Labor Day: A Time for Gratitude for Work and Workers

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“The laborer is worthy of his hire.” Luke 10:7

I have become aware of the achievement of hard labor more the last few years than ever before. This is probably due to maturity and the sensitivity it brings to mind. I’ve been thinking of my uncles who labored in Pittsburgh steel mills and became union leaders when unions were the voices of labor for justice for workers. Last summer’s tornado in my area brought into focus the dedication of workers who worked around-the-clock to restore electricity, to haul away fallen trees, to repair roofs, homes, and barns. Replacing our septic tank is ordinarily a three-person job but the demands from the storm fallout had these workers fanned out across the county with only one man assigned to our property doing the herculean job of dragging huge pumps and hoses into the wooded area and all of this on a sweltering, mercilessly hot day. When I thanked him and complimented his work ethic with such challenges, he said, “I’m following my dad’s footsteps; I think he would be proud of me.” 

Northeast Ohio is blest with the changes of four seasons. But winter and summer seem the most brutal for outdoor workers. During the winter, I observed road repair workers drilling holes in the frozen earth looking more like Eskimos drilling for fish on frozen lakes. They shovel dirt heavy with ice and snow; they direct traffic hardly visible through driving snow and deep grey skies. They are repairing fire hydrants, water pipes, gas lines, huddled only by the steam of their hot breath. Every time I come across such a crew, I pray for them. At night, when I hear the snow trucks cleaning our roads, I pray for the drivers. Where would we be without the labor of these people?

If you know anything about the history of American Labor, you know it is a sordid tale at best. Still, there are champions of brave persons in these annals who stood up to ruthless corporations and their owners from the height of the Industrial Revolution when the average worker put in 12-hour days, seven days a week. Child labor was rampant in mills, factories, and mines. Riots spawned in Chicago and New York and eventually a rocky peace developed between labor and corporations. President Grover Cleveland signed the law that made Labor Day a legal holiday on June 28, 1894. But labor would still fester under the power of corporate leaders for the next 50 plus years until unions acquired stronger footholds in major companies and workers experienced more just treatments. (However, there are existing mistreatments in some coal companies and meat-packing companies today. Documentaries on the coal industry show frequent and blatant lack of safeguards against black lung disease and some meat-packing companies hire immigrants for exhausting work hours and lack of safety instruction.) 

Reflection

Did you ever look at your city’s skyline and think about the many laborers who hoisted the bricks, carried the cement, welded the scaffolding, to make the frames of skyscrapers? They did this mostly in an age when labor was not protected and certainly not compensated for such heroism. How did labor build the bridges, those huge behemoths over parts of our oceans and lakes? These workers had nothing under their feet, only a wide yawning chasm of air through which many fell to their deaths when a clamp broke, or a harness cracked. 

Jesus was a man familiar with labor. More than likely, he was trained as a tekton, a skilled carpenter, like his father, Joseph. His apostles were hard-working fishermen, for the most part. Some of his stories are of workers getting their fair share, of farmers storing grain, planting, and harvesting, of good seed and bad seed, of reading the signs of weather, laborers simply making a living according to their faith and their reliance on God.

Take some time this Labor Day to pray for all laborers. (I love seeing women on these jobs too. We have come a long way in the field of industrial labor!) Pray for leaders of corporations that they may be just in providing living wages and humane work environments. Look at the high-rises in your city and be grateful for the people who built them. Think of laborers without whom our lives are unstable: plumbers, roofers, furnace and air-conditioner mechanics, pipe fitters, car mechanics. Think of those who add aesthetics to our lives through their labor: landscapers, painters, pavers, and carpenters. Pray for all laborers. Pray that all who work for the common good may feel satisfied that their skills and training and dedication leverage needed benefits for all people.

In the Book of Exodus, God tells the Israelites: “For six years you will sow the land and gather in its produce. But in the seventh year you shall let the land lie untilled and unharvested, that the poor among you may eat of it and the beasts of the field may eat what the poor leave.” (Exodus 23:10) God takes care of all creation through human labor.

So, bring out the hamburgers and hot dogs, the potato salad and lemonade. Warm up the grill and enjoy a feast that celebrates what really made America: hard work, ingenuity, and faith in a loving God. And pray for all the generous souls who built this country. It is sad to see our summer go, but it is joyful to recognize the value and gift of labor. Happy Labor Day!!!