This Labor Day, Time to Turn Around America
Since the 1880s, Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September. The tradition was established as part of labor’s fight for the 8-hour work day; and has since then offered a chance to reflect on the struggles and victories of working families. This Labor Day, the labor movement is once again committing itself to the fight for all working families across America. We cannot afford four more years of George W. Bush's vision for America. It is time for a new direction on jobs, health care, fair trade, and respect for the basic right of workers to form unions and to bargain collectively for a better life for themselves and their families.
On this Labor Day people work much too hard for far too little. Workers toil as if on a treadmill with no off switch, and continue to fall behind no matter how hard or honest their effort. Families worry about health care costs, mortgages and college tuitions, not to mention paying the gas bill. The middle class continues to be assaulted by corporate interests whose tunnel vision extends no further than the bottom line. Corporate profits and CEO salaries continue to soar out of sight. For eight long years the Bush administration has put private interests and profits before the needs of the American public: This must stop. Our schools are suffering; public services and infrastructure are struggling; and our families are unable to balance their budgets.
Each election year Labor Day marks the beginning of the campaign's final stretch. This November voters have a stark choice: Continue down the road we're on and watch the inequality gap grow between the wealthy few and the rest of us; or turn around America and begin heading in a new direction so that the gap is filled by a reinvigorated middle class. A strong middle class is the hallmark of this nation's success and is the surest way for us to also close the gap between our national ideals and the harsh realities of our day. Will we choose to move away from these times of desperation, despair and division? Or will we move towards health care for all, fair trade deals that preserve our jobs, and an emboldened freedom to organize unions so that working people can reside securely in the middle class by getting and keeping a fair share of the wealth that we create?
Ultimately, the best chance we have to strengthen America by bolstering and growing the middle class is to restore the right of workers to unionize. With the legendary leadership of Senator Kennedy, we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act and reform our labor law to restore the choice to join a union free of fear and intimidation. Over 60 million workers would join a union tomorrow if given the free and fair chance. And yet, employers illegally fire workers for union activity in at least 25% of all campaigns to form unions. Unions give workers a voice, dignity and respect at work, access to health care, and make a significant difference in their paychecks. In Massachusetts alone, the difference unions make in the average paycheck is 25.9%. That can represent the margin of difference between providing for our families, or falling deeper into debt and even poverty.
Massachusetts has always been a leader in the fight for a better America. The struggle for factory safety legislation began here in 1869; the Bread and Roses strike took place in Lawrence in 1912; we were a national leader in the fight for the eight hour day - and our leadership has not wavered once throughout the years. Even as we face challenging economic times we are still ahead of the curve. Our minimum wage is always among the highest in the nation, ranking second currently; our unemployment rate is lower than national levels; we have the lowest rate of uninsured residents in the nation; and we are consistently creating new opportunities to expand our economy. And these differences are no mere coincidence: They are the direct result of the policies pursued by a strong labor movement in Massachusetts, and enacted by a Democratic legislature and administration. These policies have had a significant impact on the lives of working people and families across our Commonwealth and are the reason our state is not suffering as badly as most during this Bush-orchestrated recession.
As a Commonwealth we will help the rest of the nation win the White House back for working families in November. We must elect candidates who will put working families first. In Massachusetts, we need to elect pro-union candidates to all levels of public office who will advocate for policies that support workers in the Commonwealth. This Labor Day we need to commit to going to the polls with the priorities of working families in mind and vote for Barack Obama in his historic run for the presidency.
Nothing less than the future of our children and grandchildren is at stake. The great struggles of unions to create the American quality of life that we celebrate annually on Labor Day will pale in comparison to the hardships that will be visited upon working people if we do not seize this moment. As a nation we are in a perilous place. We stand at a fork in the road. Barack Obama's path will take us higher and make us stronger, and John McCain's path will continue the current march toward rock bottom - a path to a place of greater inequality, greater poverty and the eradication of the American Dream.
Barack Obama is the clear choice for working families in this presidential election. Barack Obama promises to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. He will make sure our trade deals are fair for workers both abroad and at home. He will keep our families and our country safe from economic and national security challenges. He won’t gamble with the retirement of our seniors. We cannot miss this opportunity to turn our country around for working families.
Ultimately, as we vote this year, we are voting on what kind of country we want to be. Do we want a Bush-McCain America: A country of mass desperation? A country that puts profits before people? A country of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations? Or do we want Barack Obama and Joe Biden's America: a country that cares about its people? A country that moves ahead together? One that changes for the better? One where we really are a land of opportunity?
Every significant positive change from Capitol Hill to Beacon Hill has been achieved because of grassroots movements led by working people. Such a movement is underway now, and this fall the Massachusetts Labor Movement and working families across the Commonwealth and the country are mobilizing to turn around America. This Labor Day working families and their labor movement are committed to making sure voters are crystal clear about their choices on Election Day. It is our hope that voters will wisely choose the road less traveled to once again find the country we've been longing for. This year Labor Day must mean choosing the path that leads to a President Barack Obama, a rejuvenation of the American Dream, and a brighter future worthy of this great country.
Robert J. Haynes is President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, and Richard Rogers is Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Greater Boston Labor Council.
