A Statement for the Cause of Non-regular Workers

The Most Rev. Boniface Choi Ki-san, President of the CBCK Committee for Justice & Peace, issued a statement on February 11, 2008 calling for the revision of the so-called “law on the protection of non-regular worker.” 
 

In the statement Bishop Boniface Choi said, “Following the example of Jesus Christ who took sides with the poor, the Committee for Justice & Peace of the CBCK urges all members of our society to listen to the cry of non-regular workers and to make a common effort to solve their problems.” He indicated four points to be realized as follows:

1) to make efforts for the enhancement of the human dignity and the value of labor.

2) to have sympathy with non-regular workers and concern for them in the spirit of solidarity. In this regard, the following four parties have special responsibilities.

- the government must protect workers with the institutional expansion of the job training and safety net of employment security.

- employers must recognize non-regular workers as their partner and guarantee them proper wage and employment security.

- labor unions must not discriminate against non-regular workers in favor of regular workers.

- Christian employers must take the initiative to promote non-regular workers to regular workers.

3) The Catholic Church in Korea must make a special effort to promote her non-regular workers in dioceses, parishes and ecclesiastical institutions to regular workers.

4) Wages for non-regular workers must be such that “man may be furnished the means to cultivate worthily his own ...... life and that of his dependents, in view of ...... the conditions of the factory or workshop, and the common good” (Gaudium et spes, 67). Excessive disparity in wages between regular workers and non-regular workers must be addressed to minimize non-regular workers' sense of comparative deprivation.

In conclusion Bishop Boniface Choi said, “I pray that our society ...... may have positive concern for the socially weak and practice sharing what we have with them in the spirit of the common good, solidarity and human dignity, not just pursuing efficiency and economic growth.”

A Campaign for the “World for Life”

The Most Rev. Lucas Kim Woon-hoe, Chairperson of the One-Body One-Spirit Movement, issued a message on February 17, 2008, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of One-Body One-Spirit Movement.

In his message Bishop Lucas Kim said, “The time has come to look back the last 20 years of the One-Body One-Spirit Movement and to prepare ourselves for the new leap, reading the sign of the time in the 21st century.” Then he said, “We will make an effort to eradicate the world-wide poverty and to promote the culture of blood donation.” In this regard, he proposed a campaign for the “world for life,” and asked the faithful through this campaign to discover anew the life given in the Body and Blood of Christ.

As one of the leading overseas aid organizations of the Catholic Church in Korea, the One-Body One-Spirit Movement will initiate an yearlong campaign to promote the spirit of sharing for the neighbors of the “earth village,” enhancing the concern for the international cooperation among the faithful. Besides, it will start a nation-wide “blood donation campaign” to reignite the spirit of sharing, as there increases the number of patients who suffer from the blood shortage nowadays.