RERUM NOVARUM

“Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor”

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON CAPITAL AND LABOR
• May, 15 1891
• Capitalism
• Industrialization
“Let the working man and the employer make free agreements,
and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages;
nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more
imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man,
namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a
frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or
fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions
because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he
is made the victim of force and injustice”
Three major themes of the encyclical
• Balance between labor and capital
• The common good
• The role of the state
Balance Between Capital and Labor

• Popularity of Communism

• Difficulty in defining the rights and duties of the rich and the poor, labor and
capital.

• Each needs the other.

• Mutual agreement would give rise to good order.

• Wages must be sufficient for the worker’s basic needs.

• ‘It is only by the labor of working men that States grow rich’.
As a framework for building social harmony, the pope proposed the idea of rights and
duties.

Some of the duties of workers are:

1. "fully and faithfully" to perform their agreed-upon tasks
2. individually, to refrain from vandalism or personal attacks
3. collectively, to refrain from rioting and violence

Some of the duties of employers are:

1. to provide work suited to each person's strength, gender, and age
2. to respect the dignity of workers and not regard them as bondsmen

The Church by reminding workers and employers of their rights and duties can help to
form and activate people's conscience. However, the pope also recommended that civil
authorities take a role in protecting workers' rights and in keeping the peace. The law
should intervene no further than is necessary to stop abuses. In many cases,
governments had acted solely to support the interests of businesses, while suppressing
workers attempting to organize unions to achieve better working conditions.
Justice, therefore, demands that the interests of
the working classes should be carefully watched
over by the administration, so that they who
contribute so largely to the advantage of the
community may themselves share in the benefits
which they create – that being housed, clothed,
and bodily fit, they may find their life less hard
and more endurable.
Philippine Constitution
Article II, SECTION 18. The State affirms labor as a primary social economic
force. It shall protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare.
Article XIII SECTION 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and
overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and
equality of employment opportunities for all xxx The State shall regulate the
relations between workers and employers, recognizing the right of labor to its
just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable
returns on investments, and to expansion and growth.
Bill of Rights
SECTION 8. The right of the people, including those employed in the public and
private sectors, to form unions, associations, or societies for purposes not
contrary to law shall not be abridged.
The common good
• People have the right to private ownership, but must balance that right
against the idea of the common good.
• The right to own property does not mean absolute freedom in the use of
money, but carries responsibilities with it. Leo encouraged the wealthy to
meet their own needs, the needs of their families, and to maintain a
"becoming" standard of living. But they have a responsibility to
give alms from what is left over. This is not a law, but a moral obligation.
• It is one thing to have a right to the possession of money and another to have
a right to use money as one wills.
• Preferential option for the poor.
– the teaching that the poor, the marginalized and the powerless have a special
call on our charity.
God Himself seems to incline rather to those who suffer
misfortune; for Jesus Christ calls the poor "blessed"; (Matt.5:3)

He lovingly invites those in labor and grief to come to Him for

solace; (Matt. 11:28) and He displays the tenderest charity
toward the lowly and the oppressed
Role of the State

• Ensure wellbeing for all.

• The more that is done for the benefit of the working classes by the general
laws of the country, the less need will there be to seek for special means to
relieve them.

• role of the state in supporting the individuals and the families to grow and
develop.

• Fundamental to the call of this encyclical is the God-given dignity of the

human person. Key to this dignity is the availability of work that is fulfilling,
with pay and conditions that protect the worker, satisfy family needs and
promote community development.