The history of the Labor Day holiday dates back to the late 19th century when trade and labor union movements were growing in response to the needs and demands of American workers. It pays honor to the American labor movement, and the contributions workers have made to make our country diverse and great.

One important contribution that brought together the diversity of the country, and led to establishment of the federal holiday, was the Great Strike of 1877. This labor strike, which began in West Virginia and impacted multiple major cities, brought together an array of workers — black and white, Protestant and Catholic — to support their common rights. Communities willingly choosing to cross racial, ethnic, social and religious boundaries in order to demand dignity and respect helped lead to the establishment of Labor Day as we know it.

After a series of strikes around the country, culminating in the Pullman Strike of 1894, President Grover Cleveland and a unanimous United States Congress moved to establish the first Monday in September as the federal holiday.

The relationship between the labor movement and religious life in America is a beautiful tapestry woven together by diverse people and religious institutions. In the summer of 1894, Reverend William Carwardine and his congregation, the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Pullman, Illinois, were active in gathering food, clothing and money to support striking railroad workers. In 1925, a devout son of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, A. Philip Randolph, organized The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and later became a noteworthy American labor leader. In 1934, the Jewish Labor Committee was founded and purposed its work to fight discrimination, prejudice and intolerance in the workplace.


In 1968, after the death of two sanitation workers, when 1,300 black sanitation workers walked off the job to protest discrimination, poor working conditions and in advocacy for the right to organize a union, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of religious leaders stood together in Memphis. In 2008, Rev. William Barber, local clergy and the United Church of Christ supported the efforts of Smithfield Food workers by distributing leaflets and organizing members of their houses of worship to boycott the chairman of the board who fought to keep workers in a Fayetteville, North Carolina, slaughterhouse from forming a union to receive better wages.

People of faith and labor unions, then and now, have always been guided by the shared values of a belief in the dignity of work, the right to a living wage, the right to a safe working environment, and the pursuit of justice and fairness for all.

For over 15 years, the religious communities of San Diego and local unions have come together to celebrate workers and the sacred gift of work on Labor Day weekend through a nationwide interfaith initiative called Labor in the Pulpits. In houses of worship throughout the county, prayers, sermons, and personal stories of workers will be heard in Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities.

The Interfaith Justice Coalition of Alliance San Diego and the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council are expecting to reach an estimated 2,000 worshippers with a message of justice, care and respect for all workers. Father Tommie Jennings, pastor of Christ the King Catholic Church will welcome members from United Service Workers West to speak about their work to unionize security workers in our region during his English and Spanish Mass on Sunday. Rev. Nathan Byrd, the pastor of Christ United Presbyterian Church in South Park, will welcome workers from the United Domestic Workers to share their stories of being caregivers in today’s world.


On this Labor Day weekend, as we collectively consider the colorful history of the worker justice movement and its relationship to religious life in the American landscape, let us all take a few moments to thank workers everywhere for their diverse contributions to society, offer support to workers as they seek to better their working conditions and improve their lives, and encourage people of faith to give thought and action to the world’s religious and ethical teachings that point us all in the ways of justice and dignity for all.

Hill is interfaith justice coordinator for Alliance San Diego and senior pastor of Christian Fellowship Congregational Church in Emerald Hills. He is former co-chair of the Interfaith Center for Worker Justice of San Diego. Moore is executive director of the United Domestic Workers of America, AFSCME Local 3930, AFL-CIO which is made up of 100,000 in-home caregivers across California.