This Labor Day

King Solomon teaches us, “It is a gift from God to be able to eat and drink and experience the good that comes from every kind of hard work” (Ecclesiastes 3:13). Labor Day is a time for eating, celebrating, and enjoying family and friends. It’s also a celebration of work, which sometimes gets a bad rap from a misreading of Genesis when Adam is cursed to draw his bread from the sweat of his brow as a punishment for his original sin (Genesis 3:19). A focus on this verse misses the earlier charge from God to Adam “to work the ground and keep it in order” (Genesis 2:15) even while still in the Garden.

It’s a good thing to be grateful for our jobs and the provision they give on Labor Day. It’s a good thing to appreciate our vocations, through which we become co-creators with God, bringing goodness and value into the world while finding a sense of purpose and meaning for our days. Sociologist Arthur Brooks of Harvard, the late theologian Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute, and the Rev. Robert Scirico of the Acton Institute have all shown from their particular disciplines the inherent worthiness of vocation and work.

Yet America’s celebration of Labor Day often wrongly conflates a day to celebrate work with a day to celebrate labor unions. Work is praiseworthy. Labor unions? It definitely depends. Some labor unions do contribute positively to society. Pope John Paul II showed that powerfully in his partnership with Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement in Poland. The AFL-CIO was often a solid partner with Ronald Reagan against Soviet communism. More recently, we’ve seen private-sector labor unions play an important role as partners in workforce development, equipping young people with skills and apprenticeships in the trades at a time when too many of our young people are pushed toward four-year college degrees.

But most Americans’ experience with labor unions is as an arm not just of the Democratic Party but also the militant left. Back in Bill Clinton’s heyday, unions were a mainstay of the Democratic base. Some unions continue to play that role, like Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers and Becky Pringle’s National Education Association, both of which have been extremely cozy with the Biden-Harris administration, especially when bad decisions about closing schools were being made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the new unionism is militant in a whole new way. A just-released paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research reports that teachers unions have shut down more than 500 school districts with illegal strikes since 2007. (My law firm has sued several of these unions on behalf of parents and students.) Many unions have also been out on the far end of the push for a cease-fire in Gaza, such as the Portland Association of Teachers’ guide to supporting the Palestinian cause against Israel, which it subsequently withdrew in embarrassment.

The president of the United Auto Workers spoke at a cease-fire rally with members of the congressional “Squad” and opposed additional arms sales to Israel, even as UAW represents workers at major defense contractors like General Dynamics and Oshkosh Defense. Other teachers unions are using collective bargaining to advocate for climate change curriculum, LGBTQ rights, and affordable housing. These are all part of a larger trend away from a focus on wages, hours, and conditions of employment, the traditional topics of labor negotiation, into a broader focus on “economic and social justice.”

Former President Donald Trump is restructuring American politics, including traditional uniform union support for Democrats. The head of the Teamsters, the man in the job once held by Jimmy Hoffa, spoke at the Republican National Convention in July. Many blue-collar tradesmen are union members who also own guns, oppose illegal immigration, and hold traditional values. We will see in November what success those efforts bring and whether any administration that follows accommodates the long-standing alliance between the GOP and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with a more sympathetic ear for private-sector unions. But the hard-left turn in other unions will drive many further afield from the average American citizen and worker.

Meanwhile, take time to celebrate the gift of good work and then work hard to the glory of God.