Labor Day

With the arrival of Labor Day, I can’t help but think of the song, “Sixteen Tons”.  When I hear this song, the words, “another day older and deeper in debt,” I imagine I can feel a little of the oppressive burden of a laborer mining coal.

The song is attributed to Merle Travis and the line “another day older and deeper in debt,” came from a letter written by Merle Travis’ brother.  This phrase and the line, “I gave my soul to the company store,” are references to the truck system and debt bondage.  Under the truck system and debt bondage, workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with non-transferrable credit vouchers that could only be used at the company store. Hence, it was impossible to save any money.  Workers who lived in company owned dormitories or houses had their rent automatically deducted from their pay.  This truck system and debt bondage lasted until a union was able to be formed—the United Mine Workers, and was able to end such practices.  Unions were forming around the turn of the twentieth century. Here are seven achievement the union won.

1.        Wage had to be paid that were commensurate with work and dangerous work, more.

2.       Payment had to be legal tender and not company scrip.

3.       Mines had to have good ventilation to decrease black lung disease. (Note, not end black lung, but decrease.)

4.       Enforce safety laws.

5.       Labor limited to eight hours.

6.       End child labor.

7.       Use accurate scales to weigh the coal so workers could be  paid fairly.

It wasn’t until 1933 that workers achieved “collective bargaining rights” – meaning laborers could sit down at the table with management and discuss conditions to benefit both parties.

Not until 1946 could miners get health and retirement benefits.

And in 1969, The United Mine Workers of America convinced Congress to force owners to provide compensation to miners suffering from Black Lung Disease.

Now, you see why we have a holiday celebrating “Labor.” People have worked hard throughout our history. Their contributions have made America strong and prosperous.  Certainly laborers have earned a three day holiday weekend.  And much more.

Labor Day statement ties lack of good jobs to decline in family life

St. Botolph

Labor Day statement ties lack of good jobs to decline in family life: WASHINGTON (CNS) Is it me?  Isn't this a no brainer?

Labor Day

                                                             How I spent Labor Day

Labor Day this year, fell on September 5, 2011.  This year it has meant many things, to me.  First of all, as a Union Member, I give thanks that my union speaks for me.  I would have no chance sitting across the table, from management and negotiating working conditions.  I've been there alone and just don't have the political savvy to see their agenda.  Stupidly, I believe everything management tells me.  I just assume that they have my interests in mind.  Besides, negotiating isn't something I do often.  To me, it's just common sense to have people whose job is to represent me, represent me.  They've trained to do just that.  How could any worker oppose this idea?  Those workers who are anti-union are just jealous that they don't have representatives working for them.  Either they should start their own union to represent their ideas, or give back the benefits that unions have have gotten for all workers, negotiated in collective bargaining.

Yes, I know unions can be corrupt.  Duh.  Did you think they're governed divinely?  Are all popes good people?  Of course unions have their faults, but it is the only voice workers have.  If we lived in the Garden of Eden, we'd have no need of unions.  But we don't.  I thank God for my union membership.

Labor Day also reminds me to send up a prayer for Boston's Labor Priest, Father Edward Boyle, s.j..  His Labor Guild is where AFSCME Local 1298 union reps were trained.

The Labor Guild was created in 1946 by Cardinal Cushing to educate 

Catholic workers about their rights and responsibilities.  Today, the Guild 

continues to run a School of Industrial Relations and offers classes to workers in 

labor law, collective bargaining, steward training, union governance, 

parliamentary procedure, public speaking, organizing, and the philosophy of 

unionism.  Hundreds of students benefit each year from experts and practitioners 

in labor, management, and arbitration who contribute their services.   The Guild 

also provides a neutral venue for collective bargaining, arbitration, and union 

elections.  But most importantly, over the years the Guild, under Father Boyle’s 

leadership, has grown to become the moral voice for labor management 

relations, providing opportunities for the area’s leading union and management 

leaders to meet,  build close personal relationships, and explore ways to work on 

shared problems

                 http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/lwp/people/staffPapers/kochan/kochan_fahey.pdf

Thank you, Lord for Rerum Novarum, Centisumus Annus, and the Catholic Labor Network.

Labor Day also marks the end of summer on the Cape.  There are still some of the best beach
days left on the Cape.  The crowds have gone, and you can practically have the entire beach to yourself.  The water is warm.  Sometimes warmer than the air.

And although, we might still spend some weekends down here, this weekend is the last weekend that my entire family is together.  That's what these pictures depict.

More reason to thank God.  Deo Gratias.