IT'S A welcome three-day weekend that signals the unofficial end of summer, the imminent start of a new school year and a time to gather family and friends for perhaps the final hot dog and hamburger cookout of the year. I refer, of course, to Labor Day, the national holiday brought to you by our proud and tenacious labor unions. Despite reports of its imminent demise, fueled by the political far right, the U.S. labor movement remains vital.
That's not to say that unions aren't suffering in this stagnant economy like most everyone else - we are. Unemployment, especially among the building-trade unions, is at levels not seen in decades. Union membership, in some instances, is declining.
In battleground states such as Wisconsin and New Jersey, unions (public-sector unions in particular) continue to be under attack. No less than the right to collective bargaining is at stake. The public unions in Wisconsin signaled a willingness to accept pay and benefit concessions to ease the state budget crisis, but Gov. Scott Walker's insistence on eliminating their bargaining rights was a blatant attempt to rewrite the laws of democracy.
Labor's aggressive pushback against the union-busting antics of Walker and his rich pals, the Koch brothers and their shameful Americans for Prosperity lobbying group, helped reclaim two Democratic seats from the now marginally GOP-controlled Wisconsin legislature. In this struggling economy, labor has become an all-too-convenient scapegoat for the far right.
But before falling sway to Rush, Glenn and the other right-wing radio rabble-rousers, consider all that the national labor movement has helped to achieve for working-class Americans.
Social Security has provided 44 million workers with unemployment insurance, aid to dependent children and rehabilitation for the physically disabled. It also has improved public health and provided pensions to workers in their old age. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination by employers or unions on the basis of race, national origin, color, religion or gender. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 gave sweeping protections to workers - establishing the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, weekends off, overtime pay and a prohibition against the use of child labor.
Critics contend that declining union membership is evidence that unions no longer work in American society. What these critics fail to mention is that, as union ranks have declined, so too have the number of family-sustaining jobs, replaced with low-paying jobs with poor or no benefits and little security.
The labor movement helped create - and continues to protect - America's middle class. And that's the majority of us.
So as you and your loved ones prepare for a festive Labor Day weekend, please pause and give thanks for all the good things labor unions have provided to Americans, including this long holiday weekend. Better yet, come down to the Labor Day Parade on Columbus Boulevard on Sept. 5, and see for yourself that unions remain a strong, united and important part of the fabric of this great nation. We'd love to see you. Here's wishing everyone a safe, fun and patriotic Labor Day!
The Philadephia Inquirer
BY JOHN J. DOUGHERTY
Sept. 1, 2011