Hard Times For Labor

Sometimes I wonder if anyone really understands the meaning of Labor Day anymore. All it appears to be these days is a day on which have one last summer fling before the kids go back to school. But in this severe recession, where two million jobs have been lost and more people are extremely nervous about the future than at any time in recent memory (I remember the 1990-91 recession, and it wasn't nearly this bad), it's worth pausing to think of everything the labor movement has given us - the five-day work week, paid vacation time, health benefits . . . even if labor has been diminished in recent decades.

Tax cuts for the wealthy and investment in luxuries instead of factories (what Ronald Reagan's supply-side tax code was supposed to encourage - yeah, right) have put a great deal of wealth in fewer and fewer hands, with the workers carrying the burden of paying for the upkeep of government. Meanwhile, CEOs usually make 866 times the salaries of workers, only seven percent of whom belong to unions and are one pink slip away from unemployment.

We may have turned a corner with President Obama's election, but the way out of this mess is going to be difficult. Now, more than ever, workers need to hold on and hang in there.