Happy Labor Day!
Happy Labor Day! This is a weekend of picnics and barbecues, cold drinks in the hot sun, and last minute sunburns.
The summer is unofficially over now, sticklers are preparing to leave their white shoes behind, teachers and students who resumed school last week have an extra, free day to catch their breaths and those starting this week are enjoying a last hurrah.
We are graced with two Sabbaths this weekend, Sunday and the extra day of rest Labor Day affords us tomorrow. Labor Day was hard-earned. Let's look at one example.
George Pullman built his company town in the 1880s about 12 miles south of Chicago, the industrial "City of the Broad Shoulders". The town of Pullman was designed as an idyllic, utopian worker's community. People worked for Pullman, lived in housing provided by Pullman, paid rent to Pullman, worshipped in the Pullman church, and bought at Pullman stores. Pullman was considered "the world's most perfect town". Compared to the crumbling and overcrowded tenements too many workers lived in, Pullman workers enjoyed the conveniences of indoor plumbing, gas lines, and sewers.
The town was carefully and firmly organized by class. Assembly and craft workers lived in neat row houses. Managers lived in modest Victorian homes, and the massive, luxurious Hotel Florence housed Pullman and those who visited him.
But the Depression of 1893 hit and unraveled the thread of Pullman's social order. Hundreds were laid off and others suffered hour and pay cuts, but rents and store prices were maintained and workers could no longer afford to live in their homes or to feed their families. The workers went on strike for two months. The mail trains were stopped and George Pullman and other railroad executives pressured President Glover Cleveland, who then declared the work stoppage a federal crime. Cleveland sent 12,000 troops into Pullman to break the strike. Violence flamed and US deputy marshals fired and killed two workers.
People were outraged by Cleveland's heavy-handed actions. It was an election year, so Cleveland and both houses of Congress moved quickly to authorize the Labor Day holiday. Their goal? To appease labor and hold onto their votes. Our Labor Day holiday was born and people began to sleep in on at least one Monday a year. Despite his efforts to placate labor, Cleveland was defeated.
The unions have done us a lot of good. Critical safety measures were taken in steel mills, mines, automobile factories, chemical plants, and countless other dangerous workplaces. Work weeks have shortened and people have leisure time. Social Security was enacted. By 1949, child labor was finally outlawed.
My dad was a founding member of the Teamsters Union in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The labor scene had hit another low immediately after World War II. My dad was a newspaperman and was happy to protect his drivers' hours, wages, and safety through the union. The nation moved into the boom years of the 1950s.
Another side of the Teamsters Union surfaced. The AFL-CIO adopted anti-racketeering regulations and expelled the Teamsters Union. My dad began to work to eject the Teamsters from his paper, and he received threatening phone calls asking if he thought his house was secure or if his children would get home safely from school. Strong-arm tactics were used on drivers who wanted out.
Today's reading from Ecclesiasticus says, "Arrogance is hateful to the Lord and to mortals, and injustice is outrageous to both."
When I talk about the unions and labor and management and corporate America, I'm not pro-labor or pro-corporation; I'm not excusing the poor and condemning the rich. Arrogance and injustice are equal-opportunity vices.
I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned about our tendencies to arrogance and injustice – regardless of who we are or what roles or special interests we have. I'm concerned about the distance we put between ourselves and the kingdom of God when we are motivated by arrogance and greed. I'm concerned about our distance from the kingdom of God when we toss money at the poor instead of simply finding out their names, thinking of them as people. I'm concerned about our distance from the kingdom of God when we refuse to welcome the stranger into our midst. I'm concerned when we connect with that person only when we know he or she will enhance our reputations or opportunities.
When Jesus describes the social pecking order typical at a wedding banquet, it sounds as if he is describing the row houses, modest bungalows, and luxurious hotel accommodations of the town of Pullman. Do you suppose anyone living at the sumptuous Hotel Florence would be willing to move into the row houses or to get to know those who lived in them?
How often has Jesus said, "The first will be last and the last will be first"? How often has he told us to serve one another? How frustrating it must have been for him to watch the wedding guests jockeying for positions of prominence and moving into the places of honor. How much more frustrating it would be to see his listeners "play the game" by feigning humility and rushing for the lowest position at the table with a strained hope that their positions would be improved as a reward and they would get what they wanted all along. How frustrating it must be for him now to see us maneuvering social situations to look good or to gain influence or wealth, striving for what we want rather than for what we need to serve him well.
Jesus had a hard time getting his message across to his contemporaries. He really meant it when he encouraged them to act in humility. He really meant it when he told the host to invite those who could not repay him rather than inviting only those who would. He still means just what he said. I think the idea is NOT to look over our shoulders for recognition, but to look over our shoulders for those we will invite to the banquet of the kingdom. To look for and to include the untouchables.
This deserves some thought. Who are our untouchables? Who do we exclude from our tables? What can we, as a community, do about it? What can we do as individuals? When is the next CHAM supper? What can we do today?
History Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/september96/labor_day_9-2.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/pullman-chicago
http://clear.uhwo.hawaii.edu/Timeline-US.html