ON WORK
Last Wednesday, 1 May, was the feast of St Joseph the Worker. Our bibles usually refer to him – and to Jesus – as a carpenter, but it seems that the Greek word, tektōn, also includes what we would now call joinery, and building generally. Jesus made quite a few remarks that related to his trade. Maybe he even made agricultural equipment, and when he said ‘my yoke is easy’ some of his audience smiled.
From the later nineteenth century, trade unions and workers’ parties in many countries had celebrated 1 May as Labour Day or International Workers’ Day (and many unions in New Zealand did so this week). It’s worth thinking about work, and the rights of working people, as developed over many decades in the church’s social teaching. Successive popes from Leo XIII in the 1890s have written on the subject of work. In recent decades, John Paul II and Francis have both had plenty to say.
They remind us that people were created with a vocation to work, for it is how we care for and make good use of the gifts God has given us. Work, therefore, ‘is a necessity, part of the meaning of life on this earth, a path to growth, human development and personal fulfilment’ (Francis, Laudato Si’, para 128). Work is also fundamental to how we support each other, in families, communities, and nations (John Paul, Laborem Exercens, part 10). Work is uniqely human – it is part of what makes us human. It follows, then, that work is not just another input into the production process, and that work exists for the worker, not the other way round.
Pope Francis also emphasises that it is important to ensure that all can enjoy ‘a dignified life through work’, so far as they are able. So, using unemployment as an economic tool is not appropriate. On the other hand, ‘Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving our world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the areas in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good.’
If, then, we value work, Catholic social teaching reminds us that the rights of all workers should be respected. Work should be rewarded with adequate pay, be as safe as possible, and the rights of workers to organise in trade unions and similar organisations should be recognised and not impeded. As our own trade union movement reminds us, 28 April is Workers’ Memorial Day, remembering workers killed and injured at work. We are also reminded of forced labour and slavery in various parts of the world. May Saint Joseph the Worker continue to inspire in us the virtue of solidarity.
Jim McAloon
