The holiday’s name has become something of a
misnomer. The United States is one of
the few countries that does not observe its worker’s holiday on the first of May. In fact, the first weekend in September was
chosen by its founders specifically to distance labor from May Day and its
association with the age-old bogey of socialism. Over time, the Labor Day holiday has gone
from recognizing the sacrifices and contributions of workers to being yet
another excuse to consume.
Perhaps it’s just as well. The labor movement in the United States is in
sorry shape. One key reason is that American
workers have made a unilateral suicide pact with the Right. For a generation the gains made by organized
labor have been steadily eroded by the relentless implementation of the Republican
economic agenda and the impotence of Democrats in Congress and the
state houses. And for
some perverse reason, workers, caught on the twin horns of false consciousness
and false needs, have bought into the baldfaced lie of the crooks who own and
run the country that this has all been done for their own good.
The demonization of union workers has gotten
strident lately, particularly after Gov. Scott Walker’s assault on public
employees’ collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin. Economic policy has become all about
relieving “job creators” of their grievous tax burden while slashing such benefits
for the middle and working classes as funded pension plans and subsidized
public higher education. The American
labor movement itself is partly to blame, resting on the laurels of decades-old
achievements while failing to demonstrate its relevance to today’s workers.
Even in the face of the conservative
propaganda machine, organized labor should have been able to hold its ground
better than it has. Union membership in
the U.S. has declined to a depressing 11% of all employees (and only 7% of
private sector workers), from a high of 34% in 1954. The current business opposition to federal “card
check” legislation is only the latest
episode in the long war on unions.
Resistance is futile, it seems—whether it’s resistance
to the 1% or resistance to public apathy. Occupy
Wall Street, which appeared to have the makings of a genuine mass movement at
its inception just a short year ago, has become a punch line not only for the
SUV-and-tract-house set but also among the very people who should have been its
natural allies. By dismissing the OWS protestors
as unkempt pot smoking freaks, mainstream society ignores the ice rapidly
melting under its own feet.
In retrospect Occupy was more street
theater than political force. Its message
was that substantive change can occur only if each of us takes responsibility
for safeguarding our personal and collective rights. (That last phrase needs to be spoken more
often. It sends a chill of dread down
capitalists’ spines.)
As the national discourse turns into a
right-wing monologue, controversy over trivial utterances such as the President’s
recent “you didn’t build that” remark illustrates a fact frequently missed: The
heroic businessman (or woman) lauded in our culture can accomplish nothing
without the efforts of their employees. Confronting declining work conditions and the growing lack of available skilled jobs,
workers must struggle to preserve their human dignity and fight being
considered as little more than beasts of burden.
The struggle can only be effective when conscientization is followed by organization.
Enjoy your rights while you still have them.
Happy Labor Day.
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