Labor - Employment

Through the combination of social and economic change, trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers, partly because Governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labour unions. . . . The repeated calls issued within the Church's social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum, for the promotion of workers' associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honoured today even more than in the past, as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level, as well as the local level.
-- Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 2009.  

Current Advocacy Position

The Catholic bishops of the United States have long held that the most effective way to build a just economy is to make decent work at decent wages available for all those capable of working. When the economy fails to generate sufficient jobs, there is a moral obligation to protect the life and dignity of unemployed and underemployed workers and their families.

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Legislative Documents, Letters, and Statements

For information from 2009 and earlier, see our labor archives.

Annual Labor Day Statements

Placing Work and Workers at the Center of Economic Life | En Español
Bishop Stephen E. Blaire
September 3, 2012

Human Costs and Moral Challenges of a Broken Economy | En Español
Bishop Stephen E. Blaire
September 5, 2011

A New "Social Contract" for Today's "New Things" | En Español
Bishop William Murphy
September 6, 2010

For statements from 2009 and earlier, see our Labor Day archives.

Primers, Backgrounders, and Educational Materials