Let's not forget Labor Day's spirited beginnings as we face pressures from new economy

[mia]

...Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, was present to help baptize labor’s holiday. He reminded all that “wealth is a public trust, and the right to have something to say about wages and hours of labor pertains to the workers from whom the wealth comes.” He expressed impatience with the impersonal, quantitative, and abstract discussions of political economists which dealt “only with weights and measures, with bushes and yard sticks,” and which treated labor like any other commodity in the market place. When studying men, he declared, “the souls and minds and hearts are the important factors.” It was a loud call for recognition of the “human” dimension of economic relationships and economic activity....


Yes, this is a world of new realities spawned by science and technology. Today, workers face a world a world highlighted by global markets, global competition and global hiring halls. It is one of liberalized trade policies, a renaissance of laissez-faire ideology, employer demands for flexibility in business operations which often translates into union concessions and give-backs, the decline of smokestack industries and the emergence of the new economy, pronounced demographic changes, rise of “contingent” workers, a declining middle class, and growing disparities in societal income and wealth. It is a world in which skill no longer lasts a lifetime, one in which no matter what one knows or does it is much easier to feel obsolete and insecure and entertain thoughts of who or what is next to fall. (e.g., in 2012, 50,000 manufacturing sites in the nation closed their doors and six million Americans lost their means of livelihood.) It is a world in which the spectrum of white-collar workers is increasingly experiencing a phenomenon previously reserved for blue collar workers, i.e., economic insecurity.


Labor Day, however, remains a tribute to the dignity and value of labor and the vital role of workers in the creation of wealth and the myriad public and private services they provide. It is a reminder that even in the “new economy” workers are more than units of energy or simply matter in motion, and more than impersonal costs, fodder, or disposable commodities in the production of goods and the delivery of services whose “value” is determined solely by supply and demand curves and the profit motive.


In this world of tumultuous change, today’s celebrants of Labor Day will be reminded of the “spiritual” heritage of the day and implored to prevent it from being assigned to the dusty pages of history.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/columns-analysis/2013/09/01/lets-not-forget-labor-days-spirited-beginnings-we/1415896

[mia]

1. Labor Day Parade (1904?) filmed by Thomas A. Edison

Shows a parade through bunting-draped streets, probably in the town of Leominster, Mass. First, a decorated grandstand bearing the banner "Leominster heartily greets its guests" is seen, and then the camera pans to the street where the parade is to be photographed. The sidewalks are crowded with people, including many little girls in white or light-colored dresses. People run back and forth across the street, and then the parade starts. Automobiles decorated with flowers, flags, and ribbons pass in review. Next come horse-drawn fire engines, followed by horse-drawn carts, carriages, and floats of assorted shapes and sizes.