{"id":51067,"date":"2024-06-10T16:56:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T16:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capp-usa.org\/?p=51067"},"modified":"2026-03-13T21:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T21:43:20","slug":"the-great-resignation-and-the-rights-of-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/5.capp-usa.org\/es\/2024\/06\/the-great-resignation-and-the-rights-of-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Resignation and the Rights of Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Great Resignation, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Rights of Workers<\/span><\/h1>\n

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by CAPP-USA<\/span><\/h5>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

The Great Resignation is an opportunity to reflect on Catholic social teaching.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What is the Great Resignation?<\/span><\/h2>\n


<\/span>Beginning\u00a0in 2021 during the COVID pandemic, the great resignation was an economic and cultural trend<\/strong>, primarily in the United States, comprised of workers quitting their jobs en masse, especially in industries hit hardest by the pandemic (hospitality, healthcare, and education).<\/span><\/p>\n

Also known as the Big Quit and the Great Reshuffle, the Great Resignation was a combination of workers rethinking their careers, exhaustion with toxic work environments, poor benefits, and stagnant salaries.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Great Resignation did not last long as quit rates have now returned to pre-pandemic levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

The interest of Catholic social teaching is not on the Great Resignation itself, but on the conditions of work, the expectations of employers and employees, and other issues of work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do We Work?<\/span><\/h2>\n


<\/span>Let\u2019s begin by considering this basic question: why do we work?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

ANTHROPOLOGICAL REASONS<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

And the answer is quite simple: \u201cWe were created with a vocation to work.<\/strong>\u201d (Pope Francis, 128)<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[M]an is born to labor as the bird to fly\u201d. (Pope Pius XI, 61)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWork constitutes a fundamental dimension of man\u2019s existence on earth.\u201d (Pope St. John Paul II, 4)<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We work because \"the human person must\u00a0indeed\u00a0work\", (Pope Benedict XVI)<\/a> because \"man expresses and fulfils himself<\/strong> by working<\/strong>\". (Pope St. John Paul II, 6)<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, work is for our own good<\/strong>. \"[W]hen a man\u00a0works\u2026he goes outside of himself and beyond himself. Rightly understood this kind of growth is of\u00a0greater value than any external riches which can be garnered.\" (Gaudium et Spes, 35)<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

BIBLICAL REASONS<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

There is also a deep biblical dimension in support of work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he Bible shows that work\u00a0is one of\u00a0the original conditions\u00a0of the human being.\u201d\u00a0(Pope Benedict XVI)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Christ \u201cdevoted\u00a0most of the years of his life on earth\u00a0to manual work\u00a0at the carpenter\u2019s bench.\u201d\u00a0(Pope St. John Paul II, 6)\u200b<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus<\/strong>, by his life as a worker<\/strong>, \u201csanctified human labor<\/strong> and endowed it with a special significance\u201d. (Pope Francis, 98)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Was the Great Resignation Wrong?<\/span><\/h2>\n


<\/span>It depends.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shirking responsibilities and refusing to work is wrong<\/strong>. If a person quits a job because he or she does not want to work this action is to be charitably admonished. \u201cIf anyone is unwilling to work, do not let him eat.\u201d (2 Thessalonians 3:10)<\/span><\/p>\n

Since \u201c[t]he pursuit of life\u2019s necessities is quite legitimate; hence we are duty-bound to\u00a0do the\u00a0work\u00a0which enables us to obtain them.\u201d\u00a0(Pope St. Paul VI, 18)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWork is of fundamental importance to the fulfilment of the human being and to the development of society.\u201d (Pope Benedict XVI)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWork is a\u2026path\u00a0to\u00a0growth, human\u00a0development\u00a0and personal\u00a0fulfilment.\u201d\u00a0(Pope Francis, 128)<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Should I Quit My Job?<\/span><\/h2>\n


There are many good reasons to resign and among them are violations of the dignity of work and of the person. So, if you quit a job for more \u2018decent work\u2019, then you are to be encouraged to quit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why? Because as we have dignity, work has dignity<\/strong>. In fact, \u201cthe basis for determining the value of human work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one who is doing it is a person.\u201d (Pope St. John Paul II, 6)\u200b<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

WORKERS' RIGHTS<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Pope Leo XIII pointed to various workers' rights in the first modern social teaching encyclical, Rerum Novarum<\/a>. These rights include:
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