Who Better To Write Our Labor Day Post Than Randy Bryce?

-by Randy Bryce

Happy Labor Day!

What does that mean to you?

Living in Wisconsin it’s almost become kind of an annual celebration that “we’re still here.” It’s a gathering of survivors so to speak.

In 2011 Scott Walker took over the office of governor and proceeded to “divide and conquer” the workers of Wisconsin. He admitted that he had planned to “drop the bomb.”

One thing that he wasn’t expecting was that we had just enough notice and made it into our union-built bomb shelters. After the smoke settled, we dusted ourselves off and hit the streets.

When I was a lot younger I looked forward to my birthday. These days it’s Labor Day. I guess it’s because for too long I feel that we took what we had for granted. Celebrating Labor was something that we did once a year.

I think that’s where we went wrong. That’s where we became lazy. We took what we had for granted.

I blame myself for being part of taking it for granted, but, I’m doing what I can to make up for it.

To be honest every day is Labor Day. We don’t have a safe job site, overtime, benefits, and child labor protections in place due to the kindness of corporate America-- we have them because we demanded them. Some people ask what unions can do for us. Thats the wrong question. Correct question is what HAVE they done for us? The answers are many, and, easy to find. Problem is, everything that those before us fought and died for are under attack. We’re headed back to some very ugly times if we don’t read the writing on the wall.

The income inequality gap is out of control. Paul Ryan recently made some ridiculous remarks claiming that people had some means of upward mobility available to them! That’s all but gone. Currently if one isn’t lucky to be born with a silver family spoon in their mouth, the only chance they have at getting one is to win another type of lottery.

We now have a person in the White House who makes me shudder. I used to be able to tell my son that working hard and being smart could get him anywhere he wanted to go. Not any more. Donald Trump is all the proof you need to see that he possesses none of that, but, quite the opposite.

Not all is despair. I’ve noticed that even though union density may be shrinking, the crowds on Labor Day-- OUR day-- are getting bigger. People are understanding that one does’t need to pay union dues in order to stand up and unite for a common cause that will make life livable.

Let not just Labor Day, but every day be one that you use to be thankful for what we have, and, to use it as as stepping stone instead of a stumbling block to move ahead. Let these attacks forge you into something stronger. This is part of a cycle that takes place. It’s happened before.

I personally see what’s taking place as another opportunity to get things done correctly that we didn’t do recently during the Labor/Civil Rights fight that included Dr. Martin Luther King jr. Labor moved ahead, but, the Civil Rights part got left behind.

Let’s make sure that as our numbers swell we make sure that we move EVERYONE ahead with us and none are left behind. If we want these attacks to finally stop, we need to have everyone able to stand together in order to fight back - anyone left behind has already been divided.

Know this-- we only have ourselves to depend on.

We didn’t get to where we are by asking.

We got here by demanding.

Happy Labor Day today and every day.

Solidarity forever.