In my work with our parishioners in the Portland Diocese, I speak every day to the moral obligations that we all have to our neighbors, our families and our communities. For people of faith, promoting and defending human dignity is the core of all of our relationships.

Recently, the Maine House took the step of revoking collective bargaining rights for workers at the former DeCoster egg farm in Turner after Moark LLC, a subsidiary of Land O’Lakes, signed a 10-year lease of the operation.

At its core, all legislation should be about human dignity and our willingness to promote and defend it in our families, in our neighborhood, in our government — but especially in the workplace. The decision to revoke bargaining rights at the Turner egg farm runs contrary to dignity in the workplace.

Both across the country and in Maine, factory farming like that at DeCoster is low-wage, difficult work. Workers at DeCoster were granted the right to collectively bargain in 1997 because of the deplorable working conditions in the plant. Workers were cheated out of overtime pay, forced to work without proper safety equipment and denied prompt medical attention when injuries did occur. Just last year, a worker lost two of her fingers.

All major faith traditions believe that workers have a right to be paid a living wage, to have a collective voice for better pay and conditions, and to be treated with dignity by their employer. The Catholic Church has reinforced the necessity of fair and just workplaces and working conditions for more than 120 years.

And on a personal level, as the son of a mechanic who was a member of the Machinists Union, I have witnessed firsthand that preserving justice in our workplace is a community responsibility.

We all understand that work has a financial and economic value. We go to work in order to manufacture products and provide services that our community needs. And through work, we are able to provide for our families.

But work is also a way in which people are valued, a way to allow people to feel that they are valued, and a way in which people can contribute to society as a whole. Work brings us all together. The police officers who keep us safe, the machinists who produce the goods we buy, the teacher who educates our children — all contribute to the well-being of the others.

While employers clearly understand the financial and economic value of work, it is also their responsibility to honor all of the roles of work. One of the most important ways to do that is through ensuring fair pay and humane working conditions for their workers.

When employers are unable or unwilling to do so, it is the workers’ right and responsibility to come together to hold their employer accountable. Unions allow workers to come together, to uphold principles of fairness and dignity. They ensure a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.

The new management at DeCoster has promised better treatment and safer working conditions for their workers. However, new management must not translate into workers’ rights becoming irrelevant.

The moral right to organize is inherent to all workers and should not be taken away by an act of our Legislature or by a change of ownership.

Some have argued that because workers at DeCoster have not formed a union, their right to do so should be revoked. This logic does not make sense and would set a dangerous precedent. Rights should not have an expiration date.

We all have a duty to our neighbors, coworkers and communities to improve each others’ lives.

Revoking the right of workers to advocate for themselves, their families and their communities does not further our society as a whole.

The Bible teaches that we must love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

I call on our leaders in Augusta to recognize the human dignity of all of Maine’s workers in considering the future of the egg farm workers in Turner.

The Rev. Michael J. Seavey is a Roman Catholic priest who lives in Portland.