These links are provided for reflection on work and workers today in the USA and nearly a century ago in Matt Talbot's Dublin.
The first link is a personal reflection by Deacon Keith Fournier on the Catholic Church's perspective on the dignity, meaning, and redemptive value of all human work.
In keeping with their annual Labor Day tradition, the US Bishops have released the following statement on the dignity of human work: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=29072
Life, work, and workers were significantly different during Matt's lifetime.The first link provides a perspective on various themes in Dublin in 1911, when Matt was a 55 year old labourer with 27 years of sobriety: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/index.html
This link, The 1913 Strike and Lockout, is self-explanatory.