Right to Work

Four basic meanings of the right to work are evident in moral theory and business ethics:

• A set of moral rules to ensure access to work and a just wage
• Civil or legal rules governing employment conditions and ensuring an equitable workplace free from discrimination or hazards
• A basic human right
• A set of laws aimed at removing limitations to employment imposed by unions

In different ways, each of these interpretations is grounded in an understanding of work as a necessary component of individual human life and human flourishing; work is also central to and partially constitutive of human community. Broadly construed, work is regular physical and mental activity that provides service for others or contributes to the creation of a product deemed valuable by or to society. Although work ...