Published 31 Aug, 2012
Today, that celebration of appreciation will continue as thousands across this country gather to celebrate Labor Day.
However, this celebration has come at a turning point as we face one of the most important elections American workers will face.
In the past few years, union members have witnessed one of the largest scaled attacks on their fundamental rights to collectively bargain and organize in states, such as Wisconsin and Ohio. Day after day, we continue to see our elected officials disseminate incorrect information about the impact unions have and have had on our country. Representing corporate agendas to eliminate workers’ rights and eradicate the middle class, these attacks stem from those who have not represented our voices or concerns, in an effort to gain more power and profit at our expense. Corporations are not people.
As we saw in Philadelphia, as 30,000 union members gathered on Aug. 11 at the Workers Stand for America Rally, we will not take it anymore. Union members are the middle class. We made America. We fought and those before us have died for the rights we have to be treated fairly, to collectively bargain, to have an education, to a pension and to have a voice at work and at the ballot box.
This Labor Day, as you celebrate the hard work you and others have put in everyday, remind yourself that on Nov. 6 those rights, along with those that have already been tampered with, are at stake. And those elected will either defend us or fight against us.
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