Labor Day: Remembering the Hard-Won Gains

Labor Day weekend is upon us.  Many will be taking that last outing, that last trip to the beach, or some other way to enjoy that three day weekend that marks the end of summer. Some cities will have Labor Day parades. How many of us stop to consider the significance of the holiday?

It was organized labor that brought about many of the things that made for a viable middle class in this country: the 40 hour work week, humane working conditions, pension plans, health insurance, paid vacation and sick leave.  In the 1950’s 40% of the workforce belonged to labor unions. Today, the influence of organized labor has waned with only 14% of the workforce being unionized.

I grew up in a southern mill town in a part of the country which was mostly non-union. The populace was largely convinced that unions were troublemakers and that we should all just be grateful for the magnanimity of the textile mill owners in providing jobs. It was a world very realistically portrayed in the film, Norma Rae.  My wife, on the other hand, grew up in steel mill territory. Unions were big, and workers appreciated the gains that had been made on their behalf.  They knew that without a strong organized voice from labor, owners and management would give heed mainly to the dollar and not to the workers who made those dollars possible.

For much of the 20^th century, workers (whether unionized or not) benefitted from the struggle on the part of labor unions to bring laws into effect which would improve the lot of the working class.  Today with these early steps into the 21^st century, even though there are 25 million people either unemployed or working without benefits, I am seeing more of the “let’s just be thankful for the magnanimity of the industry owners” attitude, and less of a will on the part of the people to organize on their own behalf.  A friend sent me the following video presentation which does a powerful job in reminding us about what the labor movement has accomplished for us in this country.

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For more information on the history of Labor Day, check out these websites:

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/labor-day

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/question459.htm

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You may be interested in these related posts:

The Workers Built This Country

Politics and the Common Good

Moving Toward the Common Good, or Slouching Toward Dystopia?

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