Just Wage

A just wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice. In determining fair pay both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into account. "Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural, and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good." Agreement between the parties is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2434)

Every worker has a right to a just wage according to the criterion of justice, which St. John XXIII described as wages that, "give the worker and his family a standard of living in keeping with the dignity of the human person." St. John Paul II elaborated on the systematic implications of just wages, describing them as "the concrete means of verifying the justice of the whole socioeconomic system."

• USCCB: 2018 Labor Day Statement: Just Wages and Human Flourishing NEW!
• Declaración Del Día Del Trabajo 2018: Salarios justos y florecimiento humano NEW!
• USCCB: 2013 Labor Day Statement: A Just Economy
• Declaración Del Día Del Trabajo 2013

Act

• Support businesses that pay their employees a just wage
• Write to your legislators about the important of a living wage and the importance of raising the minimum wage (though that does not mean it will yet be a living wage)
• Have an EPIC (Ending Poverty in Community) workshop for youth at your parish

Learn

WAGE THEFT

• Catholic Sentinel: Vulnerable Workers Find Themselves Fighting for the Wages They Earned
• Catholic Sentinel: Faith Leaders Step in to Counter Wage Theft
• Catholic Sentinel: 2016 Wage Theft Bill Weak

EDUCATE YOUR PARISH

• The Day Laborer and a Living Wage
• Labor Day and Wage Theft

RECOMMENDED PARTNERS AND WEBSITES

• CCHD: Poverty America
• Ending Poverty in Community
• Oregon Coalition to Stop Wage Theft