For Immediate Release: August 27, 2025

WASHINGTON—Workers must organize to meet current threats to their rights, including the rise of A.I. and the destructive actions of the Trump administration, states the 2025 Labor Day Statement from NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. The statement notes that the Catholic Church, including many Catholic Sisters, has shown up to support workers’ rights for well over a century. 

“We cannot shy from these challenges,” the statement says. “We must hope as the generations before us did with the hope of dignified workers’ rights so that all who toil might be able to share in the richness that God intends for all of us.” 

NETWORK connects the advocacy of Pope Leo XIII for just wages, benefits, and safe working conditions during the Industrial Revolution to the concerns raised by the new pope, Leo XIV, regarding the potential impacts of A.I. on the rights and dignity of workers today. 

“We recognize the risks: cogs and boilers have been replaced by artificial neural networks, data centers, and algorithms,” the statement says. It also notes that Catholic Sisters are leading in addressing this challenge, thanks to the work of NETWORK Lobby on federal policy involving artificial intelligence. 

On other threats to workers’ rights and dignity, the statement says that “the weakening of unions was an early warning sign of the destruction of government we see today. The second Trump administration is on a mission to destroy any function of government that contributes to human dignity: foreign aid, health care, due process, and yes, workers’ rights.” 

NETWORK’s 2025 Labor Day Statement, “Showing Up for Workers’ Rights,” can be found online.

Founded by Catholic Sisters in 1971, NETWORK is an inclusive, national, Catholic advocacy organization open to all who share our values, working for justice and equity for everyone. For 53 years, NETWORK has educated, organized, and lobbied for federal policies that serve the common good and honor the dignity of all people. 

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