Happy Labor Day!

Hi, everybody!  Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day I think might get the most short shrift of any of the Federal holidays - with the possible exception of Columbus Day.  But honestly, it might be one of the most important.

Without organized labor we wouldn't have weekends, the forty-hour workweek, child labor laws, and dozens of other life-saving and life-improving workplace benefits.

It's pretty in vogue right now to run down unions, but the truth is that the decline in union membership over the last thirty years has a direct causal connection to stagnant wages and countless other labor relation issues.  Labor Day seems like a good day to remember the sacrifices of all the marchers, protestors, strikers, and negotiators who brought us out of the times when corporations could abuse and even kill their employees with total impunity.  But it's also a day to remember that we have a long way to go.  America is only as strong as its workforce.