Today is Labor Day, the day the federal government and all 50 states reserve to ostensibly celebrate the contribution of workers. Although we don’t call it Worker Day or Employee Day, or even Manager-Worker Mutual Appreciation Day, but rather Labor Day, as a deliberate recognition of the contribution of organized labor. You know… unions.

So if the union-busting Scott Walker wing of the Republican Party were honest about their politics they wouldn’t celebrate the day, or at the very least, would call to change the name to Business Day or Capital Day or Plutonomist Day or White Male Christian Labor Day or something else that better reflected their beliefs about who truly contributes to our economy.

Bonus Labor Day Trivia: Oregon was the first state to officially celebrate Labor Day, on the first Saturday in June of 1887; several other states followed later that year, choosing the first Monday in September. The immediate impetus was the infamous Haymarket Riot and Massacre of 1886. President Grover Cleveland declared Labor Day a national holiday in 1894 in an effort to appease organized labor after the brutal suppression of the Pullman Strike.

Which just goes to show you: The rights and privileges so many working Americans take for granted (the weekend, the 40 hour work week, basic workplace safety, etc.) were not a gift of benevolent capitalists, but were rather won through the spilling of workers’ blood, and the threat/fear of even greater economic and social disruption.

5 replies on “Happy Labor Day!”

  1. Scott Walker is attempting to curtail Public Employee Unions, ain’t he?
    A big difference from regular unions. They do not act in the common mans best interest, but rather their own and their members at the publics expense.
    Most people working Labor jobs are not Union.
    The gains you cited by Unions are true, but happened decades ago.
    Brings to mind that song – was it Janet Jackson?
    “What have you done for me lately?”
    ‘White Male Christain Labor Day’ ???
    WTF?? Talk about condescending. Geez.

  2. oh shut up, frankieb. Working for the state is public service — who do you think runs your schools and universities, your fire stations, your police, etc. etc. It’s work for your community. Unionized public employees get paid less than public sector counterparts and put up with the same bullshit from management and administration as anyone else.

    On behalf of all unionized public employees, go fuck yourself on this Labor day and all others henceforth.

  3. So you are paid less? That is up for debate, depending on what you read.
    What isn’t debateable is better job security than the private sector, better health benefits than the private sector, and better retirement bennies than the public sector.
    And who pays for all that?
    In large part, the private sector. All those mostly non-union workers who don’t influence the political process with wads of cash to get elected officials to bend their way.

    Oh, right back at ya pal.

  5. The private sector doesn’t influence the political process with wads of cash to get elected officials to bend their way?

    I’ll have some of what Frankie’s smoking.

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