Capital is for the human person to be used in producing goods and services for the use of others in the human community. Capital should never consume the human person. Catholic social teaching endorses and supports the right of workers to organize. There is a proper role for free trade unions in giving labor a voice in the determination of wages and working conditions. Substandard wages, unsafe and inhuman working conditions constitute an assault on human dignity.
Individuals are capable of denying their own human dignity at work and elsewhere.
Guide us as we work and teach us to live in the spirit that has made us your sons and daughters, in the love that has made us brothers and sisters. That prayer presupposes a respect for human dignity and a commitment to justice for all on Labor Day and every other day of the year.