At the initiative of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, representatives of all the (arch)dioceses in Croatia assembled in Zagreb for the Fifth Croatian Social Week, which was held from October 21 to 23, 2011, and organized by the Center for the Promotion of the Doctrine of the Church. Approximately three hundred participants, of whom around sixty were lecturers representing various professions from all over Croatia, discussed the topic of the Culture of Work in Croatia from various aspects. The participants addressed the following to the entire Croatian public, individuals and institutions:

Declaration

Numerous successive crises affecting the Croatian society confirm the anthropological fact that work is primarily ethical-moral and spiritual, and not merely an economic category. Social research has revealed that Croatia is among the countries with the lowest confidence in the institutions in Europe. If we wish to develop the Croatian society in all its dimensions, especially the culture of work in Croatia, such a situation is untenable.
Due to the globalization processes, nation states have increasingly little influence in regulating economic relations. The tendency until recently of “weakening the state,” which meant the neoliberal model at the European and world levels, was interrupted by the intervention of the states in solving the financial crises.
In such circumstances, we want the Croatian state in a stronger and more concrete way, taking into account the weakest, to be involved in solving issues and problems in connection with unemployment, harassment at work, protection of workers’ rights, the regular payment of wages, respect for holidays, genuine respect for the workers’ right to rest, encouraging socially responsible business and the value of work, thinking about the work of the future, eliminating the black economy and the conditions that lead to it, stability of labor in agriculture, promotion of education for work and volunteer work.
In the society, it is increasingly clear that there are two vulnerable groups regarding work: the unemployed, excluded from the world of work, and those who are working too hard, excluded from family and social life.
In keeping with the social doctrine of the Church, starting from the described situation in society, on the basis of discussions at the Fifth Croatian Social Week regarding the development of a new culture of work in Croatia, we desire and seek the following:

1. The spirituality of work should be developed, returning work to its true meaning and value. By working, a person responds to God’s call to be his collaborator in the regulation and completion of this world. A believer constantly develops this spiritual dimension of work. This dimension is an invitation for all people not to allow themselves and others to be reduced to a means, especially the weakest.
2. The development of entrepreneurship rests on three simple principles: fair profit for the owners of businesses/entrepreneurs; fair wages for workers and fair taxes for the state. Entrepreneurship assumes and requires a stable legally organized system. Laws should not be adopted starting from ideal situations but from existing practices, bearing in mind other experiences and ideals but primarily regulating the Croatian system, the Croatian economy, respecting the experiences and good tradition in Croatia, upon which we can rely. Regarding entrepreneurship in agriculture, it should not be expected that small farms would be the basis of our development but they can be a significant economic and social factor if they join modern cooperatives. Cooperatives in Croatia have a long tradition, interrupted after the Second World War. This tradition should be revived, albeit at the appropriate time.

3. In Croatia, there are many reasons for unemployment, from structural employment, the insufficiently dynamic educational system, to the global crisis that has struck Croatia. In order to solve the unemployment problem, activity in several directions is necessary: employment incentives as wells as incentives for the lifelong education of workers, the promotion by the media of employers who hire groups who are difficult to employ, to increase funding for measures for the employment policy and maximum focus on the use of EU funds in the area of employment. Particular attention should be given to the elimination of long-term unemployment, which is detrimental in many ways to the individual and society. It is necessary to maintain a balance between active employment measures and the financial security of the unemployed, and to remove barriers that prevent unemployed parents from placing children in preschool institutions so that they can actively seek employment. In the allocation of funds for hiring, priority should be given to regions of high unemployment. Croatia will become an immigrant country. It is necessary to conduct a series of analyses and studies of these issues and have a clear national immigration policy.

4. As a national and political community, we must not abandon education for work. In a consumer, entertainment culture, it is not easy to educate for work. Therefore, in education for work, it is necessary to strengthen the function of the family. This means connecting the essential factors in education: children, parents, school, i.e., teacher, and for believers, the religious community, i.e., the Church. A child’s experience in educational institutions should be organized in such a way that parents can be with the children. We are aware that there will be a number of new forms of work in the future, so it is necessary to adapt legal solutions to them and prepare our system to be able to educate children and young people for real jobs that are just ahead. It is insufficient to produce professions mechanically, without taking whether people can be employed into account. Thus, we produce the unemployed and the unemployable.

5. The family in Croatia is still a functional institution and it is necessary to rely upon it more and help it more, since its contribution to the society is of irreplaceable importance. The value system in the family is transmitted precisely in the community of parents and children. Freedom from oppression on Sundays is a necessary condition for the possibility of education within the family, and thus education for work, due to which we demand that Croatian families should be allowed to be together on Sundays and celebrate the Day of the Lord. This is a question of culture and also of health. In the organization of leisure time, childcare and education, it is necessary to make a concerted effort in which children and young people can participate.

6. We particularly insist upon laws that will effectively protect workers and the implementation thereof, which will make the actual respect of workers’ rights possible. It is necessary to provide workers with employment, decent working conditions, including safety at work, and the regular payment of decent wages because theologically the failure to pay wages is a sin and socially it is nothing other than theft. On the labor market, the state should provide quick and efficient control and effective judicial protection. Temporary employment and other precarious forms of work should be placed under supervision and reduced to a minimum. To encourage and permit flexibility on the labor market that would be based on the uncertainty and loss of workers’ rights should not be allowed. The law should regulate working hours and employers in stores should not be allowed to regulate them arbitrarily.

7. For the progress of villages, in rural areas it would be necessary to make the economic structure more diverse. Regarding agriculture, we require a system of support—financial, educational and organizational – which will successfully contribute to the development of agricultural production. We particularly emphasize the problem of the lack of jobs for women, which encourages them to depart and in the long run is detrimental in many ways to the overall development of Croatia.

8. Involvement in volunteer work and new relationships of trust, which are created among people in this way, increase social capital and thus the ability of the society to develop and open new jobs. Volunteer work becomes testimony to another model of a society and community that is not based solely on utilitarian principles but becomes a base upon which a broad range of nonprofit organizations become established. Promoting volunteer work encourages active participation by citizens in public life, to which retirees can contribute on the basis of their experience. Therefore, regarding the development of a climate suitable for volunteerism, education for volunteer work should become an integral part of the overall educational system.

9. The state and state institutions should begin acting socially in order to gain the trust of the citizens and facilitate the development of the society, which has stopped for now. We must finally dismantle the system of governance, which during the totalitarian regime was designed to monitor citizens, not to serve them. Such a system is inappropriate for democracy. With such low and declining social capital, i.e., distrust of institutions and antisocial activities, it is difficult to expect any development, including economic.

10. In the area of legislation, we demand that the Croatian legislators seriously start to regulate the Croatian society on the basis of good Croatian practices, the existing value system, culture and traditions that should be kept and developed, and not ignored. Under such circumstances, it would be possible to develop a new culture of work in Croatia, which would be suitable for the times but does not ignore the fact all work is first and foremost human work, which must not be taken from a person.

11. Social ministry encourages believers to promote a variety of the humanizing personal and social, economic, cultural and political realities of the Croatian society. This commitment goes beyond mere traditional charitable activity in the Church because it includes education and prevention, not only alleviating social problems. From believers, solidarity and voluntary engagement are expected in their parishes but also beyond, in practicing the social dimension of faith.

In Zagreb, October 23, 2011