THOUGHTS ON HUMAN LABOR

September 3, 2006

Next Monday is Labor Day, and once again, our nation will pause to recognize all who contribute to our society by their daily work.

Many men and women toil through the greater years of their life, in different ways, in order to make our economy and standard of living what it is. Like Jesus, whose “hidden” years in Nazareth were spent toiling at the simple task of carpentry, most forms of human labor are carried out dutifully in obscure settings, with little tangible recognition, reward, or appreciation.

How easily the great mass of working men and women can be taken for granted, their names never known, the faithful execution of their appointed tasks never recorded, but where would we be without their contributions? Consider, for example, the countless ways in which applied technology has transformed, and continues to transform, our world. Consider what the engines of the industrial revolution have wrought, and the appliances and gadgets on which we depend daily. Consider further what the electronics revolution has done to transform our way of processing information and of communicating with each other. Consider the difference that advances in medical research have made to our health and longevity. Consider the efficiency and convenience with which food is produced and brought to our grocery stores or restaurant tables. To these few examples of the fruits of human labor, we could add so many others.

How important, then, is this annual day to remember not so much the achievements of the workers, but the workers themselves! God, our creator, has truly fashioned us in his own image and likeness. He has made us “creators”, as well. Reflect on and how industriously we have been developing his creation and bringing it to fulfillment!

Labor Day provides us also with a moment to confront the massive transformation that has been taking place in the world of work, and to contemplate the challenge this poses for us. Mechanization and automation continue to take over many jobs once performed by manual laborers, leaving them displaced. Entire sets of once vital job skills have become obsolete, resulting in a widening social and economic divide between those who are getting ahead and those who are falling behind. As opportunities for cultural enrichment and diversion proliferate, more and more persons find themselves unable to afford the price of admission to this “great amusement park” of delight and entertainment.

Many families find themseves unable to survive economically on one income, forcing both parents to work. This inevitably places a strain on family unity and hampers the family’s ability to participate in church and community engagements.

New conflicts have arisen between many enterprises in local communities and large merchant chain operations over the obligations of these economically powerful employers to their employees and to the communities they impact. The downsizing, and outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to low wage sweat shops abroad have driven down wages and benefits at home, and subtly led to a lower standard of living for many.

Trade agreements and new foreign competition have led to a globalization of product marketing, which in turn has led to a redistribution of sales profits and wealth from U.S. companies to those of other nations.

Within the world of work, there are signs of tension and discord. Trade organizations have experienced ruptures over priorities and personalities, and new alignments have emerged. Debates over budgets, benefits, and deficits have become more heated.
• What burdens should be borne, and by whom?
• What wages and benefits should be required by law?
• What will become of Social Security? What are the limits of government’s responsibility toward the indigent and unemployed? What tax system is fair? How much social spending can the nation afford?

These and many other questions about the economy and about the quality of life in our country are all wedded to the key social question – the question of human labor.

While the Church claims no technical expertise able to solve these complex questions, we do offer the light and energy of the gospel, which can provide a guiding moral vision of economic life that will best promise to lead us to fully human solutions to our problems.

In our pastoral letter, “A Catholic Framework for Economic Life”, I and the other U.S. Catholic bishops have put forward some of the principles that should guide our economic activity. We state, for example, that:
• Work exists for the good of the workers, not vice versa. Workers are to be the end beneficiaries of labor, not merely the means by which someone else’s economic ends are attained.
• Everyone has a right to economic initiative, and a corresponding duty to contribute to the economy by his or her labor.
• All have a right to share in the rewards of human labor.

While a free market economy has great benefits, all economic actors, especially the government, have a moral obligation to ensure that the economy is never exploitive of anyone, but is always put to the service of the common good. The quality of our economy is not to be judged by our GNP (gross national product), but by how the economy serves the dignity and good of all. Of special concern are families, and the poor and most vulnerable.

As a society we have a shared responsibility to ensure that all our members have what is necessary for a decent life. In our increasingly interdependent global economy, decisions regarding trade, investment, and development must be guided by principles of justice, and never directed toward special advantage, much less toward economic domination.

This labor day, let us rest and renew ourselves for our daily labors, but let us also renew our national resolve to do all we can together to ensure that the workplace is a place of justice and solidarity, and that our work gives glory to God by being performed not only for our good but for the good of all.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap