Labor issues aggravates poverty, says Archbishop Tagle

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, in his Labor Day message said that “unemployment, underemployment, instability in work and exploitation” in the country aggravates “poverty, social exclusion and inequalities” among Filipino workers and their families.

“Work is a fundamental right of every person, it is linked to human dignity and is crucial to human growth and fulfillment,” the Archbishop said, adding that anything that impedes these “should be approached in a holistic way.”

Believing that work should not be just about financial or economic progress, Tagle stressed that “work is not solely a task accomplished, a merchandise produced, or a target profit reached.”

Tagle added, “Work is fundamentally what happens to the human person: the active mind, the sweaty brow, the fractured hand, the aching back, the grumbling stomach, the anxious heart, the zealous spirit, the dreams fulfilled.”

The Archbishop also said that genuine working conditions can’t be achieved by transactions alone but through a “covenant relationship between partners who respect and protect everyone’s dignity.”

“In a covenant relationship there is no room for exploitation,” Tagle said.

 
DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 05/ 1 /18