Labor Day, 2017

It is okay to celebrate, to picnic, to spend the day with family and friends. Light up the grill, have a burger, toast the end to summer with your favorite beverage. But let's keep in mind the real reason of the day: WORKERS, which have made this country as strong and as great as it is.

Union bashing seems to be the latest trend. Workers are being vilified as lazy and greedy, while BIG tax dollars are being funneled to large, sometimes foreign corporations, with the "hope" that jobs will be produced. There is a focus on legislative changes to lower EPA regulation on pollution standards to increase profit for business. There are people with their hands out, alright, but it is not those who need a handout.

There are numerous new laws currently being implemented, attempting to stop the formation of a collected group of worker's voices. People, especially the uninformed, are buying into the rhetoric and hate. I challenge the followers of these politicians to read about the real reason unions were initially formed. Read about: the lack of safety, the abominable working conditions, the lives lost unnecessarily, the lack of compassion in hours worked vs. compensation, the discrepancy between CEO's income to their workforce, the corporations who let people go right before retirement to increase the companies bottom line, all these injustices that collective union voices fought to remedy.

We also have a new hatred that is being directed at immigrants, at specific races, and the lower socio-economic population.  This is not part of a movement I want to see in my country. Now, more than ever, we need to stay informed and speak against the hate.  Did we not learn anything from the past?