Labor Day: Should hard work be this hard?



(1912 Lawrence textile strike)

Since many spend more waking hours on the job than

anywhere else, the quality of the work experience

becomes exceedingly important.  After all, it doesn’t

matter what color a vocational parachute is if the spirit that is bound to it never gets to soar.  That is why vocational issues are highlighted by a number of religions.

Rabbi Jack Moline calls attention to this quote from

Deuteronomy 24:14:  You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a stranger in one of the communities of your land.  He points out that frequent Torah reminders about this dictum stem from the slave-labor experiences of the Israelites in Egypt.

In this sense, the Exodus story can be seen as an intense protest against unfair labor practices.

Mr. Hussam Ayloush quotes Islamic passages about work.  Qur’an 11:85 states the following:  And O my people!  Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due.  This next quote is from the Prophet Muhammad (Ibn Majah collection):  Give the employee his wages before his sweat has had time to dry.

Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox’s book, The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for our Time, goes beyond the notion of “livelihood” as being simply “a means of securing the necessities of life.”  Diane Shirf wrote that “Fox explores the concept of work and how it can be healthier physically, emotionally and intellectually, but primarily socially, environmentally and spiritually.”     

Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) and the AFL-CIO feel that Labor Day is an ideal time to reflect upon the plight of workers “who experience low wages, hazardous working conditions, discrimination, unfair treatment on the job, lack of health care benefits, the constant threat of unemployment and plant closure.”  Their “Labor in the Pulpits” program therefore “provides for people of faith and the labor movement to form relationships and to work together” to improve these laborious conditions.

Resources

http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/faith/lip.cfm

http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/articles/wciyp.php

http://www.amazon.com/Reinvention-Work-Vision-Livelihood-Time/dp/0060630620

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=livelihood&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=cQdgTufvFarW0QGP7cD_Dw&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=d8edafa9e328c069&biw=1366&bih=599

http://www.iwj.org/doc/LiMMuslimRef.pdf

http://www.iwj.org/doc/LoBimah2000.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_textile_strike

Copyright September 5, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved