Kerja, Kekuasaan, dan Martabat: Analisis Eksploitasi Kaum Buruh di Indonesia dalam Terang Ajaran Sosial Gereja dan Implikasinya bagi Karya Pastoral Kaum Buruh

The escalating exploitation of workers in Indonesia shows that the world of labor has narrowed into an arena of extraction that robs people of their dignity. Arising from this moral concern, this study examines the reversal of the meaning of work within the neoliberal regime, which reduces laborers to mere instruments of production. Employing a qualitative method based on library research, the analysis is carried out through a critical reading of empirical data and the Church’s Social Teaching on work. The findings reveal that exploitation manifests not only in the form of low wages or structural violence, but also as a distortion of human value that denies workers as bearers of the image of God. The discussion underscores that the Church’s Social Teaching offers a prophetic corrective by reaffirming human dignity, restoring solidarity, and shaping a just social order. This study urges both the Church and the state not to remain mere spectators but to take decisive action to restore the wounded humanity of workers.