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?
Instead, imagine if working stiffs themselves took hold of this day, putting it to work rallying and reinvigorating a rebellious labor movement to achieve economic fairness and social justice for all in America. This was, after all, the purpose of the original Labor Day, held in 1882. Thousands of bricklayers, machinists, piano makers, longshoremen, and other unionized workers in the New York City area defied corporate bosses to declare their own day off. They were not taking a vacation, but making “a public show of organized strength,” energizing labor’s demand for an end to the tyranny of 12-hour days, 6-day weeks, and $2 a day in pay.
In an audacious affront to the plutocracy, a miles-long parade of common workers marched six abreast, accompanied by union floats, and boisterous bands. They pointedly traversed right in front of the gilded mansions of robber barons living along Fifth Avenue, the most ostentatious corridor of wealth and power in America. The day culminated in a sprawling picnic and festival, with 25,000 union celebrants enjoying food, beer, dancing, each other… and a shared sense that the working class was on the move.
Why not again? Auto workers, flight attendants, fast-food workers, and others are clearly on the move, so why not make a new “public show of organized strength,” directly confronting the corporate greedheads and political boneheads who’re stealing our democracy. Ralph Nader called for this two years ago – to see his ideas for “A Workers Action Day,” go to: nader.org.
Do something!
In addition to Nader’s article, here are more resources for staying up to date on labor’s resurgence in the US:
Labor Notes, a media and organizing project that has been the voice of union activists who want to put the movement back in the labor movement since 1979
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!