Article 23 – Work and wage

What does this right mean?

Article 23 is about work: the right to do this in free, equal and honest circumstances and the right to organise together with others to look after mutual interests and prevent abuses. On top of that, the rights in Article 23 protect a dignified existence, both with just remuneration for work and with supplementations to it by the state (social protection) if needed.

The reality is that if we do nothing, it will take 75 years – or for me to be nearly a hundred – before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work.

What is the history of this right?

During the negotiations on the text of the Universal Declaration, it quickly became clear that people not only wanted political rights in the Declaration, but also wanted to secure social rights to secure a minimal standard of living for everyone. The Preamble (the ‘introduction’) of the Universal Declaration states: “Whereas the peoples of the United Nations (...) determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.”

Article 23 is one of these social rights. Especially the first part (Subsection 1) was seen as the core during the negotiation process: the right to work, the free choice of profession and the right to be protected from unemployment. One of the things the freedom to choose a profession was based on at the time was the disapproval of slavery, which was already prohibited in Article 4 of the Universal Declaration, and the stimulation of the right to self-development.

The drafters of the Universal Declaration built upon the work of the previously established International Labour Organization (ILO) and on what many trade unions presented during the negotiations. With the experience of the big economic crisis of the 1930s and the Second World War still fresh, the importance of work and a good standard of living was supported by most negotiators. ‘Freedom from want’, as the American President Roosevelt already called it during the War.

The right to work is therefore broadly formed by also documenting the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’, the right to just and favourable remuneration, and the right to form and join trade unions in the article.

Where and how is this right documented?

The right to work and good working conditions is documented in all kinds of international treaties. Especially within the ILO, many countries have made agreements and documented them in treaties, from preventing child labour to facilitating safe working conditions.

But in human-rights treaties too, the right to safe and honest work has been worked out further. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is the most important of these. Just like Article 23 of the Universal Declaration, it protects the rights to work and to free, honest and fair working conditions.

Within Europe, this right is protected even more strongly. The European Convention on Human Rights prohibits forced labour and discrimination, and provides the right to organise in trade unions and professional associations. And the European Social Charter also protects this latter right as well as honest and safe working conditions in a broader sense. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union protects the right to work for EU citizens in all member states. Chapter IV of that Charter, Solidarity, also lists all kinds of social constitutional rights, including on work.

Finally, the Constitution of the Netherlands, specifically Article 19, states that the government has to provide ample opportunities for work. That article also states that every Dutch citizen has the right to free choice of work.

How topical is this human right?

Every year, both the Netherlands and other countries observe the wage gap between men and women on ‘Equal Pay Day’. This day takes place on a different date each year, because the day is connected to the moment after which women symbolically work ‘for free’ for the rest of the year in comparison to men (in the past years, this was always in November in the Netherlands). So the promise of Article 23 on equal pay for equal work has still not been fulfilled. Not in the Netherlands, but also not in most other countries. In practice, the wage for work performed by a woman is still lower than the wage a man receives for the same work.

Exploitation of migrant workers

Another situation in which the violation of the right to work is reflected is that of the Eastern European migrant workers in the Netherlands. The news has already been reporting for years that their employers house these people in poorly maintained apartments, underpay them for their work and have them work too many hours per day, such as in greenhouses.

Traineeships for youngsters

Another example of the importance of the protection of good working conditions and remuneration can be found in the abuse of traineeships occurring in the Netherlands. This involves employers demanding too much from their (often young) trainees, such as by having them make unpaid (overtime) hours or by requiring them to travel all through the Netherlands for their traineeships.