JUST WAGE
JUST WAGE:RERUM NOVARUM REJECTED the Capitalist principle which provides that the mutual consent of worker and employer alone determines the just wage.
REASONS: 1. Man is by nature obliged to feed himself. He can fulfill this obligation only through work. Therefore the wage corresponding to his work must be sufficient to cover the worker’s (including his family’s) needs to a decent existence. (no. 62) 2. For consent to be valid in wage contract, it must be done in all freedom, with no constraints nor compulsion. If the worker consents to a low wage, being forced into it by reason of hunger, the contract is invalid, and the employer is duty-bound to reimburse the worker by justice. (no. 63) Remedy to the evils of wage contracts: = QUADRAGESIMO ANNO proposes a change from wage contract to one of partnership. (nos. 66-70) = Advantages of Partnership Contract: 1. Workers become co-sharers in the ownership, management, and/or profits, of the enterprise. 2. Profits are divided equitably, then both capitalist and worker benefit. 3. Workers exercise initiative an decision-making, fomenting thereby their dignity as human beings gifted with intelligence and free will. |
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