A few days ago millions of Canadians and Americans celebrated Labour Day, a federal holiday that gifts Workers a well-earned 3 day weekend of rest and relaxation.
Did you know Labor Day did not become an official holiday until 1894 in Canada?
Labour Day celebrates the Worker, the primary achiever of the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution many labourers were being grounded down by the gears of industry.
Agricultural life gave way to factories where men, women and children laboured 12 hours a day, seven days a week for paltry wages. Kids as young as five worked shifts in unsafe conditions and injury and death in the workplace was a commonality.
Unionism rose in righteous protest demanding an 8 hour work day, 5 day week, child labour laws, a minimum wage and safety regulations so workers could not be taken for granted.
The Labour Movement grew with achievements that required a celebration be had. Tens of thousands, all union men marched through New York City in 1882. Marching again the next year – this event became a tradition celebrated to this day.
Did you know that the Labour Movement had religious themes woven throughout its history. In support of the working person churches and organisers would site passages from the Bible like Jeremiah 22.13 & James 5:4, begin union meetings with a prayer, and celebrate the worker alongside their local pastors and congregations.
The very first Labour Day Celebration was a joint gathering of two major labour organisations, The Central Labour Union and the Knights of Labour, devout Catholics and Protestants all.
Union Members were called upon to refuse both drink and smoke as acts of union solidarity with the Church. The moral backbone of the holiday rested upon passages such as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you and love thy neighbour as thyself”.
As labour unrest stirred around the world Pope Leo XIII got involved, issuing the encyclical Rerun Novarum, a pro-labour document that showed the Churches’ engagement with the working classes.
This document addressed the struggles of the industrial era, affirmed the workers’ rights to form unions to support their families and community and proclaimed the Dignity of the Working Person before society and societal leadership.
The worker has the right to a dignified and safe environment. This was based in Christian teaching. The churches’ response also criticised both unfettered capitalism and radical socialism.
The Church also gave the clergy a theological foundation to support workers’ rights, not as political activists but simply as Christian Ministers.
Big Business and Big Government responded against the Labour Union Movement and its allies within the Church. What they saw was radicalism and obstructionist anti-capitalism flowing to a revolutionary crescendo.
The Russian Revolution and various other historic uprisings spurred the Corporate World and its governmental allies to battle. Unionists in Winnipeg declared a day of protest only to face hundreds of armed horsemen, police and hired security.
Actual battles happened throughout the Western World, labour vs corporate oppression. In 1887 Bishop Henry Potter helped establish the Church Association for Pro-labour members.
The Catholic Worker was established as diligent and courageous activists who supported the Worker. Labour day supporters such as Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin worked directly with the Labour Movement against the prevalent poverty, social ignorance and inequality present in North America.
Dorothy Day was an advocate for the Worker, seeing all people as equal in the sight of God. She once said of her work within the Catholic Workers Movement: “What we do is very little, but it’s like the little boy with a few loaves and fish. Christ took that little and increased it. He will do the rest”.
Labour Day is a time for the Worker to rest both their bodies and their souls.