“These kids don't have a little brother working in the coal mine, they don't have a little sister coughing her lungs out in the looms of the big mill towns of the Northeast. Why? Because we organized; we broke the back of the sweatshops in this country; we have child labor laws. Those were not benevolent gifts from enlightened management. They were fought for, they were bled for, they were died for by working people, by people like us. Kids ought to know that.”
― Utah Phillips
This was a standard blog entry which I would publish every year on Labor Day.
However, this particular Labor Day feels different. This is the era of the second Trump administration, which has virtually no guard rails in place to limit his power and influence. Increasingly, it feels that he is acting in a dictatorial manner.
Trump is and always has been a wealthy elitist. He was born into incredible privilege. This is a fact, although it sure appears that tens of millions of his cult followers have conveniently forgotten that fact. Perhaps this is because nobody whines and complains about how poorly he is treated as he does. or perhaps it is because they bought into the mythology that he in large part constructed. This mythology has it that he grew up under far more modest means than he actually did, in order to perpetuate the myth - far too easily believed by his throngs of supporters - that he is a "self made man." That in fact, he is a genius who built this amazing business empire all by his lonesome, with minimal help.
This simple and, frankly, obvious truth seems to be lost on far too many people, however. Tens of millions of Americans believe the mythology that this con artis built around himself. They believe that this guy actually can identify with them and their struggles, even though he never had to really work hard for a living or wonder where his next meal was going to come from. He never struggled with bills in a survival sense, never had to worry about job security or juggling all of the things that most ordinary people have to struggle with.
Far from being a champion of the people, this man is an obvious elitist. In keeping with that, he hates unions and tries to attack all that they stand for. That includes decent pay and working conditions, benefits, including time off.
Don't believe me?
Here's a quote by Donald Trump from one of his Truth Social posts, in which he suggests that Americans have too much time off:
“Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Juneteenth, a newly designated federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged during a Thursday briefing with reporters that it was a federal holiday and thanked reporters for showing up, but declined to answer whether Trump was doing anything to mark it.
“The workers don’t want it either!” Trump said of federal holidays in his post. “Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Profits first, people second....maybe. A distant second, to be sure.
Once again, we are finding out the hard way that those hard-won gains by unions a century ago are not automatic, that those victories were not permanent. In short, we are learning that we collectively need to keep fighting in order to maintain these things which, of course, gave us the highest standard of living of any nation that the world had ever seen up to that point. Now, as we are gradually stripping away many of the things which unions won for us, we are finding that other countries have caught us and even passed us. Our standard of living, and our collective standing in the world, continues to suffer as a result.
Unions have been under attack in this country ever since the Reagan administration and the Air Traffic Controllers strike early in his administration. They have been demonized, likened to gangsters. Everything that they stood for came to be redefined as privileges. It took some time, but eventually Americans normalized this, much like they normalized Trump over time. They began to vote and act against their own interests. That is a trend which has only gained steam over time ever since.
So here's a reminder on this Labor Day of what this day actually represents. It is the workers who build the wealth of this country, not the CEO's and stockholders and all of those elites. That has always been the case. And the paradox of the argument when conservatives talk about returning this nation to the golden age is this: what most people consider the true "golden age of America" in terms of overall wealth and living standards and general standing in the world, when in fact the United States seemed to be the envy of the world, was largely a time when the middle class had been born due to FDR's "New Deal" policies. Unions fought for improvements and got them, especially under FDR. They won things which were still quite new to the world at the time. Things like a 40-hour workweek, weekends off, improved working conditions, overtime, vacation days, affordable healthcare, and on and on.
This is not some minor point. Indeed, it is the reason that we have a holiday called "Labor Day." This was supposed to remind us of these things. But we seem to have collectively forgotten that.
Apparently, we need a reminder. In fact, we need a reminder for a lot of things in this country, including history. Too many people really have either forgotten or perhaps never learned the warning signs of fascism and dictatorship. Much of what we are seeing are things that are eerily similar to dark chapters in history. Yet many Americans are applauding these new political trends.
Suddenly, it seems a whole lot easier to understand how countries which turned to fascism allowed themselves to slip into such oppressive systems. That appears to be where we are headed, too.
All of that is why it feels more urgent than ever before to remind people of the reason for this particular holiday. Yes, it marks the unofficial end of the summer season. Yet, it also is supposed to recognize what made this country, once upon a time, indeed a special case in history. For there was a time when Americans - whatever their political divisions - felt good overall about the nation's standing in the world, knowing that the rest of the world largely envied the high standard of living that Americans achieved here.
This is the time to remember it. Because maybe we cannot turn back the clock to those days, many decades ago now, when we enjoyed the highest standard of living of any nation on Earth. But we can do better than what we are doing now.
Frankly, we can hardly do much worse. Trump represents the decay and decline of the United States. He always has and always will. We still have a chance to take back power and undo much of the damage which he and his MAGA movement are responsible for. But I suspect that it has to begin with actually remembering certain aspects of our history that indeed allowed us to achieve great things, and not sheer empty bluster.
Below is my usual blog entry for Labor Day. Thank you for reading this, and enjoy.
Oh, and Happy Labor Day weekend!
Okay, yes, summer is basically over now. I know officially, it is not over, and there still remains a good couple of weeks or so before it officially becomes autumn. But for all intents and purposes, Labor Day marks the de facto end of summer. Vacation season is over, school is about to begin again, the days are growing shorter, and the weather is getting cooler (at least in the northern hemisphere, it is).
There is one thing that I wanted to acknowledge about this particular holiday weekend, however, and that is that Labor Day should be honored and remembered, every bit as much as the various holidays honoring military veterans. We see reminders for the sacrifices of members of the military, particularly for those who fought in wars, and that is fine.
But unions have been demonized for entirely too long in the United States. Republicans, including current presidential hopeful Scott Walker, among others, are well known for their opposition to unions, and their union busting methods. Many Americans dismiss unions as virtual criminal organizations, and blast them on charges of corruption (although funnily enough, they do not seem to be nearly as bothered when politicians that they themselves support show evidence of being guilty of corruption). Walmart has closed stores almost as soon as employees at certain Walmart locations managed to achieve unions, and if that is not a prime example of corporate intimidation, then I do not know what is.
Let us remember our history, and let us open our eyes to certain realities that still exist in the world today. Not long ago in many now advanced, industrialized nations that enjoy a high standard of living today, there were no labor laws. Work days were much, much longer, anywhere from 10 hours a day to 12 hours a day. Pay was low, benefits nonexistent, and there were no weekends. No safety regulations, either. No health benefits, and no laws preventing children from working.
Look at us now. Whatever the problems that each industrialized nation is now facing, children receive an education, first and foremost. Most of these countries have some sort of minimum wage (although the minimum wage in the United States is widely discredited as not qualifying as a living wage), and all have laws preventing child labor. Each country has laws to provide certain benefits to citizens, including social security and pensions and medical benefits and vacation time. The United States has a 40-hour work week, as do many other countries, and some have even shorter weeks. Also, most people have weekends off.
That, I believe, strongly qualifies as progress. That does not mean that we should be lulled to sleep, and to take things for granted. As Jefferson said, each generation needs to stir things up, in order to keep things fresh, and keep on their toes to fight the inevitable encroachments of these freedoms and liberties that powers that be will inevitably attack and go after.
Still, that said, I think we should take time to think about all that we have gained, and to be thankful for it. To recognize it for what it is: a victory. We do not live in the same, extremely difficult circumstances and poor working conditions as our ancestors did generations ago. That, in large part, is because of unions that worked tirelessly against very powerful and greedy forces working to undermine them every step of the way. This was a fight that did not come easily, or without sacrifice, but it was a necessary fight. We are enjoying the fruits of that victory today, although it is constantly under attack, especially in the United States.
Let us recognize the necessity of unions today, and recognize the bona fide successes that unions managed to give us. It is the reason that we were able to enjoy a three day weekend, and the reason that we are able to enjoy as much free time on the weekends in general as we do. We may take that for granted these days, but we do not have to look back too far on the past to see that this was not always the case. Nor do we have to travel very far in this ever shrinking world to see that these same rights and benefits do not extend to everyone. There are plenty of third world countries out there where exploitation and child labor and working for virtual slave wages with absolutely no benefits are the norm, and we would do well to keep that in mind, as an example of the alternative that awaits us, if we take these hard won gains for granted.
So today, the day after Labor Day, I take a moment to recognize the real meaning behind Labor Day, and why we should celebrate this holiday beyond the back yard barbecues and shopping sales. It means something much, much more than all of that, and we should take a moment to reflect and remember that.
Trump says America has ‘too many’ national holidays and they’re hurting the economy. Is he right? by Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN 3 min read Updated 1:09 PM EDT, Fri June 20, 2025
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/20/economy/trump-too-many-holidays-economy
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