US Bishops' Labor Day statement focuses on income inequality
(Vatican Radio) The growing disparity in the income of U.S. workers is the focus of
the 2013 Labor Day Statement of Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California,
chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Labor Day is celebrated in the United States
and Canada on the first Monday of September.
Speaking with Vatican Radio,
Bishop Blaire said, “The labour day statement seeks to address this widening disparity
between rich and poor by stressing the importance of work and how people need a job
to realize their dignity as human beings, and to have work which provides adequate
income for them to live in dignity as human beings.”
His statement echoed the
teaching of the Popes, who have emphasized the necessity of putting the human person
at the centre of the economy. “I think that is one of the most crucial messages that
we have to get out there. And they have been so well expressed by Pope Benedict and
Pope Francis: that we as a Church understand that the economy is for people.
And when people are at the centre of the economy, it will help us go in the right
direction.”
Listen to the full interview of Bishop Stephen Blaire with
Christopher Wells:
In
the Labor Day statement, Bishop Blaire quoted the words of Pope Francis, that “work
is fundamental to the dignity of the person . . . it gives us the ability to maintain
oneself, one’s family, to contribute to the growth of one’s own nation.”
He
noted that individuals, the Church, businesses, government and community organizations
all share the responsibility to create jobs that allow workers to support themselves
and their families.
Bishop Blaire cited the importance of unions in helping
workers participate in company decisions that affect them and noted that the rise
in income inequality has paralleled the decline of unions in the United States.
Finally,
Bishop Blaire also voiced support for immigrants, calling for policies that “bring
immigrant workers out of the shadows to a legal status and offer them a just and fair
path to citizenship, so that their human rights are protected and the wages for all
workers rise.”
The 2013 Labor Day Statement is available online in English
and Spanish on the USCCB website.