CSDC 301

The rights of workers, like all other rights, are based on the nature of the human person and on his transcendent dignity. The Church's social Magisterium has seen fit to list some of these rights, in the hope that they will be recognized in juridical systems: the right to a just wage; ⁶⁵¹ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 19: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 625-629. the right to rest; ⁶⁵² Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 19: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 625-629. the right “to a working environment and to manufacturing processes which are not harmful to the workers' physical health or to their moral integrity”; ⁶⁵³ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 19: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 629. the right that one's personality in the workplace should be safeguarded “without suffering any affront to one's conscience or personal dignity”; ⁶⁵⁴ John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 15: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 812. the right to appropriate subsidies that are necessary for the subsistence of unemployed workers and their families; ⁶⁵⁵ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 18: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 622-625. the right to a pension and to insurance for old age, sickness, and in case of work-related accidents; ⁶⁵⁶ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 19: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 625-629. the right to social security connected with maternity; ⁶⁵⁷ Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 19: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 625-629. the right to assemble and form associations.⁶⁵⁸ Cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum: Acta Leonis XIII, 11 (1892), 135; Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 23 (1931) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1931), 186; Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Sertum Laetitiae: AAS 31AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 31 (1939) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1939), 643; John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 55 (1963) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1963), 262-263; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 68: AAS 58AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 58 (1966) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1966), 1089-1090; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 20: AAS 73AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 73 (1981) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1981), 629-632; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 7: AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 801-802. These rights are often infringed, as is confirmed by the sad fact of workers who are underpaid and without protection or adequate representation. It often happens that work conditions for men, women and children, especially in developing countries, are so inhumane that they are an offence to their dignity and compromise their health.