Commemorating Christian Labor

The first Monday in September is Labor Day in the United States and Canada, commemorating the contributions of organized labor to improved working conditions. The common story of Labor Day is typically secular: To fight for higher wages, safer workplaces, and shorter workweeks, workers formed unions to bargain collectively or, if necessary, to strike. There’s nothing inaccurate about that, but the history of organized labor, both domestically and abroad, includes the history of Christian labor organizations and Christian support for organized labor, offering a more nuanced picture of labor unions and cooperatives than the usual, often adversarial, and Marxist story.