Labor Day means more than just summer's end

By BILL RICHMOND

City editor

The true meaning of Labor Day - as a time to celebrate working men and women as an important part of America and what it stands for - sometimes gets lost in our picnics and barbecues and catching up on work around the house. But that's exactly why Labor Day was created, to give us pause to think about working people and why they are important.

Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement in the United States, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and wellbeing of our country. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882 in New York City. In 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.

"I like the idea of Labor Day as a day that belongs to us working people and is not just another holiday," said local union representative Fred Davis. "Working men and women ARE the United States of America. If it wasn't for the working people - all of them - we just wouldn't be here. It is an important holiday."

Davis said there is some disagreement about who exactly got the national holiday established, whether it was a carpenters' union or a machinists' union. Regardless, It was started by a labor union to get the country to shut down for a day to think about what is really important.

"Since that time it's become known more as the symbolic end of summer, the time when swimming pools shut down or the first day of school," he said. "It's kind of lost its history of what labor is all about and it's turned into something else."

Davis said he started working full time about 1958 or 1959 and was involved with the Steel Workers' Local at Muncie. He really got involved with the labor movement when after being hired by Union City Body Company in 1969. During 38 years of employment at UCBC, he was always an elected member of one union committee or another up to and including president.

He is currently an officer on the executive board at Workhorse Custom Chassis, county UAW-CAP chairman a former member of the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.

"In my time working and being involved in the labor movement I'm seeing less and less labor unions today than we've ever had before," he said. "I don't think that's necessarily because that's what the working class wants. That's what the corporations are demanding.

"We've had a lot of changes in the laws. The laws are becoming more slanted towards protecting the corporations than they are the working people. That's why I've always pushed for people to be involved in their government. Whether you're a Democrat, Republican, Independent or Libertarian- you should really be involved with the government. You need to understand what the government does for you and what it does to you."

He said it seems a lot of people who are in labor unions today join only because of the money. Some people appear to have forgotten or simply don't know the history of labor struggles in America. He said thousands of people were killed in the labor struggles during the 1930s and 40s to win workers' rights that are now sometimes taken for granted.

"I think a lot of people have lost track of how important labor is," he said. "We're seeing more and more jobs sent to other countries where they don't have the protections we do. One of the drawbacks of that is the things we see coming into this country from China, such as tainted food and toys with lead-based paint.

"Labor unions protect not only the working organized people, but also the unorganized people. Gains we make at the bargaining table eventually lead to gains for people who don't have bargaining rights and it's very important.

"I wish that more people would realize that Labor Day was founded for people who work for a living - the people who made this country and grew it into the great nation it is today. We're the ones that built the rockets that go to the moon and make the skyscrapers and interstate highways."