People Living in extreme poverty around the World propose to build forward and not a return to the past or “build back better” !*.    

Starting today and throughout the week up down the country many women and men of good will are taking action to raise awareness about the extent of poverty at home and abroad.  Culminating on the 17 October with the UN International Day or the Eradication of Poverty.   The B45 MCW group in Birmingham are some of these people, taking a number of local initiatives to mark this important date.

COVID-19 has resulted in over 3.7 million deaths globally, reversing decades of progress in the  fight  against poverty and extreme poverty.  The World Bank estimates  “Projected poverty impacts of COVID-19, ”between 71 to 100 million people pushed into poverty as a result of the crisis, the majority of the new extreme poor being found in South Asian and Sub-Saharan countries  

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 Today, we see that the world of work is becoming progressively worse , the denial of rights at work, the deterioration of democracy, the violation of human rights, and social justice, the rejection of pluralism, the elimination of secularism, the promotion of political hatred and fundamentalism.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has recently adopted the concept of the effectiveness of “social protection for everyone” as strategic objective, focussing on income security with an emphasis on the poorest. This requires identifying the profitable and equitable means by which social protection can be spread to all groups. And it is necessary to focus on providing social protection to the informal sector. The vision of “decent work” sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives. It implies opportunities for productive work by providing a fair income. It requires security in the workplace and social protection for families, through better prospects of personal development and social integration. It requires freedom so that people can express their concerns, organise themselves and participate in decisions that affect their lives and....

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You are kindly invited to a Zoom seminar which is being jointly organised by the MCW (Movement of Christian Workers) and our Sister Movement the YCW (Young Christian Workers).  

Click here to see the recording  of this event on the MCW Youtube Chamel:  https://youtu.be/xJJ6u1lTBtI

This seminar is entitled “Decent Work for All” and marks the World Day for Decent Work. A range of speakers are planned to reflect the situation faced by the members and their contacts of both movements.

As we look for solutions to returning to a greater post-pandemic economic activity, Pope Francis asks that we avoid any form of discrimination, including “consumerism” or “nationalism”. “We must look for solutions that will help us build a new future of work based on decent and dignified working conditions” always “promoting the common good”.

Migrants, along with other vulnerable workers and their families remain excluded from access to national health promotion, disease prevention,

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The February 2021 bulletin from the WMCW (World Movement of Christian Workers) is entitled “The fight for justice”The various contributions from MCWs around the globe all reference or attribute their contribution to the definition of Decent Work by the ILO (International Labour Organisation).  

Thus, the benchmark for the articles is “Remunerated work carried out in adequate conditions, in a system of freedom, equity and security. Decent Work should let workers and their families lead a decent and healthy life.” The Labours in the Vineyard is drawn upon to emphasise a just wage (Lk10:7) and in addition the explanation that the just wage to the last hour workers gave them dignity (Mt20:1-7). In a similar vein ‘Laborem Exercens’ stressed the social meaning of the just wage for the fruits of the workers’ labour recognised in the ‘Rerum Novarum’ encyclical. Each writer gives prominence to the need

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We Remember Because …

Each and every year we commemorate May Day as it provides a reminder of the struggles that workers have taken to strive for their rights and seek justice for themselves, their families and workers throughout the world.

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David McLoughlin, Emeritus Fellow of Christian Theology, Newman University, Birmingham, talks us through Holy Week, a day-by-day account describes in Mark’s Gospel. He gives a fresh insight into the events as they unfold by contextualising the social, political, and economic landscape of the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WabXJuINbSE

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The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge’.

However, whilst it is the theme for International Women’s Day, the need to challenge addresses not just women but us all; for if women of all ages experience

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MTC QUÉBEC and the Health Crisis

“Je me Souviens”*, Is the moto of the province of Quebec.  “I remember” is such an apt moto for our times.  Quebec is a predominately French speaking province in Eastern Canada with some 8.5 million inhabitants. Louise Paré from the Movement of Christian Workers (MTC) of Quebec has written to us to share her reflections of the Pandemic in Quebec as Canada it enters its third day under a 12-hour curfew until at least the end of January 2021.

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