The Great Resignation, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Rights of Workers
by CAPP-USA
The Great Resignation is an opportunity to reflect on Catholic social teaching.
What is the Great Resignation?
Beginning in 2021 during the COVID pandemic, the great resignation was an economic and cultural trend, primarily in the United States, comprised of workers quitting their jobs en masse, especially in industries hit hardest by the pandemic (hospitality, healthcare, and education).
Also known as the Big Quit and the Great Reshuffle, the Great Resignation was a combination of workers rethinking their careers, exhaustion with toxic work environments, poor benefits, and stagnant salaries.
However, the Great Resignation did not last long as quit rates have now returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The interest of Catholic social teaching is not on the Great Resignation itself, but on the conditions of work, the expectations of employers and employees, and other issues of work.
Why do We Work?
Let’s begin by considering this basic question: why do we work?
ANTHROPOLOGICAL REASONS
And the answer is quite simple: “We were created with a vocation to work.” (Pope Francis, 128)
“[M]an is born to labor as the bird to fly”. (Pope Pius XI, 61)
“Work constitutes a fundamental dimension of man’s existence on earth.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 4)
We work because “the human person must indeed work“, (Pope Benedict XVI) because “man expresses and fulfils himself by working“. (Pope St. John Paul II, 6)
So, work is for our own good. “[W]hen a man works…he goes outside of himself and beyond himself. Rightly understood this kind of growth is of greater value than any external riches which can be garnered.” (Gaudium et Spes, 35)
BIBLICAL REASONS
There is also a deep biblical dimension in support of work.
“[T]he Bible shows that work is one of the original conditions of the human being.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
Christ “devoted most of the years of his life on earth to manual work at the carpenter’s bench.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 6)
Jesus, by his life as a worker, “sanctified human labor and endowed it with a special significance”. (Pope Francis, 98)
Was the Great Resignation Wrong?
It depends.
Shirking responsibilities and refusing to work is wrong. If a person quits a job because he or she does not want to work this action is to be charitably admonished. “If anyone is unwilling to work, do not let him eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
Since “[t]he pursuit of life’s necessities is quite legitimate; hence we are duty-bound to do the work which enables us to obtain them.” (Pope St. Paul VI, 18)
“Work is of fundamental importance to the fulfilment of the human being and to the development of society.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
“Work is a…path to growth, human development and personal fulfilment.” (Pope Francis, 128)
Should I Quit My Job?
There are many good reasons to resign and among them are violations of the dignity of work and of the person. So, if you quit a job for more ‘decent work’, then you are to be encouraged to quit.
Why? Because as we have dignity, work has dignity. In fact, “the basis for determining the value of human work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one who is doing it is a person.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 6)
WORKERS’ RIGHTS
Pope Leo XIII pointed to various workers’ rights in the first modern social teaching encyclical, Rerum Novarum. These rights include:
- The dignity of the worker (and work) – as such.
- the right to a limitation of working hours.
- the right to form private and professional associations.
- the right to legitimate rest.
- the right of women and children to be treated differently with regard to type and duration of work.
- the right to a just wage.
- the right to freely discharge one’s religious duties.
WHAT IS “DECENT WORK”?
What should we look for when changing jobs?
Pope Benedict XVI outlined seven defining principles of what “decent” work is in (Caritas in Veritate, 63):
- decent work expresses one’s essential dignity.
- it is freely chosen.
- it enables respect and freedom from discrimination.
- it allows families to meet their needs and provide for their children’s education.
- it permits free organization of workers.
- it “leaves enough room for rediscovering one’s roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level”.
- it guarantees retirees “decent standard of living.”
Dignified Work is Crucial to An Economy and Society
Dignified and “decent” work is a basis for a good economy and a good society because “[w]ork gives us a sense of shared responsibility for the development of the world, and ultimately, for our life as a people.” (Pope Francis, 162)
“By means of his work man commits himself…for others and with others.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 43)
“[W]ork is an essential dimension of social life…the building of healthy relationships“. (Fratelli Tutti, 162)
THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE SUPPORTS THIS!
“The Christian message does not divert men from the construction of the world…on the contrary, it makes it a more pressing duty for them”. (Pope St. John Paul II, 25)
