What if Labor Day was not about giving working families one measly Monday off to sleep in, rush to the beach, do some 12-oz elbow bends – then report back first thing Tuesday to start another 364 days of pulling the corporate plow?
My idea for a Labor Day celebration is to have a fair with the usual vendors and carnival rides, plus union booths. Kids and parents could get free tickets for the rides by going to the Ticket Office, where they would get a booklet of labor-related questions, such as, "How much does a union auto worker make compared to a non-union auto worker?" or, "Who has more paid holidays, a union worker or a non-union worker?" The kids go around to the union booths to find the right answer (tickets are written with specific unions and issues in mind, so it's a bit like an Easter egg hunt), then come back with the answers and get a ticket for each correct one. I think having a door prize of a hot air balloon ride would be quite a draw.
Let's not forget the thousands (perhaps more) of graduate students who fill teaching positions for next to no money and no benefits. Tuition at colleges and universities has skyrocketed, but many of the teaching position are filled with people with no power. Shame.
At some point in our "evolutionary development" societies were organized around the notion that the purpose of government was to assure the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number. Unfortunately, "Economic Theory" in the form of "Capitalism' has reversed that purpose. Why should every individual in society have to "Cow Tow" to some "employer for their very existence. We need to focus on what if anything is a newly born individual, "entitled" to by mere existence. It is clear that the current economic model espoused by our great academic institutions and our "Entreprenurial Class" is a failure. I am afraid that with the world's population now in excess of 8 billion, we are entirely unprepared for the future sustenance of it all. In the short run, of course unionization and worker's right to bargain for their labor are appropriate but are ultimately doomed. Unless the world can truly unite and operate on an equity basis, who knows what will happen. The notions of "Nation State" and "Sovrenignity" are the root cause.
My idea for a Labor Day celebration is to have a fair with the usual vendors and carnival rides, plus union booths. Kids and parents could get free tickets for the rides by going to the Ticket Office, where they would get a booklet of labor-related questions, such as, "How much does a union auto worker make compared to a non-union auto worker?" or, "Who has more paid holidays, a union worker or a non-union worker?" The kids go around to the union booths to find the right answer (tickets are written with specific unions and issues in mind, so it's a bit like an Easter egg hunt), then come back with the answers and get a ticket for each correct one. I think having a door prize of a hot air balloon ride would be quite a draw.
Good one ,Jim ,, Thanks PHN
Let's not forget the thousands (perhaps more) of graduate students who fill teaching positions for next to no money and no benefits. Tuition at colleges and universities has skyrocketed, but many of the teaching position are filled with people with no power. Shame.
Go to a rally instead of 12 Oz. ELow bends?why can't I do both
At some point in our "evolutionary development" societies were organized around the notion that the purpose of government was to assure the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number. Unfortunately, "Economic Theory" in the form of "Capitalism' has reversed that purpose. Why should every individual in society have to "Cow Tow" to some "employer for their very existence. We need to focus on what if anything is a newly born individual, "entitled" to by mere existence. It is clear that the current economic model espoused by our great academic institutions and our "Entreprenurial Class" is a failure. I am afraid that with the world's population now in excess of 8 billion, we are entirely unprepared for the future sustenance of it all. In the short run, of course unionization and worker's right to bargain for their labor are appropriate but are ultimately doomed. Unless the world can truly unite and operate on an equity basis, who knows what will happen. The notions of "Nation State" and "Sovrenignity" are the root cause.
I think of the Sept. Labor Day as "Wage Slave Day" instituted by capitalists to counter the international solidarity of May Day!