Working With Dignity

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Chapter 6

• Working With Dignity

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Dignity of Work The Rights of Workers

• Work exists for the benefit of people
• Dignity of Work
• The value that work has because it supports human
  life and contributes to human dignity
• Rights of Workers
• Include the right to employment, to decent and
  fair pay, to a safe workplace, and anything
  necessary for life and health

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Bible Activities

• Sirach 38 24-34
• What does this passage teach about trades and
  crafts?
• What do you think is the most meaningful verse in
  this passage?
• 2 Thes. 3 6-15
• How does St. Paul feel about idleness?
• How is the theme of Participation present in this
  passage?

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Rerum Novarum

• Opposed Capitalisms harsh treatment of the poor
  as mere pawns
• Opposed Socialisms abolition of private property
• Proposed a system based on Natural Law
• The God-given need for creation to follow what
  God intended it to be

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Major Components

• Cooperation between classes
• Not inevitable class warfare
• Dignity of work
• Primary purpose to provide a decent life for
  families not to be harsh or oppressive
• Just wage
• An amount sufficient to provide a decent life

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cont

• Role of the State
• Balance between liberalist and socialist philo.
• Private ownership of property
• All have a right to own property fair
  distribution
• Defense of the poor
• Goal should be lifting up, not casting down the
  poor

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Effects of R.N.

• Flourishing of Catholic labor unions
• Minimum-wage laws
• Establishment a precedent for the Church to speak
  out on social matters
• Set the table for next 100 years of social action

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Laborem Exercens

• Work remains a good thing, not only because it is
  useful and enjoyable, but also because it
  expresses and increases the worker's dignity.
  Through work we not only transform the world, we
  are transformed ourselves, becoming "more a human
  being. 9
• Workers not only want fair pay, they also want to
  share in the responsibility and creativity of the
  very work process. They want to feel that they
  are working for themselves -- an awareness that
  is smothered in a bureaucratic system where they
  only feel themselves to be "cogs" in a huge
  machine moved from above. 15

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Laborem Exercens

• Proposes a spirituality of work in the light of
  creation and redemption in Christ.
• Emphasizes the clear priority of labor over
  capital, because work both expresses and
  increases human dignity
• Reinforces the rights of workers and unions
• Highlights work as a fundamental dimension of
  human existence.

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Group Activity

• Equals 1 quiz grade due today
• Write your own document regarding the Dignity of
  Work and the Rights of Workers
• Length
• 1 page front and back
• Answer the following questions in your document
• How do unemployment and underemployment diminish
  a persons human dignity?
• What is the importance of a persons faith life
  in connection with their ability to work?
• What does the phrase the Rights of Workers
  mean? List the most important rights for workers
  to have?

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The Child Labor Amendment

• 1916 law (Keating-Owen Act) prohibiting from
  interstate commerce goods manufactured by
  children ruled unconstitutional in Hammer v.
  Dagenhart (247 U.S. 251, 1918).
• 1924 Congress proposed amendment
• Section 1. The Congress shall have power to
  limit, regulate, and prohibit the labor of
  persons under eighteen years of age.
• Section 2. The power of the several States is
  unimpaired by this article except that the
  operation of State laws shall be suspended to the
  extent necessary to give effect to legislation
  enacted by the Congress.

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• 28 states ratified, but 36 needed by early 1925,
  13 states had already declined to ratify.
• 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act regulated child
  labor anyway upheld by the Court in U.S. v.
  Darby Lumber Co. (312 U.S. 100, 1941).

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Churchs Response

• Msgr. John A. Ryan
• Argued that children should be protected by the
  government from working and not attending school
• Cardinal William OConnor of Boston
• Opposed the amendment claiming that it would
  infringe on the rights of citizens
• Major Issue
• Should the government regulate what families do?

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Human Work

• Work
• Any sustained effort expended for a purpose
  effort that makes a difference in the world
• Two views of work
• Toil
• Difficult, challenging, wearing necessary evil
• Potential for growth
• Catholic position work as transformative

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Biblical Examples

• Creation Story Fall
• After the Sin of Adam and Eve, we as humans must
  work the land Gen. 317-19
• Jesus teachings
• Mt. 25 31-46

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Work as Good

• As John Paul II states, there is a dignity to
  work because it helps us to realize our humanity
• Work helps us to fulfill Gods will in 4 ways
• Family needs Human dignity common good sharing
  Gods work

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4 Values of Work

• Family Needs
• Livelihood
• How someone provides the basic necessities of
  life for his/her family
• Not just material needs
• Human dignity
• Growth as Christian people
• Quote pg. 174-75

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Cont.

• Common Good
• Participation in society work allows us to work
  with and for others building up society
• 4. Sharing in Gods Work
• Humans as the highest part of creation
• Quote pg. 175

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Christian Work

• All Christians have a responsibility to work in a
  variety of ways
• Jesus command ? Go out to all the world
• Liturgy ? the peoples work
• Building the City of God
• Working for justice everyday

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Work Essentials

• Christians should ensure that work and workers
  rights include at least the following
• Sufficient wage
• Fair opportunity to advance
• Safe workplace
• Medical/Retirement benefits
• Training
• Opportunity for unions
• Respect from both employees and employers

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Human-Centered Work

• Good work is the basic foundation for justice in
  the world
• Essential that work serves people before products
  or profit
• Subjective aspect vs. Objective aspect
• Subjective more important because it focuses on
  the experiences of the workers not the products
• Connected to the idea that Gods love for us is
  more important than what we do (sin/virtue)

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Workers in the Vineyard

• Jesus offers us his understanding of work through
  this parable
• Matthew 20 1-15
• What is the significance of how the landowner
  pays the workers?
• Is this just or unjust?
• What does this teach us about working for God in
  our lives?

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Rights of Workers

• There are certain rights for workers that must be
  safeguarded always
• Divided into two categories
• Rights to meet the needs of families
• Rights to support human dignity

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Meeting the needs of families

• The right to work
• Working allows people to provide for families
  primary way to take part in Creation
• A just wage
• Living wage that enables worker to provide a
  decent life for her/his family
• Respect for the workers family
• Family responsibilities come before work
  responsibilities leeway to attend to family
  matters

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Supporting Human Dignity

• A safe work environment
• Employers have a responsibility to ensure the
  safety of their employees includes not forcing a
  worker to do something too difficult or dangerous
• Permission to join unions
• Allows individuals to come together to speak with
  one voice must not forget mutual respect between
  employers and employees

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Human Dignity (cont)

• Equal Treatment
• All should be given the same opportunity in
  finding and keeping jobs
• Right to private property
• Acquire ones own goods
• Right to economic initiative
• To be self-employed or start ones own business

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Right to Education

• The right to education must also be safeguarded
  for people
• Education closely tied to finding/holding jobs
• Serious problem in our society today

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Solidarity in Work

• Work does not just aid the individual worker or
  her/his family
• Work serves all people as part of society
• Contributing to the common good with an eye to
  the poor and vulnerable
• Quote pg. 184

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Unions

• Catholic social teaching does not see unions as
  reflecting only a "class"' structure, and even
  less as engaged in a "class" struggle. They are
  indeed engaged in the struggle for social
  justice, but this is a struggle for the common
  good, and not against others. Its aim is social
  justice and not the elimination of opponents.
• On Human Work

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Strikes

• Members of a union agree to stop working until
  various conditions/terms are met by their
  employer(s)
• One of the methods used by unions is the
  strike, or work stoppage - a means that is
  recognized by Catholic social teaching as
  legitimate under the proper conditions and within
  proper limits. Workers should be assured of the
  right to strike without fear of penalty.
• On Human Work

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Restoring Works Promise

• Talking about the Rights of Workers is not enough
  we must begin to act
• Circle of Faith in Action
• Awareness
• Analysis
• Action

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Get Involved

• As Christians we are committed to respond to
  injustice.
• Speaking out in favor of the dignity of work and
  workers rights
• Using political and economic influence
• Ethics in business

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Globalization

• Purpose
• To achieve global harmony and unity. It holds
  the promise of a truly global family bound
  together in a web of life and relationships.
• Globalization has expanded connections between
  people and places around the world
• Minimizing differences between peoples

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Effects of Globalization

• The reality of globalization has impacted our
  lives in both negative and positive ways
• Positive
• Increase in communication
• Increase in empathy
• Negative
• Reduction of personal communication
• Risk of denying the uniqueness of every human

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Globalization the Church

• The rise of globalization has forced the Church
  to evaluate its own understanding of being the
  Kingdom of God on Earth
• Witnessed by the Four Marks of our faith
• One
• Holy
• Catholic
• Apostolic

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Globalization and the Four Marks

• One
• Catholic Church as Sacrament of Unity
• Gathered together, united in Christs love
• Holy
• As a people of faith we treat each other as
  children of God
• Catholic
• The term catholic means universal
• Apostolic
• Jesus command to the Apostles to spread the
  faith
• We are products of that work

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Globalization Solidarity

• As a Christian community we must take
  Globalization seriously
• Globalize Solidarity
• Solidarity cannot be limited to just one group of
  people must extend to all people as being
  created imago dei

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Test Chapter 6

• Matching 8 _at_ 3 pts ? 24 pts
• Multiple Choice 6 _at_ 5 pts ? 30 pts
• Scripture 2 _at_ 8 pts ? 16 pts
• Fill-ins 4 _at_ 5 pts ? 20 pts
• Essay 1 _at_ 10 pts ? 10 pts