I'm already hearing the news media link Labor Day events with decade anniversary of 9/11. I'm guessing, this year like last, we'll see all sorts of news items about Labor Day tributes to soldiers, veterans, police and firemen. We'll see a lot of flag-waving. I have nothing against those things, but not on Labor Day.
The first Labor parade was held in Toronto, Canada on September 5, 1872 in support of the Typographical Union's strike (they wanted a 58-hour work week. Imagine that?) On September 5, 1882, New York unions tried a Labor Day parade of their own. 30,000 workers took part. Each year thereafter parades were held on that day and the American Labor Movement really began to organize. Not that it did much good. Government was on the side of big business. Labor leaders were branded anarchists. Many were arrested and executed.
State militias were regularly called in to stop strikes. In the 1886 Bayview Massacre, 7 people, including one child, were killed by the Wisconsin state militia. In 1887, the Louisiana state militia shot 35 unarmed black sugar workers who were only asking for a dollar-a-day wage.
A series of strikes against the Pullman Company in 1893-94, involving a quarter million workers over 27 states, ended with Federal troops killing American Railway Union members. Strike leaders were imprisoned and the union dissolved. President Cleveland and Congress feared a backlash and tried to appease the unions by quickly declaring September 5th, Labor Day, an official holiday.
Unfortunately, troops were still used to quell union strikes. Shootings were common all the way up through the 1940s. Most famous is probably the Ludlow Massacre, where the Colorado National Guard murdered at least 5 men, 2 women and 12 children (every kid in the photo below), and wounding dozens more by riddling the union tent camp with a machine gun, then setting the tents on fire.
American workers and labor unions are once more being vilified by those in power, so the media's not mentioning labor much these days. In fact, FOX News is even saying that teachers shouldn't ask for more money because they're overpaid (on an everage salary of about $50,000). FOX News also claims that it's not possible to live on $250,000 a year and that people earning a quarter mil ought to be considered poor. Some people are now trying to say Ludlow wasn't a massacre but an 'incident.' Look at the photo above, realize none of those kids survived
We're constantly told to never forget 9/11. Fine, next week let's do that. On Monday, though, we should remember the massacres at places like Ludlow, Bayview, and leaders like Joe Hill, as well as all the American workers and their families who gave their lives so today's workers could be slightly better off.
Let's also remember union-busting governors like Scott Walker and other politicians who care more about the campaign money they're getting from corporations like Koch Industries than in the working conditions of the average American.
This Monday, let's remember why workers still have to fight for a decent living. And let's all say a prayer for the unemployed.
Read more about the history of American Labor at http://www.lutins.org/labor.html
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