The Movement bases its commitment on faith in Jesus Christ, the Gospel and the social teaching of the Catholic Church.
It is committed to working together with others - regardless of race, culture or creed - to improve their living conditions and build up a society without exclusions.
Prior to World War II, in many European countries there developed different labor federations for Catholics, Socialists, Communists and liberals.
[4] As an alternative to Catholic-based unions that negotiated contracts and represented workers to management, Christian worker associations were created as an educational, spiritual and social action movement rather than as a specific labor union.
In the 1950s, the Catholic workers’ associations of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands decided to join forces to create an international structure to encourage exchanges and knowledge between individuals and different situations; to stimulate solidarity between workers’ movements; to foster the spread of Christian workers’ movements in the world; and to develop the apostolate in the labor world.