esrosedotblog

Labor Day is still a significant holiday for some working people.

I suppose.

When I was a kid, I was a member of a union for awhile. The Retail Clerks International Federation.

As far as I could tell, they collected our dues and that was about it.

Contracts were instituted with the food chains and wages were subject to negotiation.

Today, labor unions are still an entity but not nearly as influential as they were at that time.

Now Labor Day exists in the absence of serious union activity. It has become a time for tired political speeches and a lot of nice talk about the "working people".

I didn't stop working when I quit the union and went to college. I became a middle manager. There have been attempts to organize managers and office workers but most of the action today is pretty meek and mild. Some would say that the unions have been co-opted by management. I would say that the unions just ran out of steam.

When is the last time you heard about a national strike in this country?

Of course, liberal labor laws have helped a great deal.

I started working when I was 14. You had to have working papers. It was some kind of protection. Employers were forced to behave in specific ways for young workers who at that time were the most victimized workers of all. Not too far away from my home, little kids had worked as coal pickers. Virtual slaves.

Now, Labor Day is just a day off for those who labor. For me, it is a day without mail. And some memories.

Also a little sadness that I never got to march on a picket line. I had to use the peace movement and gay liberation as an excuse to get into the streets.

More history at First Labor Day Parade nearly had no music, no marchers

Labels: holidays, work