What Labor Day means to me.

There is a lot of hard feelings towards Labor Unions today, as everyone views them as related to themselves or how they have been told and programed to view them.  I realize that and so I am not trying to change anyone else's opinions but rather just state my own opinion.

First thing that I believe is that the Middle class status that covers most Americans today is a result of Labor Unions and not anything that the government has done.  In the early 1900's America was basically a two class society.   Even a Civil War that freed slaves, did not change that.  The rich who only viewed the bottom line and not the people who worked for them, and the people who labored under bad conditions.  It was when workers banded together to end the abusive conditions that they were being forced to endure, that caused the Middle Class.

Since that time, I believe that most of us have benefited from that movement and it makes no difference if you have ever been a Union member or not.  It has resulted in better pay and benefits for Union workers as well as non union workers as competition in the market place has force companies to offer better benefits in order to keep good employees.  You only have to look at the difference between jobs here and the conditions that workers in India, China, Mexico and other such places endure to see how much better off we are here.

Even though one can point out some bad things that have come about as Unions have themselves become big business,  I believe that we are still better off with them than without them and that some things that are promoted are really false misconceptions (After all being Union does not mean being government ;-) ).  First thing, Union Members work just as hard as non-union members.  UPS demonstrates that as the company is made up of Teamsters, but is still regarded as hard working people.  Even before I became a Teamster,(when seeking to get someone that I did not know to do a job) I preferred to hire Union Electricians,  Plumbers, etc because experience had taught me that the job had a better chance of being done right with them than though a non-union worker.  Being part of an Union today usually means that you will not need to enlist in either SNAP or have a Lone Star Card to provide for your family.  It means better health care and retirement benefits.


The observance of Labor Day really shows how the best changes within our country have come from the bottom up.  That is from the common people to those in power and not from government down to us.  We are better when we do not seek to depend on government to solve our problems, but seek to help each other.  It also shows me that we have never really been a country that promoted love (even though some loudly proclaim that we are and have been a Christian nation), because if we really loved each other we would not have experienced the Civil War or the bad working conditions that caused Labor Unions to come into existence.

To me all of this shows the need for us to love each other.  For if we ever truly love each other, we would witness almost all of our country's problems and crise solving themselves.