Jean-Claude Huot gives a voice to shadow workers-Swiss Catholic portal

So essential, and yet invisible. In addition, In Switzerland, precarious workers are often of foreign origin. Therefore, The courage with which they cross their galleys impressed Jean-Claude Huot, former Catholic chaplain in the world of work. Similarly, In a recent little book. However, he tells some of their journeys and sheds light on the violence of a system that sometimes makes little case of human dignity.

Invisible workers are these men. Similarly, women who do legally or black with poorly paid tasks, even though their activities are essential to the proper functioning of our societies. Consequently, Chaplain for 10 years with ecumenical pastoral care in the world of work in the canton of Vaud. Similarly, today retired, Jean-Claude Huot wanted to pay tribute and justice to these shadow workers. Furthermore, In the spring of 2025 he signed a small book in the jean-claude huot gives voice shadow title arrested: Listen to invisible.

Why did you write this book? Consequently, Do you consider a whistleblower?
Jean-Claude Huot: Somehow. However, In Switzerland there is a form of structural violence. However, silent which affects people without qualification, often from Latin America or Africa, with a European passport and from one country to another in search of a job.

If we did not have cleansers employed only two. Additionally, However, three hours a day, auxiliaries of health working on call (they are often women), deliverers available at any time of day and night, our company would not work. Nevertheless, But the social recognition of the essential nature of these professions is low. Moreover, Who salutes the security agent jean-claude huot gives voice shadow making his night round? Nevertheless, Who notices the cleaning cleanser or the cleaning lady who enters offices and stores when they close? In addition, As for the people who drive the vans of deliveries. Consequently, they have very tense schedules: they deposit their packages and leave immediately; Customers do not see them.

I wanted to restore this often hidden reality. Similarly, I was rarely invited to testify to these destinies as aumnier in the world of work. However, and when I did, people changed the subject, because the reality is disturbing. In addition, I feel like a debt to all those people who confided in me. Meanwhile, They told me how much they wanted to make their contribution to our society. Moreover, and I discovered the many administrative and economic obstacles which they face.

“This work is above all a call. Moreover, ” writes in the Adda Marra preface, former jean-claude huot gives voice shadow Swiss national councilor for the canton of Vaud. Meanwhile, This invitation to hear precarious workers launched to everyone, but also more particularly to the church?
Yes, my chaplain activity was essentially a work of listening, unconditional listening, centered on the person. Similarly, In a book I quote, The god who does not count. Consequently, Listening to humiliated. lamethe Jesuit Étienne Grieu says that the most important mission of the church, as part of the option for the poor, is “to be with”. Our Christian communities cannot miss the reality of these invisible workers. They must try to listen to them. This is intrinsically part of our mission as Christians.

“Our Christian communities cannot miss the reality of these invisible workers.”

How to explain that most of the stories that you restore imply foreigners?
The labor chaplaincy remains fundamentally open to all. But most of the precarious positions jean-claude huot gives voice shadow are occupied by foreigners, especially women. It is ‘the free movement of precariousness’. There is a vast market of people from abroad job seekers who do not require many qualifications. not to mention human trafficking issues.

Then, the religious is still an integral part of the lives of people from Latin America, Africa or Asia. For them, it is normal to address the organisms of the churches and more broadly to the religious world. These two factors explain that there are more foreigners than Swiss to knock on the gateway to chaplaincy.

People came to see you as aumnier, with specific help requests: finding work, accommodation, responding to administrative requests. You admit your book in your book sometimes to meet their expectations. And yet, highlight yourself, these people have returned to you. So jean-claude huot gives voice shadow they would have found something else by your side?
Yes, surely, if not why would they have returned? I remember a man wondering what he could do to oppose a dismissal that he considered unfair. By examining the situation, we found that the law did not allow him to challenge his dismissal. At the end of the interview, he thanked me. I pointed out to him that I had not been able to do anything. but he replied: “At least, you listened to me and you brought credit to my feeling of injustice.” Many are played out in this credit brought to the word entrusted to us. It is not necessarily the whole truth, but it is the truth of the person encountered.

You show in your book that many precarious workers hold the blow without anger thanks to their faith. to the conviction that God stands on their side and jean-claude huot gives voice shadow will provide for their problem. A contemporary rereading of the ‘religion, opium of the people’?
I felt this dilemma a few times, without always knowing how to get out. Do the conviction of being accompanied by God prevent these people from seeing that the decisions that strike them are taken by humans. that they sometimes contain discrimination, because the person is in color, because he is not a good community, etc.? It is not easy to encourage someone to rely on the confidence she has in God. on the strength she removes from it, while putting her finger on the structural or personal violence she experiences.

“Many are played out in the credit brought to the word entrusted to us.”

This refers to the question of the Kingdom of God. Is it just expected in the afterlife or does it manifest itself in our present testimony? jean-claude huot gives voice shadow Our human dignity, as the son and daughter of the same father, must translate into our social and political organization. This question must accompany us collectively as a Church.

Your book is also a call to political decision -makers. By showing that any political decision always has an impact on human lives. seek to Give back to politics its letters of nobility?
Quite. The function of the political world is to seek the common good. The preamble to the federal constitution recalls that the ability of the most fragile to develop their potential is. Furthermore, the measure of the strength of a society. Policies must remember that their decisions are not simple arbitrations between political forces. They will have immediate or longer term consequences on the fate of people who live here and try to work.

It happens, in restoration for example, that the entrepreneurial risk is brought to employees. I jean-claude huot gives voice shadow am thinking of a mother who won a contract not mentioning a minimum number of hours of work. Without stable income, it will not have a housing permit or accommodation or even open a bank account. It is a vicious circle, because to have accommodation, you need a contract guaranteeing a sufficient and stable salary. It is very difficult to get out of this logic. When the establishment in question is a large hotel, such a contract is unacceptable.

But obviously politics is not ready to brake on these practices. Look at the debate to the federal chambers about the minimum wage adopted by popular vote in certain cantons! A majority of parliamentarians want to break these legislation. It says a lot about their priorities.

Abusers of an overly generous social system. victims of an unfair economic system: these are two labels which we sometimes affute people in precarious situations. jean-claude huot gives voice shadow How do you consider them in view of your experience?
Those I met did not try to abuse the system. They aspired to contribute to the company, while wishing this contribution to be recognized. There too, there is a long way to do. Too often we see them as interchangeable people. If the working conditions do not allow them to get out of precariousness. they only have to leave, others will come. This is one of the factors of invisibilization.

But I also don’t see these people as victims. In my eyes, they are actresses of their lives. They suffer, face real injustices, but they fight to get out of it. They show courage, resilience in relation to the constraints that society puts in their way. And it is this confidence and hope that I also remember from them. (cath.ch/lb)