A Message from Business Manager Chris Erikson
Labor Day is coming up on September 4th, a paid holiday. Employers pay workers to be off. “Are you kidding me?! I have to pay them to stay home, not working, not producing?!” That was the pushback from employers before there were unions and a Labor Movement that demanded that the employers in this country recognize that we, the workers, produced their wealth. Ten or twelve-hour days, low wages, no benefits, no paid holidays, no retirement security, no pensions or medical coverage, child labor, no 40-hour weeks, no overtime, no safety, or any consideration for the concerns of those who actually made them rich. That’s what we were up against and still are today.
There are those who would love to roll back all of the gains that working men and women have been able to accomplish for one reason alone — they belong to a union. Many workers who don’t belong to a union still have some of those benefits because union workers fought for them as well. Rising tides raise all boats.
Workers today are still being exploited and denied union representation. Our adversaries are supporting politicians who could care less about workers, funding them to pass national “Right-to-Work” laws that kill unions and roll back hard-fought safety regulations that protect us, and on and on.
We are the working class in America, fighting to hold on to the middle-class lifestyle that we deserve. The middle class who creates the wealth in our country of which we enjoy a fair share, needs to be protected. You need to be in this fight. You need to stand up and be counted. To demonstrate our solidarity and our strength, there is no better way than to march in the Labor Day Parade on Saturday, September 9th with your union. Enjoy your Labor Day holiday on Monday, one more barbecue on a paid day off, and hopefully it’s not your last.
