Holiday reflects sacrifice, Labor Day not just work break.

For the first time in recent memory, the Columbia Tribune acknowledged Labor Day with an article.   Our thanks to Janese Silvey for writing an interesting and fair piece.   If you want to read the comments of Trib readers (or add your comment), use the link above.

The fact that current college students don't even know what Labor Day is or why they have the day off is depressing.  It also isn't very surprising.   When my son had American History a couple of years ago, I checked his textbook.  There were a couple of brief bits about labor unions, but nothing that would give students an understanding of the impact that working people have had on the history of our country.   What is the answer?  Many things, including providing future history teachers with a basic understanding of labor history.  There is one thing labor union members can do now - talk to our kids about the impact that our union has had on your family and on the history of our democracy.  Just do it!

By JANESE SILVEY

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Matt Evans hesitated.

“Something to do with war?” he guessed when a reporter asked him why he doesn’t have classes tomorrow.

The University of Missouri sophomore shouldn’t feel too bad, though; a dozen or so college students quizzed by the Tribune had no idea what Labor Day means.

And, actually, Evans wasn’t far off base: The fight for worker rights might not have happened on a battlefield but plenty died in the struggle for shorter work days and better working conditions.

“Forty hour work weeks, eight hour work days, weekends — all of the things we take for granted, people don’t realize the struggles that our forefathers had to go through to give us the rights we have now,” said Rus Unger, president of the Mid-Mo Labor Club and a member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 36. “We take it all for granted now and don’t realize that people had to fight for that. Many died for what we’ve got now.”

A quick history: The first Labor Day celebration in the United States was held in New York in 1882 as a parade to recognize the working class. Congress designated Labor Day an official U.S. holiday in 1894. Most industrialized countries celebrate it in May, but Americans opted for a later date to avoid confusion with a similar socialist holiday.

Designating Labor Day at the end of summer, though, likely has contributed to its lost meaning. For most, the three-day weekend is a chance to bid summer farewell by barbecuing and tucking away white shoes. For instance, Burtaina Marcelin, a junior at MU, plans to spend the day at the pool before temperatures start to drop. Jessica Coad, a freshman, will barbecue with relatives on the holiday that means, to her, “a day I don’t have classes.”

Those still fighting for the rights of workers will have other things on their minds as they remember Labor Day’s roots tomorrow.
Unger is worried about jobs being shipped overseas and the 9.6 percent of Americans who are unemployed.

“In a global economy, they don’t need you and me,” he said. “In a global economy, corporations don’t need us, they don’t need workers. Of course the downfall is the economy suffers, local communities suffer and people don’t make as much.”

Sam White, a labor education specialist at MU Extension, fears the country is taking steps backwards when it comes to labor rights. Today, he said, many employees are working more hours than in recent years and are working harder as they pick up the slack left by layoffs during the recession. Pensions are under siege, he said, and work life has become as stressful as ever.

“With all of the changes in work organizations, workers are much more productive today in this country than they’ve ever been,” he said. “They’re working more hours because companies aren’t hiring more workers.”

Unger doesn’t expect those with tomorrow off work to not enjoy themselves, he just wants people to stop a minute and consider the meaning.

“Remember why you got the day off,” he said. “Remember there were people who fought for your rights years ago who fought for rights we have today, and one of those rights is to have a day off.”

Reach Janese Silvey at 573-815-1705 or e-mail jsilvey@columbiatribune.com.