WORKPLACE Relations: A Catholic Perspective contains an exposition of Catholic social teaching on work and employment-related issues, written to help people understand the Catholic perspective on major workplace relations issues and to introduce them to the breadth and richness of Catholic social teaching.
The exposition of Catholic social teaching is based on the teachings of the popes and a number of episcopal bodies about the nature and importance of work and the fair and just treatment of workers.
The fair and just treatment of workers is an essential requirement of a just society.
The obligation of Catholics to work towards the “just ordering of society”, to work for social justice, was explained and emphasised again in Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est.
Perhaps the most powerful passage on work in modern Catholic social teaching is found in Pope John Paul II’s 1981encyclical Laborem Exercens:
“In order to achieve social justice in the various parts of the world, in the various countries, and in the relationships between them, there is a need for ever new movements of solidarity of the workers and with the workers.
“This solidarity must be present whenever it is called for by the social degrading of the subject of work, by exploitation of the workers, and by the growing areas of poverty and even hunger.
“The Church is firmly committed to this cause, for she considers it her mission, her service, a proof of her fidelity to Christ, so that she can truly be the ‘Church of the poor’.
“And the ‘poor’ appear under various forms; they appear in various places and at various times; in many cases they appear as a result of the violation of the dignity of human work: either because the opportunities for human work are limited as a result of the scourge of unemployment, or because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family.”
This passage summarises the purpose and nature of Catholic social teaching on work and our understanding of the reality of life for many.
Pope John Paul II makes it clear that jobs alone are not sufficient to achieve social justice.
There must be more, including the rights to adequate wages and to job security.
The Church teaches that work is essential for human development and social progress and that there is an obligation on governments to promote an economy that provides jobs and decent standards and conditions of work. Work is both an obligation and a source of rights.
The Federal Government’s Work Choices legislation must be scrutinised to see whether it furthers or hinders the principles, values and concerns of Catholic social teaching.
The book, Workplace Relations: A Catholic Perspective, was prepared for two main purposes – to explain Catholic social teaching on work and employment related issues and, on that basis, to make a contribution to the national debate about workplace relations.
The capacity of the Church to make a contribution to the debate is enhanced by the fact that the Church is one of Australia’s largest employers.
Pope Benedict reminded us during his recent visit to Brazil that the Church “is the advocate of justice and the poor, precisely because she does not identify with politicians nor with partisan interests” and it is the function of the Church to “form consciences, to be the advocate for justice and truth, to educate in individual and political virtues”.
The book seeks to promote justice and the protection of the poor and vulnerable, consistent with that vision.
We hope that our work will be accepted by a wide range of people; but we have to accept that some politicians and sectional groups will continue to see the issues through the prism of their own political or partisan interests.
There is a risk that political parties and partisan interests will “cherry pick” from Catholic social teaching without regard to other relevant matters.
One matter that is sometimes the subject of selective reading is the Church’s teaching on the market economy.
In Centesimus Annus, written in 1991 soon after the collapse of communism, Pope John Paul II described the market in this way:
“It would appear that, on the level of individual nations and of international relations, the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilising resources and effectively responding to needs.
“But this is true only for those needs which are ‘solvent’, insofar as they are endowed with purchasing power, and for those resources which are ‘marketable’, insofar as they are capable of obtaining a satisfactory price.
But there are many human needs which find no place on the market.
“It is a strict duty of justice and truth not to allow fundamental human needs to remain unsatisfied, and not to allow those burdened by such needs to perish.
“It is also necessary to help these needy people to acquire expertise, to enter the circle of exchange, and to develop their skills in order to make the best use of their capacities and resources.
“Even prior to the logic of a fair exchange of goods and the forms of justice appropriate to it, there exists something which is due to man because he is man, by reason of his lofty dignity.
“Inseparable from that required ‘something’ is the possibility to survive and, at the same time, to make an active contribution to the common good of humanity.”
Workplace Relations: A Catholic Perspective is based on the assessment and belief that a modern market economy, appropriately regulated and supplemented by government, is able to deliver economic growth and social justice.
The structure of the book is based on the four areas of concern identified by the Australian Catholic bishops in their statement of November 2005, which was made when the Work Choices legislation was first before Parliament.
The bishops were concerned about the minimum wage, minimum conditions and bargaining, unfair dismissals and the role of the unions.
Catholic social teaching addresses the rights that workers have in all of these areas.
The book contains chapters on the right to a just wage, the right to protection against unfair agreements, the right to participate in unions and the right to job security.
In November, 2005, the bishops questioned whether Work Choices would promote truly co-operative employment relations and ensure the protection of the poor and vulnerable.
ACCER has looked at the major aspects of that legislation and has found that Work Choices does not provide a proper balance between the rights of employers and the rights of workers.
The book specifically calls for further changes to the Work Choices legislation in order to promote fairness in the Australian workplace and to achieve a proper balance between the rights of employers and the rights of workers.
The recently introduced fairness test is insufficient.
Another of our objectives in publishing the book is to promote the discussion of Catholic social teaching in parishes schools and Catholic workplaces.
The publication also contains a series of meeting plans to guide Church groups in discussing these teachings.
We see the development of discussion groups in these places as a means of promoting Catholic social teaching.
We also think that many existing groups within the Church would be interested in using this material.
One of the specific aims of these meetings is to develop a greater understanding of, and advocacy for, the “family wage”.
Workplace Relations: A Catholic Perspective may be downloaded from the ACCER website at www.accer.asn.au. A printed copy of the book may be purchased ($5.50, including GST, plus postage) by ordering through secretariat@accer.asn.au.
