Dignity and Respect for Workers

 

 God of the working world:
Thank you for meaningful work that fills us with satisfaction,
the way challenges can spur us on to greater efforts
that pay off with a job well done...

from a prayer by Carol Penner

 I began this Lion Lamb blog in September 2006, at the encouragement of a parishioner and I haven't figured out how to quit. During those years I've written about Labour Day, although not as often as I imagined. 

Meaningful work, respected and adequately compensated, is always worth our consideration. The apostle Paul discouraged members of fledgling faith communities from loafing about while others laboured, and he had a "real" job as a tent-maker, even though he was trained as a rabbi and became an evangelist. We've all seen the images of Jesus observing in the carpentry workshop of his father Joseph, even though we aren't sure that the Greek word means anything more than general labourer. We tend to say that all work is worthwhile, and that it can be a vocation, although I'm not sure we mean it. Do we come close to valuing mind-numbing factory work in Bangladesh with the skills of a neurosurgeon in Toronto.? We certainly don't in terms of compensation.

 

Today I'm thinking of all those in the province of Ontario who saw light at the end the tunnel with a promise of a minimum wage of $15 an hour, only to have that snatched away by Doug Ford, the new supposed "for the people" premier. There is lots of evidence that the initial transition to $14 has stimulated the Ontario economy rather than weakened it, as the gloom and doomers predicted. So, why is it okay to pay those who care for our elderly and our children wages which can't sustain them?

I'm also mindful of those who are part of the Guaranteed Annual Income Pilot in Ontario, which has also been kiboshed by the new Conservative government. Recently the three-year project was given a reprieve of sorts, with an extension to next March. Still, that's only two years into a three-year initiative designed to see if providing a basic income would allow people to find their way out of the vicious cycle of precarious work and non-living wages. Many of the 4,000 or so participants were back at school or developing skills which would allow them to be contributors to the economy rather than hand-to-mouth survivors.

I have no idea whether this pilot would have been successful, and neither did the government. It didn't give it a chance. I have read that similar projects have had positive outcomes in other parts of the world. I figure this is another example of regressive conservative values which keep the marginalized in poverty and then blames them for being poor. 

God bless all those who work and earn and want to provide for themselves and those they love. We can encourage every level of government to treat all who work or are seeking work with dignity and respect. Isn't that we taxpayers pay them to do with the money we have earned?  


We pray particularly that you look with favor on…
…those who care for people at the beginning and at the end of life;
…all who help others cope with crises;
…men and women who put themselves in harm’s way
to ensure the safety and security of others;
…people who inspire our imaginations and touch our hearts through their work;
…those who do dirty and dangerous jobs that are necessary,
but no one else wants;
…first-time teen workers and workers who have retired after long years of service;
…all who contribute to the common good in any way by working.

From a prayer by Tom Cheatham