Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities to respect the rights of others and to work for the common good. When people lack the basic necessities to live a life of dignity, their fundamental rights are being denied. In a world where some speak mostly of rights and others mostly of responsibilities, the Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable Catholic teaching proclaims that the moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. This calls us to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor.
People have a right to humane working conditions, productive work and fair wages.
The economy exists to serve the people, not the other way around. Many corporations have lost sight of the rights of workers and look only at the profit margin. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organize and join unions, to private property, and to economic initiative. We are all one human family, and we are responsible for the well-being of each other. This responsibility reaches across national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences.