Post Tagged 'labor day'

August 30, 2024

Toasters and Trade: How Misguided Policies Could Burn the American Dream

This weekend, Americans will celebrate Labor Day and the unofficial close of summer with barbecues, parades, and a few extra lazy days before the onset of fall. This year happens to mark the 130th official Labor Day holiday, signed into law by President Grover Cleveland in 1894. Continue Reading...

May 01, 2020

Why I worked this May Day

Today, I am working from Rome. It is Labor Day here–La Festa dei lavoratori–one of those many guaranteed Italian holidays which we are not supposed to spend in the office. Continue Reading...

September 04, 2019

A more robust vision of labor and solidarity

In this week’s Acton Commentary, “Your work is more than your job,” I try to provide a broader perspective on the dynamics of a proper “work-life balance.” My main point, as the title indicates, is that our paid work is just a part–an important part no doubt, but just a part–of our “work,” understood as the service that we are called to do for others. Continue Reading...

May 03, 2019

May 1st is no day to worship work

On May 1st, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, a Catholic church named after the saintly carpenter and foster father to Jesus, tragically burned to the ground in Phoenix, Arizona. Continue Reading...

September 05, 2016

‘The historical heritage of human labour’

Many view Labor Day as a celebration of all forms of work. The origins of the holiday come from the labor union movement, which for some is not so laudable. This leads some free-market advocates to refer instead to “Capital Day.” Continue Reading...

May 01, 2015

Holiday vs. Holy Day: Labor Day and Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

When divorced from God’s plan, work is merely labor, a rudderless everyday job. Today May 1 is Labor Day in Italy and in virtually all of Europe. Alas, it is hardly festive. Continue Reading...

August 30, 2013

The Strangers Who Work For You

As we approach Labor Day here in the U.S., it’s good to ponder “work”, that most ordinary feat nearly all of us perform every day. We get up, get dressed, and do our jobs. Continue Reading...

August 29, 2013

Maximizing labor, minimizing wages

For this week’s Acton Commentary, ahead of Labor Day weekend, I write about “working harder and smarter,” lessons we can learn from Ashton Kutcher and Mike Rowe. One of the implications of connecting hard work with smart work is that the difficulty of work on its own does not determine its value in the marketplace. Continue Reading...

September 02, 2011

A Thought for Labor Day Weekend

“Work gives meaning to life: It is the form in which we make ourselves useful to others, and thus to God.” –Lester DeKoster, Work: The Meaning of Your Life—A Christian Perspective, 2d ed. Continue Reading...

September 08, 2010

Labor and the limits of work

There has been some good discussion over the past week and Labor Day holiday about the nature of work and its role in our lives (particularly here). The first thing I’d like to point out about Lester DeKoster’s claims regarding work is that he has in mind, at least partially, the classical Greek philosophical distinction between the active and contemplative life, particularly its disdain of manual labor. Continue Reading...

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