.”