Labor Day

Labor Day is a day to live up to the code of the great Labor Leader, Mother Jones, who said famously,
“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”
This Labor Day, let’s rededicate ourselves to that cause.

So many people have fought to advance the voice of workers, both in Organized Labor, in politics, in religious life, and from the community.  Many are well know and many others are simply rank and file members, regulars workers.
Remember them all.
Pray for them all.
Whatever gains we have, we owe to them.
Let us never forget the sacrifices they made for us, some even the sacrifice of their own lives on the picket lines.

So remember, and pray, but even more…..honor them.
Honor them by continuing their work.
There is much to do.
While the stock market does well, while incomes at the top of the wage scale soar, workers at the bottom continue to struggle.
An article in my local paper today points to a United Way report that shows more workers living on the edge, paycheck to paycheck.
The reason?
Their salaries for a full weeks work do not pay a living wage.
They struggle all week, yet make too little to put a roof over their head and food in their children’s bellies.
While we give massive tax cuts to the wealthy, the working poor suffer more.

ORGANIZE! My Labor friends say.

I agree, I agree.  Forming or joining a union gives a collective voice for workers, it improves lives.
But I also know the struggles of organizing.
While I have thankfully never had a Pinkerton Man bust my head with a billy club on the line, I know of facing union busting tactics. My colleagues at Backus know the feeling of standing up to a hostile, anti-union management and we know that we could not have been successful without the guidance and support of those who came before us, those already organized.

Our collective responsibility as workers is to remember the dead and fight like hell for the living.
We owe it to those who sacrificed for us, we owe it to the workers of today, and we owe it to the children of tomorrow.

We can do it.
There is a wave of worker activism sweeping the nation.  More and more of us are running for and winning political office. More and more of us are organizing into unions everyday. More and more of us are gaining a voice.
It is not easy but it is possible, and it is happening.

So on this Labor Day let us rededicate ourselves to the work ahead.
Solidarity my sisters and brothers!
Happy Labor Day!