For most of my early life I considered Labor Day little more than a day off at the end of summer. That’s because I am not a union man. I have never belonged to a union, nor has anyone in my family. So what has the labor movement done for me? I have learned what organized labor has done to improve the lot of all American Workers, and I have come to understand that Labor Day is a celebration of Union labor, and one that is well deserved. This is a minor variation on last year’s article.
ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all:
1. Unions Gave Us The Weekend: Even the ultra-conservative Mises Institute notes that the relatively labor-free 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours — almost double what most Americans work now…
2. Unions Gave Us Fair Wages And Relative Income Equality: As ThinkProgress reported earlier in the week, the relative decline of unions over the past 35 years has mirrored a decline in the middle class’s share of national income…
3. Unions Helped End Child Labor: “Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined” in U.S. history, with organization’s like the “National Consumers’ League” and the National Child Labor Committee” working together in the early 20th century to ban child labor…
4. Unions Won Widespread Employer-Based Health Coverage: “The rise of unions in the 1930′s and 1940′s led to the first great expansion of health care” for all Americans, as labor unions banded workers together to negotiate for health coverage plans from employers…
5. Unions Spearheaded The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act: Labor unions like the AFL-CIO federation led the fight for this 1993 law, which “requires state agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave annually for workers to care for a newborn, newly adopted child, seriously ill family member or for the worker’s own illness.” … [emphasis original]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
It’s well worth the time to click through for the rest of this article. Furthermore, here is an excellent video on what labor has done for America.
Therefore, to begin my celebration of Labor Day in the best possible way, I wish to thank all of you who are or have been union workers. My life is better because of you. And to you and everyone else, have a Happy Labor Day!
Sadly, because of predatory Republican impingement on workers’ rights, this article is less true than it was last year. It’s up to YOU to change that trend.
Support Labor!
RESIST!!
VOTE BLUE!!
64 DAYS!!
15 Responses to “Labor Day”
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Quite possibly nothing celebrates what unions have done for all of us than the violence with which Republicans have worked to destroy those gain – and are still working, even harder, now.
A holiday greeting for the “Woozle” crowd among us …
If you complain about unions, you had better not do it while enjoying the weekend off, overtime pay, reasonable wages, or any other benefits.
Good one there, SoINeedAName!
Unions Help Everyone!
Welcome Dave!
thank you for one of my all-time favorite videos……unions help everyone!
Hi Dave – nice to see you here and not just at Care2! Future comments should not go to moderation now but should show right up for you.
Unions are what makes this country, and also supporting them.
Happy Labor Day, everyone!
Unions have helped workers all around the globe. That is why they are banned under some regimes and under threat in others. Celebrate Labor Day and support your unions like they support you, my American friends.
Great video, says it all!
As the middle class declines further, to whom are the corporate giants going to see their stuff?
Henry Ford, I understand, had to raise his workers’ pay, so they could afford his model T’s.
Unions have long been attacked and lied about by businesses, large and small. Many folks that are not educated in the purposes and benefits of unions or those folks that wish to destroy unions for their own purposes either forget or else perhaps are willfully ignorant of the fact that our very country, The United States of America, is itself a union. I am proud to be a union member. Thank you.
Hear, hear!
Labour has definitely made gains over the years thanks to unions, and those gains did not all go to unionised workers. Unfortunately, Republicans are trying to roll back those hard fought gains. These Republican efforts started well before the Drumpf era.
Drumpf campaigned on draining the swamp and supporting middle class voters. But to date, the only people he is really supporting are the corporate whores and the 1%. AlterNet has an excellent article outlining how workers are being screwed in the Drumpf era.
1. Union Membership Has Reached Historic Lows;
2. The Growth of Right-to-Work Laws (what a misnomer!!!);
3. Republicans Long to Shred What’s Left of the New Deal and the Great Society;
4. The Trump Administration’s Endless Attack on Health Care Reform;
5. The Repeal of Net Neutrality;
6. The Trump Administration’s Hostility to Green Energy;
7. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Move to the Far Right;
8. The U.S.’ National Minimum Wage Remains Stagnant;
In the U.S., the federal minimum wage hasn’t begun to keep up with the cost of living. The federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 in 2009, and it hasn’t been raised since then. Although Sen. Bernie Sanders and many of his allies have been pushing for a national minimum wage of $15 per hour, that isn’t going to happen as long as Donald Trump is president or Republicans dominate either house of Congress. And even if Democrats managed to retake both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in the November midterms, Trump could veto any minimum wage increases that Congress passed.
9. Too-Big-to-Fail Is Bigger Than Ever; and
10. The Rent Is Still Too Damn High.
I highlighted one way. Check out the other nine at AlterNet.
FDR (Democrat) brought in the New Deal between 1933 and 1937 which elevated worker rights and reforms. Unfortunately, Drumpf’s new deal is only for the corporations and 1%. And the middle and working class that Drumpf committed to helping? You’re SCREWED!!!
So while it is important to celebrate labour on this Labour Day, it is even more important to hold Drumpf and Republicans accountable for their current actions. Turn Washington BLUE!
Get out the VOTE!!!
Vote BLUE!!!
Thanks all. Very tired hugs.
Protect your unions!!! ?
Ours are currently under attack from the new PM Scomo!