Labor Day in the U.S. Virgin Islands as a Pathway to Community Development
September 8, 2025 – LLoyd Gardner
Labor Day 2025 found me thinking again of the role of workers and their current status in societies created primarily through their labor.
The framing probably resulted from the information I assimilated over the past three years in crafting for the Foundation for Development Planning, Inc its Caribbean Just Transition Initiative in 2024 and its U.S. Virgin Islands Social Development Sub-Program in 2025. The former centralizes the idea of wealth creation by worker and community collectives, while the latter focuses on social development.
The question of how wealth is created and distributed is an age-old one, with the search for answers twisted and blurred by social and economic theories, or if you prefer more colorful language, by isms and schisms.
One such twist is the change in focus from a day to celebrate the contributions of, and advocacy for, workers to a day focused more on having fun. Yes, there is still a proclamation here and a speech there, but the main event is the parade and fun.
So, if the purpose of Labor Day is to recognize workers and their contributions to society, how do we center them in our celebrations?
One approach is offered by Ms. Shaun Pennington in an article she wrote in 2019 about her reflections on the importance of Labor Day. In the article, she mentioned the idea of thanking the people who serve, provide for us, care for us (my words).
In other words, offering thanks to our community.
If we periodically take time to offer quiet thanks, can the practice evolve to collective action that focuses on building community cohesion?
The way labor day is celebrated in Jamaica offers one possibility, as Jamaica’s celebration and associated policy evolved to focus on community service. Jamaica’s current concept for labor day focuses on three main objectives:
- “enhancing the dignity of labor by improving the environment
- inspiring the spirit of community development, and
- encouraging the principle of solidarity; Jamaicans working, building and sharing together”.
Anecdotal information suggests that there was a time in the U.S. Virgin Islands when Labor Day activities included working on community projects. If so, it seems the main difference between past practice in the U.S. Virgin Islands and current practice in Jamaica is that there was a point of divergence – Jamaica codified the practice and the U.S. Virgin Islands did not.
The U.S. Virgin Islands is proud of its culture. Can we strengthen the part where we are proud to build community?
Let me close by repeating a sentence from the final paragraph of Ms. Pennington’s 2019 article. “We just need to apply our best efforts toward making our world safe and healthy for everyone”.
Lloyd Gardner is an environmental planner and executive director of the Foundation for Development Planning, Inc, a 501(c)(3) public charity based in the United States Virgin Islands.
