Human Rights & Employment
3. Employment
3.2. Employment as a right. International bodies and policies.
Article 23. The right to work
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
IMPORTANT TERMS OF THE ARTICLE
Remuneration: is considered the pay or other compensation provided in exchange for the services performed. In plain words it means that the employee must be rewarded for his/her work.
Trade union: is an organization of workers who have come together to achieve many common goals; such as protecting the integrity of its trade, improving safety standards, and attaining better wages, benefits (such as vacation, health care, and retirement), and working conditions.
Employment discrimination is a form of discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationalorigin, physical or mental disability, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity by employers.
Analysis of the article
The human right to work recognizes work as something to which each and every individual is entitled to. The right to work means, first of all, the right to participate in the producing and servicing activities of human society and the right to participate in the benefits accrued through these joint activities to an extent that guarantees an adequate standard of living. The right to work thus ensures that nobody is excluded from the economic sphere.
The type of work a person does depends on access to resources, education and training. Work can be enjoyed as a salaried or a self-employed person. A crucial feature of work is that it allows persons to earn their living.
The right to work means that work and access to resources are distributed in a way that allows for the participation of everyone who wants to work. The right to earn one’s living, as discussed above, implies, at a minimum, that the benefits derived from these economic activities should be enough to reach an adequate standard of living.
The right to work is not satisfied by participation in just any type of economic activity. In fact, it includes "the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts." There is an important element of choice and freedom in the economic activity to earn one’s living. The right to work therefore means not only that work is distributed in a way that allows for the participation of everyone, but also that a person’s preference in how to earn his or her living is a human rights guarantee as well.
Favorable conditions:
Employers are obliged to ensure fair wages, equal pay for equal work, and equal remuneration for work of equal value. Workers should be guaranteed a minimum wage that allows for a decent living for themselves and their families. Working conditions must be safe, healthy, and not demeaning to human dignity. Employees must be provided with reasonable work hours, adequate rest and leisure time, as well as periodic, paid holidays.