World Movement of Christian Workers

Speech by Christine Isturiz, Co-President of WMCW, at the International Labour Conference, Geneva, June 2025

Details: Also available:

Mr Chairman,

Mr Managing Director,

Ladies and Gentlemen Delegates,

I am speaking as co-president of the World Movement of Christian Workers. Today, it brings together more than 50 organisations from four continents.

We welcome the clarity and commitment expressed in the Director General's Report. We share his diagnosis: the link between employment, rights and growth is weakening in a context of growing discontent, insecurity and inequality. We see this in our communities, among impoverished and precarious workers with no access to social protection or real participation.

The statement that work is a question of "respect for the dignity" of each person resonates fully with our Christian vision of work as a means of personal fulfilment, service to the common good and fraternity between peoples.

Message from the WMCW on the occasion of the International Labour Day on May 1st, 2025

Details: Also available:

MTKR1

Since 1890, May Day has been known as a day to demonstrate and demand workers' rights. It is also a day to celebrate the gains and achievements of the working class. On this occasion, the World Movement of Christian Workers invites its members to join with other workers around the world to "always call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which this dignity and these rights are violated, and to help bring about changes that will ensure authentic progress for man and society" (Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Laborem Exercens). In 2025, the call is made through this message written by the Reunion Island Movement.

INFOR March 2025: "Informal Work in Caring for Children and the Elderly"

Details: Also available:

Dear reader friend, You have in your hands this issue of INFOR, which focuses on the care sector. By this we mean all the professions involved in education and healthcare, as well as care for people of all ages, from children to the elderly, often provided at home due to a lack of appropriate facilities. Worldwide, women perform more than three-quarters of unpaid care work, spending an average of 4 hours and 25 minutes per day, compared with 1 hour and 23 minutes for men.

The ILO estimates that 606 million women of working age are outside the labor market́ due to their care and «social reproduction» responsibilities. As the International Labor Organization reminds us in its report «Decent Work and the Care Economy» (112th Session, 2024): «Societies and economies depend on paid́ and unpaid́ care work to function and pursue their human, social and economic development. The provision of care depends on care workers».

Within our movements, we see the same overrepresentation of women in these professions. Through their presence and action, they play a significant role in reducing the isolation of people and in combating individualism.

The ACO de France, in a dossier dedicated to care, reminds us that «these professions correspond to real skills. Let us make sure they are recognized. It is also a question of dignity». The articles in this issue reflect the necessary struggle for rights, the difficulty of having a decent income in retirement without recognition of this unrecognized work. March 8, the International Day of Struggle for Women’s Rights, can be an excellent moment to pause and reflect together, men and women, on this issue, without forgetting that it is a daily commitment, 365 days a year. We are counting on you to help spread the word about our magazine within our various movements.

We look forward to hearing your reactions and reading about the exchanges and actions it has helped to set in motion. It is thanks to you that our daily struggle for «social justice in an economy for life» is written with gender equality in mind.

Christine Isturiz, WMCW Co-president

Message from the WMCW on the Occasion of the Celebration of International Women's Day 2025

Details: Also available:

Since its inception, International Women's Day has been an opportunity to show the world that no development is possible as long as millions of girls and women continue to suffer discrimination of all kinds, have their fundamental rights trampled underfoot, and endure violence of all kinds. For the WMCW, men and women are created equal by God, have the same mandate to steward creation, and enjoy the same prerogatives and rights. Within this framework, the WMCW will spare no effort in the struggle for "a world in which every woman and girl can exercise her freedoms and choices and know and enjoy all her rights, including the right to live free from violence, the right to education, the right to participate in decision-making and the right to equal pay for equal work". (UN)

On the occasion of the celebration of International Women's Day 2025, the Indian movement urges us, on the basis of its concrete achievements in favor of women's empowerment, to redouble our efforts in our commitment to contribute to the realization of a just and sustainable world.