Monday marks the 131st anniversary of the Labor Day holiday. Unions started the holiday to celebrate the American worker in 1882. Soon, states and towns began passing local ordinances to officially honor working men and women. Finally, in 1894, following the killing of 13 strikers in the Pullman Strike, Congress passed legislation that created Labor Day as a national holiday.
As we fire up our grills and usher out another summer, we should take a moment to reflect on what unions have meant to working men and women across the country. This Labor Day, the labor movement is once again committing itself to working families by letting them know: “You’ve earned it”.
As we celebrate and stand together and say “You’ve Earned It” with communities across the country, we recognize the challenges ahead. America’s middle class is still suffering. Living wages are not equal to increased cost of living, and many Americans are still unemployed or under-employed.
Working Americans did not create this economic mess, but they are paying for it through high unemployment, layoffs, loss of pensions, home foreclosures and the threat of social-service safety nets being cut.
The labor movement helped establish and maintain America’s middle class. With the congressional recess coming to a close, members of Congress will once again convene in the nation’s capital. We hope our elected leaders put the American people first, instead of politics, and get people back to work.
We need policies, legislation and ideas that invest in training and retaining our work force. Working people built this country and together, as a labor movement, we will not be denied.
The labor movement in Georgia is doing its part by supporting training programs through our Joint Building Trades Council. The apprenticeship program trains men and women for a career in the growing construction industry.
The Helmet to Hardhats program connects veterans with quality career training and employment opportunities within the building and construction industry, and many of the men and women who have served in our military are now on ascending career paths.
We even support pre-apprenticeship programs like Georgia Trade-Up, an eight-week training and testing prep program that readies participants for jobs and successful careers in construction and green economies.
So, on this Labor Day, take a minute to recognize the women and men who do the work that keeps America strong. That’s pretty much all of us, whether we’re employed or looking for work.
No matter what we do, our work makes the work of others possible. Teachers depend on electricians. Who count on steelworkers. Who need nurses and engineers. Who rely on researchers and bus drivers and flight attendants. Who depend on taxi drivers and child care workers. Who need autoworkers and traffic cops and firefighters. And on it goes.
This Labor Day, let’s honor all hardworking Americans and continue to fight for them not just on this day, but every day.
