Labor Day

Today, September 7th, is the American holiday of Labor Day, meant to honor the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the United States. Most of the rest of the world has its equivalent of Labor Day as well, and most countries observe it on May 1st, which is known as International Workers Day.

It seems to me that Labor Day in its traditional sense of honoring the American labor movement and the contributions of workers is pretty much a sham nowadays. Conservative legislators and governors have gone out of their way to gut the ability of unions to represent workers, and big business puts profit over the interests of its workers by shipping jobs to other countries where labor costs are lower and they aren't bothered by pesky nuisances like workplace safety rules, taxes, and other job-killing^TM measures. Working men and women are viewed not as valued members of the business team to be trained and nurtured but as an expense to be minimized.

And so, for this holiday honoring what's left of the American labor movement, and the underappreciated American worker, this cartoon from last weekend's Cartoon Saturday collection applies in spades ...

Have a good day, and enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend ... assuming you have a job and were fortunate enough to get the day off.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo