A Prayer for Justice on Labor Day

God of love and justice, we come to You this Labor

Day asking for Your presence and guidance. You have asked us to

walk with our brothers and sisters and told us there are no strangers

among us. Yet, we still turn against You and the law You have given

us to love one another as we love ourselves. As the Psalm says, we

know that good will comes to those who are generous and lend

freely, and to those who conduct their affairs with justice. However,

we have sometimes failed to be generous with our time and

resources, and have neglected opportunities to treat others with

human dignity.

God, as we remember those who

are struggling and organizing

for a living wage, healthcare,

and human dignity in their

workplaces, remind us this

Labor Day that You have

called us to walk in

solidarity with our

brothers and

sisters, as we

conduct our

affairs with

love and

justice. May

it be so.

AFL-CIO

One in three workers in the world is either unemployed or earns less than the equivalent of $2 a day. According to the annual labor market report by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 218 million children aged 5 to 17 in child labor worldwide, excluding child domestic labor.[3] The most controversial forms of work include the military use of children as well as child prostitution. more Americans, including children without health care coverage—a record 47 million with no coverage.

With fewer workers covered by traditional pensions, Social Security is more important than ever.Only half of all workers participate in any workplace retirement plan at all. In 1983, the vast majority (88%) of these workers were covered by defined-benefit pensions. By 2004, only a minority (37%) had traditional pensions, as employers shifted responsibility for retirement saving to workers through 401(k) plans. This leaves Social Security as the only guaranteed source of retirement income for most workers (Munnell and Sundén 2006).

Want to know more about the issues facing America's Workers and families? you can go here to the AFL-CIO union website to gain the information