Bishops decry workers' low pay, erratic shifts, weak protections: 'It does not have to be this way'

Labor Day marks a time to “recommit ourselves to building together a society that honors the human dignity of all who labor,” said two Catholic bishops in a joint statement ahead of the Sept. 2 national civic holiday.

Begun in 1882, the observance — which developed from labor activist movements of the late 19th century — celebrates “the social and economic achievements of American workers,” according to the Department of Labor.

“Our faith calls us to pray, work and advocate for protections that allow all laborers to thrive,” said Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who respectively chair the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Committee on Migration.

Citing Scripture, Catholic social teaching and papal encyclicals, the two bishops pointed to the church’s “long history of proclaiming the essential role labor plays in helping people to live out their human dignity” as children of God.

Yet the bishops noted that dignity is threatened by a number of factors, including low wages and declining union representation.

A Mexican migrant worker is pictured in a file photo picking blueberries during a harvest at a farm in Lake Wales, Fla. (CNS photo/Marco Bello, Reuters)

“Too many people and families are living in poverty due to jobs with low pay that often provide little or no benefits (and) erratic work schedules” while offering “insufficient protections,” said the bishops in their statement.

As of 2024, more than 39 million workers in the U.S. (23% of the nation’s workforce) earn less than $17 per hour, with women, Black, Latino and Hispanic communities particularly impacted, according to Oxfam.

The federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, “does not provide a living wage for most American families,” wrote Amy K. Glasmeier, professor of economic geography and regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a 2023 article posted on the school’s “Living Wage Calculator” website.

Glasmeier noted that two working adults with two children would each need to work 96 hours per week at two full-time minimum wage jobs to earn a living wage. A single mother with two children would need to work 252 hours per week, or six full-time minimum wage jobs, to do the same.

In addition to wages, union representation has eroded, “especially in the private sector, leaving workers with less protection and a weakened bargaining position,” said Archbishop Gudziak and Bishop Seitz in their statement.

Union membership in the U.S. has dropped by half over the past four decades, from 20.1 percent in 1983 to 10 percent in 2023, according to Pew Research.

“We know it does not have to be this way,” said Archbishop Gudziak and Bishop Seitz.

Migrant laborers, who have bolstered the workforces of “many communities … grappling with labor shortages due to changing demographics and other factors,” are often “mistreated at a higher rate than their native-born counterparts, including through the evil of human trafficking,” said the two bishops. “Additionally, immigrants face outright hostility and discrimination due in part to misconceptions and harmful political rhetoric dismissive of the human person.”

Many immigrant workers experience wage theft, and “legitimately fear reprisal if they speak up,” said the bishops.

Yet immigrants “boost innovation and overall economic output,” with their contributions having “a net positive impact on the federal deficit,” said the two bishops, citing a July 2023 report from the Congressional Budget Office.

The U.S.’s troubled immigration system and labor shortages also place children at risk of exploitation, said the bishops.

“We have witnessed concerning affronts to the dignity of children, native-born and immigrant alike, whose innocence has been traded for cheap — and often dangerous — labor,” they said. “With the number of child labor law violations having risen dramatically in recent years, several states have also taken steps to further weaken child labor standards, exposing young people to hazardous working conditions and long working hours. The children of families living in poverty stand to suffer the most harm, but the innocence and dignity of all youth must be protected.”

Amid such threats to human dignity, the Catholic Church “offers a vision for the future that does not require our society to choose between a thriving economy, economic justice, dignified conditions for all workers, and safeguarding the most vulnerable among us,” said Archbishop Gudziak and Bishop Seitz. “We must reject an economy of exclusion.”

As examples, the bishops pointed to initiatives such as the Iowa-based Escucha Mi Voz (“Hear My Voice”), which advocates for immigrant and refugee communities with support from the USCCB’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development; and the USCCB’s advocacy for policies protecting vulnerable laborers and children.

“Throughout Scripture, we see time and again how God shows us we must care for those who are vulnerable and honor the sacredness of everyone — no matter his or her circumstances in life,” wrote Archbishop Gudziak and Bishop Seitz.

“Let us strive without ceasing to protect the sacredness of human life,” they said, “and together build a society that respects and uplifts each person’s human dignity.”

The full Labor Day 2024 statement by Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Bishop Mark J. Seitz can be found in both English and Spanish at https://www.usccb.org/resources/labor-day-statement-2024.

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