Labor Day: honor the holiness of labor (video)

September 7, 1:43 PMSoulful Leadership ExaminerMargaret Benefiel

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This Labor Day, honor the holiness of labor.  The holiness of labor, a motif that surfaces consistently across spiritual traditions, is especially important to recognize this year in the midst of tough economic times.

According to spiritual teachers, work is sacred because it is a manifestation of the divine work through humans in the world. Human dignity must be honored in work, work should be compensated justly, and workers should work honestly and with integrity.

In the Bible, for example, landowners are commanded to pay workers their wages at the end of each day (Deuteronomy 24:15), because the workers are “poor and counting on it.”  Otherwise, workers may “cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.” Workers in turn are exhorted, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord (Colossians 3:23).”

With record unemployment and underemployment, with businesses cutting back and asking workers to do more with less, these exhortations are particularly relevant.  How, for example, can the dignity of employees be honored in the budgeting process when budget cuts are mandated?  How can layoffs, when they are necessary, be done with integrity?

One example of a tradition honoring its articulation of the sacredness of labor in tough economic times is the recent agreement reached among the Catholic Health Association, the AFL/CIO, the Service Employees International Union, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on union participation among workers in Catholic healthcare institutions.  Taking seriously the Pope’s recent encyclical on the ethical dimensions of economic life, the statement offers guidance and options on how workers can make a free decision about union membership.  While the long and candid discussions represented apparently irreconcilable viewpoints, the participants persevered and reached a consensus based on mutual respect, truth, and a commitment to workers’ free choice.  Especially important in times like these, when workers are more vulnerable and management feels more pressure, the agreement offers ways for workers to make their own decisions about union participation without undue pressure from either side.

The holiness of labor needs to be held up now more than ever.  This Labor Day, let us, like the Catholic Health Association and labor unions, reflect and act on what it means to honor the dignity of the worker, just wages, and the importance of honesty and integrity in work.
 

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Strengthening your organization in tough economic times

For more info: Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of Soul at Work and The Soul of a Leader, works with leaders in healthcare, business, churches, government and non-profits to help them stay true to their souls. Visit her website.