"We are not simply talking about ensuring nourishment or a “dignified sustenance” for all people, but also their “general temporal welfare and prosperity”. This means education, access to health care, and above all work, for it is through free, creative, participatory and mutually supportive work that human beings express and enhance the dignity of their lives. A just wage enables them to have adequate access to all the other goods which are destined for our common use.”(1)

 As representatives of Catholic-inspired organizations and religious congregations, we gathered in Rome on 29-30 April 2014, together with officials of the Holy See and of the International Labour Organization, with one aim:  to make “decent work for all” an explicit goal of the post-2015 sustainable  development goals.

We insist that access to decent work be guaranteed for all through the formulation and implementation of the new set of international development goals, including supportive conditions and economic policies.

We reiterate our commitment to achieve access to decent work as already expressed in our statement on Post 2015[2]. The promotion and creation of an enabling environment for decent work is essential to address the current challenges of inequalities and growing social injustice, while reinforcing human dignity and contributing to the common good. Human suffering resulting from unjust structures, from precarious and poorly remunerated forms of work, from human trafficking and forced labor, from widespread forms of unemployment among youth and from involuntary migration cannot remain without response.

We commit to work together and in close collaboration with the International Labor Organization and relevant stakeholders to promote decent work.

Further action at Global Level

• To support the above-referenced position, we foresee the organization of UN related events with strong engagement of youth and of marginalized and excluded persons
• Global Communication
• Sharing information with media
• To report on the information and experience shared during the Seminar and on the commitment for joint follow-up action at global and national levels.
• Handbook
• To compile the documentation from the seminar into an attractive and practical pedagogical to be shared with governments and other stakeholders.
• Dissemination of Resource Documents and Report of Meeting

The entire set of documents, together with a summary report, will be shared on-line.

Coordinated Action at National Level

-         Explore the feasibility of developing and implementing joint pilot activities in Spain and Brazil, in the form of public campaigns in dialogue with government officials and other policy- and decision-makers,

-        Assemble the documentation from the conference, including public statements by Church leaders, and share this with leadership of national Episcopal Conferences, Justice and Peace Commissions, members of our respective organizations, and other relevant stakeholders with the aim to promote reflection and action on the issue of “decent work.

Mainstreaming within our Respective Organizations

          Seek the active endorsement of the results of this meeting within the leadership and membership of our respective organizations;

-         Promote training and communication on decent work with a view to providing sufficient information and knowledge within our organizations;

-         Elaborate and disseminate a Fact Sheet on the process leading to post-2015 global goals.

Coordination

          Plan and moderate phone conference calls to review implementation of this road map

-          Organize a face-to-face meeting in Geneva during the International Labor Conference – June 4, 2014

[2] Statement of Catholic-Inspired Organizations on Decent Work and the Post-2015 Development agenda.