So here we are. It is Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer and the weekend we are supposed to celebrate the accomplishments of organized labor and workers nationwide. Unfortunately organized labor is only a pale shadow of its former self and American workers, outside of the fast food and retail industries, are becoming an endangered species.
That doesn't mean organized labor hasn't accomplished anything over the past 150 years, or so. In fact the eight hour day, overtime pay, sick leave, paid vacations and holidays, not to mention restrictions on child labor are just a few of the accomplishments achieved by unions. Unfortunately, since this is America, to reach most of those goals blood had to be shed on far too many occasions.
Even the date of Labor Day was contentious thanks to violence. Oregon was the first state to recognize a day of celebration in 1887. By 1894, 30 states were also doing so. That same year President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making the first Monday in September a federal holiday, although the act only covered federal employees.
The September date was chosen because May 1st, which had come to be known as International Workers Day had links to socialist and anarchist organizations, not to mention a nation wide strike for an eight hour work day in 1886. In addition, on May 4th of that year there was a deadly riot in Chicago's Haymarket Square over the same issue.
Given all that May Day stuff, President Cleveland, the head of a decidedly conservative democratic party, wanted no part of a holiday which could even remotely be connected to a bunch of international socialists/communists/anarchists. After all, he was the guy who authorized the return of all captured Confederate battle flags back to the southern states.
Originally Labor Day featured union members holding parades in cities and towns followed by huge picnics the organizers used as fund raisers. They needed the money too.
It wasn't until 1938 Franklin Roosevelt signed into effect a federal minimum wage. It was 25 cents an hour. Actually it was originally 40 cents an hour, but congressional delegates from those same former Confederate states had thrown a fit, threatening to kill the bill entirely because of the exorbitant amount of wages their business owner constituents would have to fork over.
By 2009 the federal minimum had crept up to $7.25 an hour. 11 years later it still sits at that same figure. 28 states, however, have a minimum wage higher than the federal standard. Puerto Rico's minimum wage is $6.55 per hour.
Any mention of raising the minimum wage causes conservatives, no matter what they're financial status to whirl like dervishes and howl like gut shot wolves. Say the word union and they will go apoplectic. It is a truly ugly sight--veins bulge at the temples, faces flush ruby red, fists clinch, and eyes seem ready to explode out of skulls.
In my home state of Oklahoma the minimum wage mirrors the federal rate. That means if you work a 40 hour work week at $7.25 an hour in Oklahoma City it comes out to $290 per week. Then you have to deduct taxes and if you are lucky enough, there is another deduction for medical insurance. Try living on that, even without kids, in 21st century America.
No wonder there aren't any parades and picnics on Labor Day any more. There is nothing to celebrate and huge numbers of us can't afford to eat out, no matter what the venue.
sic vita est
9-7-20
Unionism began its slow but steady decline about the time I began my professional working career in late 1971. Good times for too long, added to the fact that the U.S. has turned steadily towards conservatism since that time has brought us to where we are today. It's about time for another correction, this time leftward towards the middle. Given the state of the nation and it's nervous, angry mindset, I am sure even more blood will be shed over issues in which blood has already been shed. History sadly repeats.
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