(ANS - Brussels) – The Alliance for Sunday, of which Don Bosco International (DBI) is a member, organized a conference in Brussels on Tuesday 21 January 2014 to draw attention to the importance of sustainable patterns of working hours and Sunday as a holyday and a day of rest.

"Remember, young men, that keeping the Lord’s day holy brings the Lord's blessing on all the week’s occupations," Don Bosco used to say. But in today's society and workplace, the importance of Sunday as a public holiday is often forgotten.

The Alliance for Sunday has about a hundred organizations, trade unions and NGOs committed to promoting dignity at work and the principle of Sunday as a common weekly day of rest in the European Union.

In view of the forthcoming European Elections, it is currently running a campaign to engage the future parliament:

• to ensure that all relevant EU legislation should respect and promote the protection of a common day of rest each week;
• to promote EU regulations that ensure sustainable patterns of working hours, based on the principle of the dignity of work.

In a climate of austerity and policies of deregulation, flexibility, dealing with the challenges of demographic change, unemployment - especially among young people - poverty and social exclusion, it is essential to remember the importance of dignified work which reconciles family life and work.

"Conscious of the fact that employment, the creation of jobs, and economic competitiveness in Europe are the main requirements to overcome the crisis, the conference has studied what is necessary to achieve competitiveness while defending the dignity of work," said Mattia Tosato, Executive Secretary of Don Bosco International.

There were three working sessions relating to:

• the situation of dignified work and Sunday rest in a time of crisis;
• the balance between work and family life;
• the place of Sunday in the active participation of citizens in the affairs of state.

For more information visit the website of the alliance.

Published 23/01/2014