NEWS

World Day for Decent Work: standing up for fair labour conditions

The World Day for Decent Work (7 October) reminded to all of us to stand up and advocate for fair labour conditions centred around the principles of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

Construction workers. (Photo: Bannafarsai_Stock/Shutterstock)

“The situation of youth unemployment, and that of so many who have lost their job and are unable to reinsert themselves, are realities we cannot grow used to, treating them as if there were mere statistics,” Pope Francis emphasised in his recent address to workers, trade unions and unemployed in Italy.

Nine years after the onset of the financial crisis, still more than 3.7 million young people are without employment in the EU, leaving them in despair and insecurity about their future path.

Employment does not longer seem to protect EU citizens from deprivation, as in-work poverty and precarious working conditions are on the rise. In a recent statement on poverty in bishops of COMECE encouraged the EU and its Member States to uphold “just working conditions and a remuneration that will give [workers] and their families a decent standard of living.“

Against the background of the transformative changes in the labour market, COMECE is working with its Social Affairs Commission on a reflection on the future of work, and it will continue to advocate with its partners of the European Sunday Alliance for decent working hours and a fair balance of family and professional life in Europe.

Access to the survey that, the broad network of Church actors, social partners, civil society organisations, and national Sunday alliances, has launched to gather more insights on work-life balance and the frequency of Sunday work in Europe.