If you know your history, you may know that Labor Day celebrated American workers’ often heroic and dangerous struggle to make jobs healthier, safer, and more secure.
This was what Labor Day was all about? What it is about now? Corporate greed? The devaluing of work?
Labor Day is a welcome escape from yet another day of work that is mostly insecure, draining, and without meaning to millions of laborers.
The labor movement is a shambles; big businesses have never been fatter, greedier, or less regulated. Work has never been more stressful or insecure, even as life gets more expensive and complicated.
I can’t really celebrate a day like that.
American workers are exploited, mistreated, and abandoned like garbage the second the profit column shrinks.
I’m sad about that, but I’m not interested in a parade about the old days.
How many people reading this love their work and trust their employers to treat and care for them well? How many CEO’s have to live in fear and need?
I’m not sure what there is to celebrate on Labor Day any longer. I’m not a corporate champion.
The proud union men and women who used to march in their hats to celebrate the better life they fought so hard for are no longer marching.
Most of them are dead, and the labor movement they created has been pecked nearly to death by billionaires, fat and greedy corporations, and the politicians they support and practically own.
You will hear that the Labor unions did themselves in by being too corrupt and greedy, and I’m sure there is some truth to that. But they also did a lot of good.
They created a middle-class in America that millions of people could aspire to and join. That was the world’s envy, the apex of the American Experience.
The labor bosses were street beggars, pikers, and amateurs compared to the billionaires, grossly overpaid CEOs, and money-sucking members of Congress who conspire to ruin work in America, once the role model for the world.
They were very common people who often ended up with the wrong crowd; they had lost touch with many of their members.
Labor Day is a hollow holiday for me, celebrating greed, hypocrisy, and fake posturing. I can’t find the good there.
Most politicians simply lie when they say they are honoring Labor this weekend.
They are not; they are watching and closing their eyes as workers are pushed back into the dark ages of work without benefits, retirement pensions, job protection, or incomes they can live on.
The idea of loving one’s work, of making it a calling, is now a fringe idea for outcasts, dreamers, and people willing to live on the fringes of affluence.
The goal of the modern Corporation is to pay workers as little as possible and then take away more. Life is all about making cuts.
It’s about them and not about working people or us. It’s about stockholders and their paid and wealthy overseers, CEO’s. They are the ones who should get out of their yachts and private jets and march down Wall Street.
Workers no longer matter much; they are replaceable parts, like computer chips, only not as valuable.
Do you know anyone genuinely loyal to the Corporation they work for or who works for a corporation that is loyal to them? Is it still possible to love one’s work and be paid well for it?
The modern American laborer is as valuable to a corporation as a desk lamp.
The Commonwealth Corporation estimated that as many as 7.7 million workers lost jobs as of June 2020 because of the pandemic-induced recession.
These workers were responsible for caring for 6.9 million dependents for 14.6 million affected individuals.
Over the next two years, reported the Center For Public Integrity, CEOs of the latest publicly traded companies earned 351 times as much as the typical worker in their industry.
According to several corporate research companies, many CEOs feared losing their jobs as well, but they didn’t need to worry.
Instead, most got staggering, almost scandalous, bonuses. These exorbitant payments could have kept a lot of people in their jobs.
In my somewhat extensive google search, I found many stories about CEOs fearing losing their jobs. Yet I couldn’t find any evidence that any of them did because of the pandemic – not a single one.
At the same time, as businesses and politicians work together to make work more complex and less secure and to keep wages low, corporations have essentially purchased many members of Congress outright.
They fund their campaigns, drown them in cash, and support their efforts to destroy the bond between workers and their work and block any idea of security.
When we talk about Labor Day 2022, we aren’t speaking about the reality of Labor Day when it was created more than a century ago.
No noble and battle-cared workers marching to bask in the glow of their fights for decency and dignity.
There was a flawed nobility to the early American labor movement, but there was so much suffering among and abuse of workers.
It’s hard to find nobility in public life in America now.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in conjunction with celebrations of the Central Labor Union.
The idea was to pay tribute to the rise of labor unions and their role in giving workers more pay and benefits, two concepts unheard of in the country before blocks.
The middle class had it better over the years.
Until the 1980’s companies like General Motors, IBM and, AT&T, CBS News were lifelong employers with people, and each side had great loyalty to the other.
If you worked for one of these companies, you could retire in security and live in peace for the rest of your life.
If you worked at AT&T, you had a job for life and a generous retirement plan. IBM was considered one of the best companies on earth to work for.
When I worked for CBS News, I understood that I had a job for life in a company that treated me well and was proud to work for.
Hard laborers had benefits for the first time, health care and retirement, and limits on work hours. Firetraps were shut down, salaries went up, and pensions were negotiated on Labor Day.
They owed that to unions. Poor workers had a path to a better life for the first time in America.
There was a lot to celebrate. One day in the late 80s, when I was Executive Producer of CBS Morning News, I was called into an office and told to lay off more than 60 people.
Those were the first layoffs in the company’s history but far from the last. I quit a couple of years later; the company I loved had been taken over and raped.
There is not much to celebrate now on Labor Day. The Corporate Nation, the birthplace of organized labor, has nearly destroyed unions, making it harder than ever to organize and join.
It has also destroyed the nature of work and persuaded working people that labor unions are their enemies, not their friends.
Most Americans don’t see this hateful and divisive manipulation as a shameless money grab for billionaires and their companies.
This is a national tragedy for laborers, not a festive day in my mind.
Amazon employees get some health care, but they also get to wear digital moners that will get them fired if they take too long to pee in the bathroom.
AT&T and IBM are companies that pay employees until the market drops and then dumps off without warning.
Last year, CEOs made an average of 20 million dollars each, about 254 times more than the average worker, according to Equilar 100, which tracks Ceo salaries.
CEO salaries rose by 31 percent at the height of the pandemic, which cost tens of millions of Americans their jobs.
If you watch some media, you can hear commentators and blue-collar workers all over the country lament what they see as America’s turn towards socialism.
They should be so lucky. Socialism is about spreading wealth equally.
American capitalism is about keeping wealth in the hands of the very few and already rich.
America is turning the other way, towards the old days when fatcat millionaires (billionaires now) treated workers like garbage and exploited them for every dime.
It’s a great time to be a fatcat in America; you can skip almost all taxes, treat your workers like garbage and make more money than you ever need or spend.
The genius of the new corporate politicians (the Supreme Court says corporations are just like humans) has been advancing the idea that the economic and social troubles of the white working class are all caused by liberals, people of color, women, and immigrants.
The corporations and their political allies claim elitists and black people are conspiring to take what is theirs, alienating different kinds of people from one another, knowingly dividing the country.
It has seemed to work.
Many blue-collar workers in America say they would rather vote for Donald Trump – he wouldn’t let a real working person anywhere near him – than make corporations share their wealth.
There’s a Faustian bargain, if ever there was one. Trump is the biggest and greediest and slimiest fatcats of them all. And he is a working-class hero.
You have to wonder about this country sometimes.
Out-of-control fatcats are why there are unions and why unions were cheered in the streets. Now there are more fatcats than ever, and they are richer than ever. What labor who doesn’t work in Silicon Valley can say the same thing?
And their layoffs are also starting. Welcome to America and the capitalist kingdom.
Politicians love to praise working men and women and then rush onto the phones to spend 75 percent of their time, according to government monitors, sucking up to zillionaires to raise money and sell their votes.
If you or I did this, we would be nailed for soliciting a bribe. In government and our legislatures, this is just business as usual.
I love the idea of work, and I celebrate mine and anyone who finds secure, safe, and meaningful work of their own.
Working people fight harder than ever to pay their bills and make ends meet, while corporations get richer daily. Something is wrong.
There are 2,153 billionaires worldwide, around 600 living in the U.S.A. None of them will be marching in those Labor Day parades, which generally include many more fire engines than once-powerful labor leaders.
Can you name a single powerful labor leader? And why will billionaires ide on labor day? Because none of them wants to be seen near a true working person.
Tech workers make as much money as anyone, but they hardly reflect the spirit of the labor unions of the 20s. They have little to do with the common physical worker, whose battles marked the creation of Labor Day marches and celebrations.
And which also built the American economy into the richest in the world.
You won’t see the blue-collar workers that build America out marching and celebrating on Labor. Many will be working second and third jobs to keep their homes. And most of the time, unions have become irrelevant to them.
I celebrate my work because I love it, which does not work for me.
I would love to celebrate the holiday with people who are not billionaires but happy and secure laborers.
I don’t know any.
I do wish everyone a happy and meaningful weekend. We have some friends coming today and Sunday, and I will continue to rest until Covid gets bored and goes away.
I will be blogging; you’re not done with me yet this Labor Day weekend.
My son works for the USPS and has to work six days a week for lack of workers. He loves the job, but would like to have two days off a week to spend with his wife. The heat her in the NW doesn’t help either.
Tough job, especially now…thanks for the message Betty…
Totally agree, Jon. It’s been sad to witness the decline. But I do not understand why working people think Trump is a hero when he is the epitome of everything they despise. I don’t get it at all. I didn’t like being in a union which protected lazy and difficult people. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. One could see why companies detested the unions. There was wrong on both sides. Unfortunately, I think it’s just human behavior. I can’t see society ever being leveled economically. Communism was a great idea, but that’s all it was, an idea. We need socialism but I can’t see it being accepted here. Scary times.
I represent someone who works at an Amazon Fullfilment Center. She had three court hearing scheduled this month. None of them her choice. She has been warned about taking too much time off. Her first hearing, scheduled for yesterday was continued over our objection. Her boss refused to believe her, when she told them that she could now be scheduled to work yesterday. In spite of showing her boss, emails and court notices, she was accuse of lying. Unfortunately, her hearing was continued until November. She has now been told that if she takes a day off in November, she will be fired. So much for worker rights. Workers are meaningless drones these days. Unions are needed, but unfortunately, on the wane.
Many Americans think it is beneath them to have a job that requires labor. This will be more and more true as robots,
A.I. and immigrants from Latin America are doing most of the labor.
good and thought provoking post, Jon. I hear you loud and clear. I don’t celebrate ANY holidays, really……..but on Labor Day……I do give much thought to working people…….people who work hard to survive and live…are committed and dedicated to whatever they do……and manage to survive the inhospitable *climate* that all this entails. I celebrate them…… and their initiative.
Susan M
I agree with you, Susan. And there are signs that that the union movement is reviving.
Unions are so necessary. I hope to be able to help organizers in some meaningful way soon.
When I was a teen, i needed emergency surgery, which cost my parents nothing. I developed sepsis, and spent a month in the hospital, and then required after-care. No cost. Got a bunch of dental work, glasses, more needed medical services, and again, no cost.
This was due to my father’s labor union. He had left the aerospace industry (and their good pay, but lousy benefits) during the early 70s post-Apollo layoffs. He rejoined a job he last held in the 1940s, but that had an excellent Union.
He was a taxi driver. They had such a good, solid Union contract, made good money, and were respected workers. Things have changed.
Great blog. Middle class? Where? Retail and fast-food employees are exploited. And don’t think these jobs are held just by teenagers. I worked retail for awhile in an upscale department store. If ever a union was necessary it is vital for retail workers. First, they don’t let you work a 40-hour week so they don’t give you health care. They make you feel like a thief watching your every move and paying you minimum wage but expecting their employees to dress to the max.
My dad retired after working all his life in a factory and was counting on a decent pension. At the time of his retirement, the factory was sold and he lost most of his pension. Living close to a former GM town I don’t think the workers realized how lucky they were (the other side of the coin). They had unbelievable benefits. Too many to mention. Many retired at 50-years-old. Had second homes. Got new cars every year. And they still bitched. What I’m saying is workers need to be treated fairly and not like slaves. But they also have to be realistic. This was a great blog. Unions are badly needed once again in our country.
Thank you for this description of one more American holiday gone awry. We always try to reflect on the true meaning of these once special days and why they were created but are usually disappointed in how they are currently recognized. You have written a succinct piece.
Jon, this is a wonderful essay that should be read by everybody. Thanks for sharing it.
Here is a book by economist Richard D. Wolff, of whom you may be familiar: CAPITALISM HITS THE FAN: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. Professor Wolff’s book was published in 2010, but what he writes holds true today. Another more recent book by him is SOCIALISM. From the back cover of the book:
“Capitalism Hits the Fan” differs sharply from most other explanations offered by politicians, media commentators, and academics. Step by step, Professor Wolff shows that deep economic structure–the
relationship of wages to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to income–account for
the crisis. Government bailout interventions have thrown too little money too late at a problem that
requires more than money to solve. As this book shows, we must now ask basic question about capitalism
as a system that has now convulsed the world economy into two great depressions in 75 years (and
countless lesser crises, recessions, and cycles in between). The book’s essays engage the long-overdue
public discussion about basic structural changes and systemic alternatives needed not only to fix today’s
broken economy but to prevent future crises.
John,
I wish your column today could be posted in every newspaper. What’s going on today is so shameful. Even in my beautiful small town, restaurants and stores that survive with blue collar workers have cut back their days open. We don’t have enough workers because they can’t afford housing anymore.
Your outspokenness is greatly appreciated.
Thanks Barbara…
As a public school teacher in the 80’s and 90’s, we teachers could almost count on about a 10% raise every year. It was around then that I heard the statistic that the top CEO’s of company made 50 times of their lowest worker. That jumped to 500 times around the 2000’s. No wonder the quality of education is declining…which might explain why we have so few people who can think for themselves.
In Arkansas, where Walmart was founded and maintains its headquarters, 1,318 were receiving SNAP benefits — 3.1 percent of the state’s total. McDonald’s, next on the list with 865 workers, made for 2 percent of the state’s total. Another 3 percent of SNAP recipients in Georgia worked for Walmart.
The next companies with large number of workers on federal benefits include Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Amazon, Burger King and FedEx, the GAO found. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post) which is my source for this information.
To top it off, most of us would rather pay a cheaper price for our things because they are being produced by even cheaper workers; so most of us are contributing to the problem for not “buying American.”
Thank you, Jon, for another incisive essay.
Well said, Jon! I find not a word with which to disagree. Thank you for writing it.