The War on Labor Day

Bill O'Reilly talks about "The War on Christmas" and while that concept has been widely lambasted I'm here today to sound a different alarm -- that there is truly a War on Labor Day.

Every time a Right to Work (for less)ballot initiative cooked up and paid for by the richest corporations in the world ends up under consideration, those plutocratic wolves dressed in sheep's clothing have declared war on labor day.

Every time members of Congress vote against the Employee Free Choice Act, they have declared War on Labor Day.

Every time lawmakers support unfair trade deals that reward employers who ship jobs overseas to countries where workers have no real right to organize, those lawmaker have declared War on Labor Day.

Every time a story about the middle class squeeze is run in the corporate media and they fail to mention that union's created the middle class and that unions are fighting to restore it -- well maybe that's not a declaration of war but that's giving comfort to the enemies of Labor Day.

And every time we let corporations exploit their workers and deny their right to unionize and we remain silent, we are complicit in the War on Labor Day.

We must remember the true "reason for the (Labor Day) season", to steal a turn of phrase from people concerned about the secularization of Christmas.

We have Labor Day because union activists, often immigrants, fought and died so that we could have the weekend, to end child labor, for the 8 hour work day (hey remember the 8 hr workday? If you were unionized you might get to leave work on time and then you could like go to the gym and see your family and stuff). Today unions are the solution to so many of the world's problems and unions are developing new strategies for winning all the time.

So this Labor Day, as you eat the BBQ you bought from a unionized grocery store, that wasn't processed by Smithfield Farms, or your union-picked grilled veggies, remember that we have this day off because someone, maybe your grandparents or great grandparents once stood down their boss, the cops and maybe even the National Guard. The least we can do now is stand-up to the Pinkertons of the 21st century.

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Take a gander at Bruce Raynor's blog post from 2007 "Lets' Put the Labor Back in Labor Day" for the DMIBlog.

This diary is part of the Take Back Labor Day blogswarm. Find others there.

Follow Elana Levin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/workersunited

Comments

[texastrixie]

As my husband noted today, there really isn't any true "Labor Day" holiday left. Yes, it was convenient to buy groceries today since we were busy Saturday and Sunday, but we would have managed to go one of those days if we knew the grocery store would be closed. And yes, there are some fairly good department store sales, but still, we could have caught them some other weekend. When I was a child, people really did get Labor Day off. And 4th of July and Thanksgiving and Memorial Day. Not anymore. Except for Christmas, there are no other holidays in this country where the stores aren't open. Conservatives talk about the breakdown of this country, but to me, holidays becoming shopping days shows what's really wrong with this country.

[Rule Of Law]

A strong and organized working middle class frightens the oligopoly. There is no room in this Republican laissez faire state for a mobilized and engaged class of workers who vote their own interests, rather than the sound bite politics they are force fed.

[PhoenixEffect]

We need to clean up the unions, too. The Grocers' Union doesn't seem to do much for the employees it represents. When my roomie worked for a grocer and was part of the union...the wages/benefits/perks I receive at my non-union job were far better than her wages/benefits/perks. The worst was that, after two years on the job, she'd not once had a single raise. Don't know where all those union dues went to, but it sure wasn't spent to improve the situations of the workers!

[WorkingClass]

Thanks Ms. Levin. And happy Labor Day to you.

Solidarity.

[somedays]

"The Employee Free Choice Act" is anything but free choice. Removing a persons right to a secret ballot is NOT free. I am all for making union elections easier, modifying so called "right to work" statues etc. But, removing a workers right to a secret ballot opens up a big can of "intimidation" worms that would probably be exploited both by labor organizers and management.

[peterg76]

Not to mention that in the 19th century big business wouldn't even let labour have their holiday on the real Labour Day, May 1st.