Both Sides of the Fence
A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, raises kids, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and works too much. A Quaker and
The Aging Maven, she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!
Beaujolais for the bourgeoise? It's LABOR Day
By Christine McLaughlin
Monday, Sep 3 2007, 11:23 AM
If you Google Labor Day, you’ll find tags like “Some great value-priced wines from the south of France.” The article’s about celebration, and the writer seems oblivious to the headline irony. “Value priced” usually means someone’s working cheap somewhere. A good deal for the vintner, a good deal for those of us who stopped at Ray’s to stock up for a long weekend’s libations.
Not so good for the worker, though.
Okay: so beaujolais isn't from the south of France. It scans better, so sue me.
Labor Day, a holiday since the 1880s, was about getting fair wages and working conditions long before it was about summer’s last guzzle.
If you work a 5 day week, have vacation and sick time, and your working conditions are marginally safe and humane, you can thank trade unions for it.
Raise a glass of that cheap French wine, or a pricier Californian, to the men and women who died to improve working conditions.
Or raise a bottle or can, beer of your preference, to the generation that sent you or your parents to college on decent living wages unions helped them get.
Not many of us belong to unions these days. But that may change as “workers,” whatever color our collars, make less money with fewer benefits in a time of increasing costs – and increasing wealth for those at the very top of the heap.
There’s not much about Labor Day in the Journal Sentinel: a tribute to an African-American trade unionist, though that term is buried in the article; a guest editorial.
And a tiny blurb about Labor Fest.
Parade at 11, marching from Zeidler Park to the Summerfest Grounds, where the festival will go on from noon to 5.
Seems worth remembering that the productivity on which our economy depends is a product of not individual but collective labor. Besides, there’s a party to be had with folks who’ve earned it and who know how to play as well as to work!
