Labor Day 2022

Often serving as a marker to signal the end of summertime, the last holiday before kids return back to school (some already have), or just another three-day weekend when barbecues are had, vacations are took, and parks are packed, Labor Day, which was unofficially established 140 years ago in New York City and officially twelve years later, when Congress passed legislation, has become a staple in American life and culture. However, millions of Americans celebrate this day without fully understanding the significant contributions that the Labor Movement has provided throughout American history and in the workplace. While it is necessary to reflect where we came from, in order not to return to preceding negative working conditions, such as child labor, long work hours, little to no days off, poor safety conditions, blatant racism, gender inequality, and poor pay, to name a few, it is equally necessary to discuss current conditions and where we are going from here.

The U.S. Department of Labor (Web site) tells us that, “Labor Day celebrates the social and economic achievements of the American worker” (n.d.). There are a few aspects, regarding this statement, which needs addressing: 

1. Labor Day does not ‘celebrate’ achievements perceived, because we know that we have not achieved much when conditions have worsened over the years, through anti-Labor presidential administrations, although some were not publicly anti-Labor, their administrations were so pro-corporate, they might as well have been. Instead, Labor Day is a day of reflection, reliving our victories as promises of a better future. Labor Day is a time for mourning and lamenting our brothers and sisters who we lost in this struggle. Labor Day is a time for us to regroup, strategize, and act. There is no time for respite, for celebration, or recognition. Our opposers, and we have many, are plotting even now, while workers are ‘celebrating’ the empty victory of a three-day weekend. 
2. Our social and economic state in America today, is nothing to celebrate. Specifically, inflation is high, wages are down, the middle-class has shifted downward toward working poor status, and workers are fighting to join Unions—yet corporations are employing stall tactics and not recognizing Unions or negotiations, or they are closing their own businesses, in certain areas, in order to defeat the Union and workers’ rights.
3. Let’s be very clear. Labor Day is not about the average American worker, this is the ploy of corporate America, to divide and conquer. They tell all workers, “We gave you this day, to recognize your great achievements . . .” No sir, no ma’am, we took this day, Labor was never given anything; everything we have we took by force! We earned it, it’s ours to have, to hold, to keep, not theirs to give and distribute freely like the socialists they claim to hate. Labor Day is about the Labor Movement, it’s struggles—from the past, present, and future. Don’t let them make this a historical holiday when it was always intended as a militant movement reminding us of our fights behind and ahead.

Right now, in our current state, we have ourselves, TSA workers embattled in a 20-year fight for rights we deserve and need: Title 5 and a fair and equitable pay system. Yes, we are moving forward through unity and commitment, but it has taken 20-years, not because government, corporations, and mainstream media are favorable to Unions, not because they truly believe in the values that established Labor Day, and not because what we do does not deserve the attention and promise reciprocated back to us, but it’s because they couldn’t care less. The powers that be adhere only to those who hold more power and influence than them. Their ultimate success is unlimited amounts of money. And money buys power. We, to them, are not valued, appreciated, or worthy of what we are asking for—it’s why we don’t have what we should, yet—instead, to them, we are expendable. To them, we are replaceable. 

When we decide to organize and agitate, we are considered a nuisance and ungrateful. But Labor holds the true power. We must not only believe, but we must also understand. If all workers in America decided to withhold its labor, this economy would crumble. The haves would become the have-nots. But they play us against each other. Yes, racism in America (and around the world) is a huge problem, it needs addressing, fixing, and eradication, but those in power pit middle-class against each other, against working poor, and against the poor and destitute, to say ‘these people are coming to this country to take your job, so hate them,’ despite the fact that it is these same corporations which are employing these people they are telling others to hate. The Labor Movement has always been about one thing: Labor. And labor is the most powerful tool we must withhold, as a society, yet it is the one weapon we use least often, because they have convinced us that we need them more than they need us. That is the ultimate lie that corporate America has told us, and we believed it. To those on top, this was never about race, nationalism, or borders, this was always about class warfare and the almighty dollar. 

During the pandemic, American workers who were working were hailed as “first responders” and “heroes,” because they worked to make the corporations richer than their pre-pandemic riches, yet when those same folks tried to Unionize or ask for slightly more wages in the aftermath of corporate record profits, they were replaceable and no longer the heroes they were heralded to be months earlier. This is not a rant; it’s a wakeup call. This is not a call to review the past; it’s a call to restructure our future. This is not about riling people up for the sake of creating a rally cry; it’s about providing a reality check so that the sleeping giant that we are, could be awakened. We will leave you with this favorite quote of ours, attributed to the Greek poet Dino Christianopoulos, who wrote, “They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.” It’s time to regrow this Movement that we started; to make it stronger than it’s ever been, to take it farther than it’s ever gone, and to emerge from the ashes they tried to bury us in and rise higher than the highest tower they could never build without our Labor.

In Solidarity,

AFGE Council 100