Press Release 10-14e24.03.10 13:09 Keep Sunday free of work!1st European Conference on a work-free Sunday appeals to European leaders Today, more than 70 organisations including churches, trade unions as well as organisations from civil society, are meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels for the first European Conference on a work-free Sunday. Together with more than 400 conference participants, they will launch an appeal to the heads of states and of governments who are meeting tomorrow in the European Council. They call for a Sunday free of work for all European citizens. “The protection of a work-free Sunday is of paramount importance for workers’ health, for the reconciliation of work and family life as well as for the life of civil society as a whole. This common weekly day of rest serves to strengthen social cohesion in our societies, a cohesion so severely undermined by the current economic crisis.” Rüdiger Noll, Director of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches, explained at the Conference: “More than any other day of the week, a free Sunday offers the opportunity to be with one’s family and friends. Common free time is an important precondition for a participatory society, which allows its members to engage in civil activities.” Please click on the language of your choice for the call for a work-free Sunday; ******** For more information: The Conference of European Churches (CEC) is a fellowship of some 120 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches from all countries of Europe, plus 40 associated organisations. CEC was founded in 1959. It has offices in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg. The Church and Society Commission of CEC links member churches and associated organisations of CEC with the European Union’s institutions, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO and the UN (on European matters). Its task is to help the churches study church and society questions from a theological and social-ethical perspective, especially those with a European dimension, and to represent common positions of the member churches in their relations with political institutions working in Europe. |
