A reader posted this comment about Labor Day:
“Because my father, a lineman at the local electric company, was able to collectively bargain a contract, my sister, brother & I were able to live a middle class existence. My dad was able to send three kids to public universities in Indiana without acquiring debt. Did we all work to make it happen? Absolutely! The State of Indiana also helped by supporting its public universities which made college affordable for middle class & poor families.
“If he were alive today, he’d be heartsick by the way Democrats have turned their backs on working people.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Random Labor Day Thoughts of a Retired Worker
Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 to celebrate the economic and social contributions of workers.
It was first nationally recognized to placate unionists following the Pullman Strike.
For the majority of my life it signaled the end of summer and thebeginning of school.
Labor Day and unionism go hand in hand even if the latter has received diminished recognition in the celebrations—diminishedrecognition not only in a federal holiday, but in everyday American life.
I don’t know about you, but I believe my family and perhaps yours owe much to the labor movement. It goes back to what it did for our parents and grandparents, receiving more livable wages, ability to own homes or rent decent living places, allowing them days of rest and limitations to hours of arduous work or labor, and affording their children a leg up with opportunity for advanced education and to join the middle class.
My father was a union man, so union that he wouldn’t allow us to buy Levi jeans popular in our teens because they weren’t union-made.
I remember him hoping for nickel and dime an hour wage increases. Perhaps some of your parents or grandparents were the same. A forty-hour work week, paid vacation and sick time, overtime pay, breaks, sufficient lunch times, holidays, and many, many more benefits are enjoyed by all, union or non-union, because the unions pressed for such benefits.
Today, however, unionism is less prominent. There are various reasons: manufacturing jobs disappearing from the American scene, many jobs being outsourced overseas where wages are lower, the American economy being hard hit, and a generation growing up to consider belonging to a union unnecessary. There’s also a campaign to discredit unions and unionism. The use of the term“thugs” is being used by some to describe union members. There have been incidents of corruption.
When it comes to corruption, an overview of life is worthwhile. Wherever the potential for power exists, there the potential for abuse or corruption exists. It can be seen everywhere: in government, in religious institutions, in financial institutions, in management, in unions—in any human organization. As a Christian, I see the fall and brokenness of mankind having left nothing untouched. I still believe in government and the Church. So I can still believe in other institutions,particularly unions without qualms.
All need honest people to make a difference. The greedy and the lazy, the corrupt and abusers of power, the dishonest and cheaters—they will always be with us. It’s up to us to work to hold our institutions and their leaders to their highest standard which is why checks and balances are most important.
My personal experience is I held two jobs where I was forced to join a union—closed shop—and other positions where belonging to a union was not an option. In one with an option I chose not to belong. I didn’t want to pay union dues,though I enjoyed the benefits due to the union. I chose not to participate in paying for the institution that protected those benefits and those jobs.
Then a day came when I realized that choice had been unwise, and I was left without protection when experiencing a job-related injustice. I worked for a man who was involved in sneaky, underhanded activities. I think he recognized in me discernment and honesty and felt threatened. My position was eliminated for three days and restored with a different title. My seniority didn’t apply. My classification and long-years, hard earned salary were lowered. I was sent out of administration into the schools where the stress and demands were incredible.
The whole transaction was unjust and unfair. Had I belonged to the union, I would have had a paid-for defense and protection. My previous choice eliminated that protection. With a reduced salary,retirement pension and social security benefits faced reduction. Retirement compensation is based on one’s working income.
But all was not lost. An injustice led to a greater understanding of what it takes to educate children (mostly poor) in an urban setting and how maligned public education and public schools are.
I observed first-hand dedicated, overworked,underpaid teachers and other staff. I saw teachers spending their own money to enhance the learning potential of their students. I met counselors and others who deeply cared about children. By the way, I joined the teachers’ union tout de suite! And as a retiree, I remain a union member.
In another situation working for a school on apart-time basis, I experienced an incident where someone verbally assaulted me and cursed me for following my supervisor’s directive. Nothing came of that incident to resolve it. Had a union been involved, there might have been a just resolution. This is just one person’s testimony; there are those of others.
As we celebrate Labor Day, it would be healthy and noble to remember the who and what behind the day. We might think back to our parents and grandparents and their experiences to appreciate the quality of life we might be enjoying as a result of their trust in unionism. We might reflect on whether or not there is an increasing diminishment of the quality of life for American workers today. The middle class is shrinking.
Lastly, let’s think about the word and concept of labor (work). There is dignity in labor and the laborer regardless of station or status in life. When God created man and woman, he gave them a place and the responsibility to work and labor. Let’s return the respect, honor, and dignity labor and laborers deserve.
These thoughts came to this retired worker who labors to uplift our view of those who once worked and those who still remain in the workforce. Labor Day celebrates America’s workers’ contributions and the unions that raised their quality of life.
Helen Louise Herndon Hloherndon@cs.com
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My father’s memorial service was on Labor Day 1992. He was an electrician in Catskill, NY. He was so proud that his license was listed as No. 1. He served in WWII on a repair ship and damaged his knees when the boat was hit. He would be appalled at what is happening in the U.S. today. I remember my Dad bringing a local black man home when I was young to sleep in his heated workshop. This guy was a local drunk. My Dad was afraid he would die in the winter cold. How many homeless would he be worried about today? How many are homeless, because they can’t get a job?
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I was born in 1947. My dad started working at Lockheed for Kelly Johnson in 1937 for $.37/hr. My parents had 11 children. We lived on a 1/2 acre in the San Fernando Valley. We had a horse and pool, cabin in the mountains, all of us went to private schools, my mom did not have to work, we took 2 week vacations. It was in a tent but we went on vacations every year. Also, at that time you could go to the UC system almost for free. Today, you would need about 4 times the income that job pays today to live that way. This is how bad it has gotten. My parents recently died within 3 months of each other both in my sisters house with family around. If we do not do something soon these days will not come back as all is going into only a few pockets.
If we are going to really honor labor day and the reason we have it let us make a pledge to get the billionaires out of as much of education as possible by the next labor day so that we can have an uplifting conversation about the start of “Real Change we can Believe in not that stuff he threw at us that was a lie.”
It is up to us no one else.
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And how do we do that? If we get them OUT of education, who takes over? Eh? Just askin’.
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By the way my dad and I both worked at the Skunk Works at the same time and it was so secret we did not know. This was on the SR-71. Secrecy was paramount and totally respected at the Skunk Works along with the best management I have run into.
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I am stunned by the post from Beth of Indiana that Democrats have turned their backs on working men and women.
I am a lifelong educator (now retired). I have been in the Indiana General Assembly for twelve years. I am a Democrat.
Democrats in the IGA fought tooth and nail to protect the collective bargaining rights of working men and women. We suffered fines, ridicule, and many lost their seats for the choices we made to stand up for collective bargaining.
Many educators, principals and superintendents, union members and others helped elect a Republican supermajority. They are the ones who turned their backs on working Hoosiers. Not Democrats! Please get your facts straight.
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Your work on behalf of labor sounds strong and heroic. I’m puzzled, then, politically, at why a majority of the electorate put in a supermajority of Republicans. I wonder if you can offer any explanation of why, if you were working for the middle class, and unions, public perception of your efforts changed.
In MY state, my perception of the Democrats who are supported by the unions, is that they are always ready to plunder the public treasury in the interests of their members in the public sector without any regard to fiscal responsibility, that is, ability to pay wages and benefits without borrowing against future revenues which are unlikely to materialize.
In the private sector, something similar seemed to happen as well, that Democrats supported by unions made sure the unions got legislation that permitted them to extort wages from businesses whether it made the businesses they worked for competitive or not. It was (natural?) union greed that drove manufacturing jobs overseas and down south to right to work states.
Is that what you think happened in Indiana? Why the backlash?
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