Many workers cannot have a decent life; their wages are not enough to live, employment is precarious, they suffer from poor working conditions, their work causes them illnesses and the right to unionise is denied. And, to all this, we must add child labour exploitation.

A high percentage of workers in the South, work in the informal sector: their employment situation is uncertain, job security is not guaranteed, they earn so little money that neither they nor their families can escape poverty. Access to education, health, housing and food is very limited. Most lack insurance to guarantee protection in the disease and in old age. Decent work and access to social protection and services, such as education, are essential in order to lead a dignified life.

The capitalist world system exercises structural violence. The rich countries of the North impose their economic power on the poor Southern countries. They exploit their raw materials while exporting their subsidized agricultural products, thus destroying the local economy. Multinational companies buy land, violating property and customary rights, and the subsistence of the population. Politicians try to alienate the millions of people fleeing the poverty of Europe's borders.

Financial capitalism, globally active, dominates and directs the economy and politics throughout the world. It is the big money and asset managers and the data companies that have emerged victorious from globalisation. The desire for profit is at the workers’ expense, those who seek employment, the weak, the poor and the excluded.

"But Jesus summoned them and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt " (Matthew 20: 25). The Social Doctrine of the Church is hard with the current economy. Pope Francis says "No to an economy of exclusion and inequality" because: "Such an economy kills" (Evangelii gaudium, 53)

“In this globalised world, we have fallen into globalised indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business!” (Francis’s Homily in Lampedusa, 08 / 07/2013)
World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW) continues working for the globalisation of justice and solidarity, and against the "globalisation of indifference". We demand the universal right to decent work. The goal is that all people can live and work with dignity. For this, we need to eliminate: slave and child labour, labour exploitation, forms of work that harm nature, precarious and temporary work, low wages, forced labour, work stress for those who have to perform a job at the rhythm of the machines.

Decent work is an issue addressed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) since its founding 100 years ago. Decent work has become a crucial contribution to reducing global poverty. United Nations (UN) has included "decent work" as an objective in "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW) joins the initiative of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to celebrate 7th October as "World Day for Decent Work".

This message was written by the German Christian Workers' Movement (KAB)

WORLD MOVEMENT OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS