GENEVA (CNS) The Vatican’s representative to United Nations agencies in Geneva expressed concern over the impact the world’s troubled economy was having on poor, low-skilled and disadvantaged workers. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told the International Labor Conference in Geneva June 10 that more must be done to promote decent work that protects human dignity.
"Today’s economy is troubled by lack of jobs, the high prices of housing, food and oil, the instability of financial markets and the slowing down of global growth," he said.
It is imperative that policymakers "carefully evaluate the impact of the current crisis on workers (and) on vulnerable and low-skilled workers in particular," he said.
A great concern for the Vatican, the archbishop added, is the world’s working poor.
More than 486 million workers around the world earn at most $1 a day and 1.3 billion more earn at most $2 a day, he said, citing recent statistics from the International Labor Conference.
"In other words, 40 percent of all workers are poor despite the fact that they are working," Archbishop Tomasi said.
Another "source of serious concerns and worries," he said, is worker flexibility in the labor market. While for some jobs flexibility can be advantageous for workers and employers, for others "it could become an unacceptable form of precarious and exploitative work," he said.
"Flexibility can be associated with greater uncertainty and economic volatility that could become a source of concerns particularly for families," said the archbishop.
Low-skilled workers are especially vulnerable to these schemes, he said, because they have "weaker bargaining power in relation to employers."
Unions, businesses and policymakers must work together to design and enforce policies that make sure the employers’ and workers’ needs are met "in a cooperative and just way," said Archbishop Tomasi.