For more than 140 years, Labor Day has been a time to honor the contributions, performance and sacrifices of employees in America. But this year, in the aftermath of the growing economic inequality and a government that is increasingly for billionaires and special interests, Labor Day must be more than a long holiday weekend. It must be the impetus of a combat cry for employees everywhere to rise, to realize their collective strength and to take back their power.
Hedge fund managers and technical Moguls have not built this country or the American middle class. They were technicians, engineers, installers, teachers, caregivers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, iron workers, painters, workers, operators, mechanics, drivers, farmer, clerks, grocers and so many others.
They went to work every day – often invisible and without fair wages, benefits or even basic dignity. They risked their job, their safety and sometimes their lives to secure better working conditions that we all enjoy today, such as an eight -hour working day, overtime and the right to organize.
A sign during a girl grinder for employee and immigrant rights in the Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
I spent my career enforcing labor legislation and fighting to protect the rights of employees. I have seen how powerful people can be when they come together. The bosses and billionaires also see it – and it frightens them. That is why they work hard in Washington to set up the system, to spend millions to weaken the protection of employees and make it more difficult for employees to practice their rights to trade unions, collectively negotiate and mobilize to improve their working conditions and enjoy their liberties, meeting, association and expression.
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Nowadays we live one of the biggest transfers of wealth in modern history. Working people and families juggle several jobs while companies champagne pop -winsts and billionaire pop champagne pop -up and buy second yachts. Recent estimates show that the Republican budget law will only deepen this inequality, by removing medicaid and paying help from millions of Americans to pay for tax cuts for the super rich they really do not need and have not earned. They benefit from the back of so many hard -working people.
This is not an accident. It is the direct result of a system where companies and their donors have a big voice and have a direct influence on our democracy – and politicians who shower them with meshes and special treatment. For example, the labor department of President Donald Trump recently announced that they reversed 60 workplace instructions, making employees a greater risk of being injured and making it easier for employers to get away with it.
Similarly, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) remains without a quorum, making it impossible to give statements or to make decisions that hold companies responsible for breaking the law. My fear is that if this continues, we will live in an environment that reflects what it was like before the National Labor Relations Act of 1935: lower wages, undersized working conditions and no real channels for employees to fight back.
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Billionaires and companies hope that employees will feel defeated. We cannot let that happen because the truth is – employees are not powerless. On the contrary, they have an enormous power.
Let us remember our history. From the Boston Tea Party to the right to vote of women to the civil rights movement to the strikes at the beginning of the 20th century, employees have always been a catalyst for change. Protests, boycots, pickets, strikes, sit-ins, non-cooperation this have never been signs of violence or dysfunction. They are expressions of democracy.
Our current moment in history is no different – and employees must realize that they have aids to reclaim this country and their power to demand changes in the way they governed and how they live their lives.
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Support for trade unions has risen to the highest point in generations, especially among young people. They organize themselves in coffee shops, warehouses, supermarkets, newspapers, universities, airlines, hospitals, technical campuses and many other locations because they realize that they realize that they are related to being together and negotiating collectively.
They rightly demand more than just surviving – they demand respect. They are strong in the light of campaigns for burning trade unions, retaliation attacks and illegal threats because they know what is not at stake only for themselves, but for their families and their communities. There is strength in numbers.
That is what gives me hope because collective power is stronger than individual power. We see a Groundswell of organizing in places once thought that it was impossible to organize, especially when people feel that their chosen representatives are not listening to them. This creates enormous opportunities for trade unions, proponents and allies to collect around employees, to listen to their challenges and build Grassroots -Momentum to help employees get a more level playing field and safer, fair and inclusive workplaces.
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In my experience, billionaires and companies do not offer employees a fair and fair workplace due to an act of goodwill. However, they will offer it when employees demand loud, brave and persistent and show their collective strength. This means that withholding work, entering into non-work, organizing SIT-ins and taking other forms of collective action. It is time for employees to use this power to protest about injustice and inequalities, to ensure that laws are fully maintained and to vote for chosen officials because they do not represent their interests.
Labor Day was born of strikes and marches of those who came for us. It exists because employees refused to use and be exploited. That legacy is now in hands – to honor, not only with a party, but with determination and action. Employees should never forget the power they have to fight together for the dignity, safety and respect they are entitled and thus earn richly.
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