Letter to the Editor: Labor Day and the Work Force

Dear Editor,

With Labor Day coming up in few days from now I thought perhaps I should write a few lines to express my feelings about this three day holiday which is enjoyed by all Americans.

It was a carpenter, Peter McGuire, who first thought of creating Labor Day to honor the workers of America on September 5, 1882.  President Grover Cleveland signed it into law on June 28, 1884.  President Cleveland, by the way, was a long time foe of organized labor.

Labor Day was created for us to remember how hard our forefathers fought to gain the benefits we enjoy today.  It wasn’t always like this; not too long ago, before the eight hour work day, health plans, overtime, vacations, sick leave, workplace safety rules, and minimum wage, workers were at the mercy of the Industrialists, Lumber and Oil Barons, and Real Estate Developers.

In those days, workers were treated like slaves, with twelve and fourteen hour work days. When they became sick, they were simply kicked out of work; or if they were lucky, friends and relatives “passed the hat” to pay their medical expenses.

When workers went on strike for better pay or safety at work, and other humane demands, they were often attacked by the police, the National Guard, and if that didn’t work, there were always hired thugs to finish up the job.  Let’s not forget the brutal Child Labor. Children as young as ten years old worked long hours thousands of feet underground in the coal mines.  Some children, as young as six years old, worked as assistants in textile mills.  If they were late, or didn’t work fast enough, they were weighed down with heavy weights around their necks for hours, as an example to their co-workers.

We have come a long way from those years of neglect and mistreatment of the work force. But wait, it’s not over yet. The new Barons of today have re-grouped; they have hired C.E.O.s with degrees in psychology and law who have changed tactics dealing with unions and workers, but their aim is the same as before, “THE BOTTOM LINE.” They have systematically weakened the once powerful unions by scare tactics and deceit, often labeling them as socialist or unpatriotic.  They have convinced many that they are “better off” in non-union jobs. Now union membership has been drastically reduced; when they strike, it is simply to keep their hard-earned benefits.

The deterioration of the work force started in earnest in the Eighties and Nineties with treaties like N.A.F.T.A but the coup de grace came when they started to out-source American jobs to China, India, and other countries.  Many factories closed their doors.  The first to be fired were non-union workers followed quickly by the union workers. The American “Apple-pie” Barons set up shop in those far-off countries and now we get cheaper, but inferior goods— toys with lead paint, contaminated food, toothpaste with antifreeze, and who knows how far this will go.

Many Americans who worked in factories for years and thought they were going to retire there, found themselves out of work and frequently without health insurance coverage. Some of them found employment in mediocre jobs making half the money they used to make.  Many flipped hamburgers or sold newspapers.

These people were and are proud Americans with mortgages to pay and families to take care of. How long is this going to go on? No one knows. But one thing is for sure; no matter how cheap the products are that come from abroad, if we don’t have good jobs or are unemployed, we are not going to be able to buy them anyway.

George Karnikis