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Formore than 140 years,LaborDayhas been a time to honor the contributions, achievements and sacrifices ofworkers in America. But this year, in the wake of growingeconomic inequalityand agovernment increasingly catering to billionaires and special interests,LaborDayneeds to be more than a long holiday weekend. It must be the impetus of a battle cryforworkers everywhere to rise up, realize their collective strength and take theirpowerback.
Hedge fund managers and tech moguls did not build this country or the American middle class. It was technicians, engineers, installers, teachers, caregivers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, ironworkers, painters,laborers, operators, mechanics, drivers, farmworkers, clerks, grocers and so many others.
They went to work eachday– often invisible and without fair pay, benefits, or even basic dignity. They risked their jobs, their safety and sometimes their lives to secure better working conditions we all enjoy today, like an eight-hour workday, overtime pay and the right to organize.
A sign at a May Day rally for worker and immigrant rights at the Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
I’ve spent my career enforcinglaborlaw and fighting to protectworkers’ rights. I’ve seen howpowerful working people can be when they come together. The bosses and billionaires see it, too – and it terrifies them. That’s why they’re working hard in Washington to rig the system, spending millions to weakenworkerprotections and make it harderforworkers to exercise their rights to unionize, collectively bargain and mobilize to improve their working conditions, and to enjoy their freedoms of speech, assembly, association and expression.
ARE YOU BETTER OFF SINCE DONALD TRUMP TOOK OFFICE?
Today, we’re living through one of the largest transfers of wealth in modern history. Working people and families juggle multiple jobs while corporations pop champagne over record profits and billionaires buy second yachts.Recent estimatesshow the Republican budget bill will only deepen this disparity, by taking away Medicaid and SNAP assistance from millions of Americans to payfortax cutsforthe super wealthy that they really don’t need and didn’t earn. They’re profiting off the backs of so many hard-working people.
This is not an accident. It’s the direct result of a system where corporations and their donors have anoutsized voice and direct influence on our democracy– and politicians showering them with loopholes and special treatment.Forexample, President Donald Trump’sLaborDepartmentrecently announcedthey were rolling back 60 workplace regulations, puttingworkers at greater risk of being hurt while making it easierforemployers to get away with it.
Similarly, the NationalLaborRelations Board (NLRB)remains without a quorum, rendering it impossible to issue rulings or make decisions that hold corporations accountableforbreaking the law. My fear is that, if this continues, we’ll find ourselves living in an environment reflective of what it was like before 1935’s NationalLaborRelations Act: lower wages, substandard working conditions and no real channelsforworkers to fight back.
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Billionaires and corporations hope this will makeworkers feel defeated. We can’t let that happen because the truth is –workers aren’tpowerless. To the contrary, they have tremendouspower.
Let’s remember our history. From the Boston Tea Party to women’s suffrage to the Civil Rights Movement to the strikes at the turn of the 20th century,workers have always been a catalystforchange. Protests, boycotts, picketing, strikes, sit-ins, non-cooperation – these have never been signs of violence or dysfunction. They’re expressions of democracy.
Our present moment in history is no different – andworkers must realize they have tools to begin reclaiming this country and theirpowerto demand changes to the way they’re governed and how they live their lives.
WE HAVE A GOVERNMENT OF BILLIONAIRES, BY BILLIONAIRES AND FOR BILLIONAIRES
Supportforunionshas skyrocketed to its highest point in generations, especiallyamong young people. They’re organizing at coffee shops, warehouses, grocery stores, newspapers, universities, airlines, hospitals, tech campuses and many other locations because they realize thepowerthey hold through standing together and bargaining collectively.
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They’re rightfully demanding more than just survival – they’re demanding respect. They’re standing strong in the face of union-busting campaigns, retaliatory firings and illegal threats because they know what’s at stake – not justforthemselves, butfortheir families and their communities. There’s strength in numbers.
That’s what gives me hope because collectivepoweris stronger than individualpower. We’re seeing a groundswell of organizing in places once thought impossible to organize, especially when people feel their elected representatives aren’t listening to them. This creates enormous opportunitiesforunions, advocates and allies to rally aroundworkers, listen to their challenges, and build grassroots momentum to helpworkers obtain a more level playing field and safer, more just and inclusive workplaces.
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In my experience, billionaires and corporations don’t provideworkers with a fair and equitable workplace through an act of goodwill. They will provide it, however, whenworkers demand it loudly, boldly, and persistently and show their collectivepower. This means withholdinglabor, engaging in non-cooperation, organizing sit-ins and taking otherforms of collective action. It’s timeforworkers to use thispowerto protest about injustices and inequities, to make sure laws are fully enforced, and to vote out elected officialsfornot representing their interests.
LaborDaywas born out of strikes and marches from those who came before us. It exists becauseworkers refused to be taken advantage of and exploited. That legacy is now in our hands – to honor, not just with celebration, but with resolve and action.Workers must neverforget thepowerthey have to fight togetherforthe dignity, security and respect they’re entitled to and so richly deserve.
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Jennifer Abruzzo is a former general counsel at the National Labor Relations Board.
