September 7, 2015 (Monday)
Labor Day. I heard someone say when I was a child, “Labor Day is a day when no one goes to work. It’s ‘Labor Day’ but no one labors.”
“Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.” *
Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894, but was already a state holiday in 30
states, beginning in 1887 with Oregon. Unions had called for the day as early as 1882.
The holiday, which used to coincide with the first day of public school in the fall, unofficially marks the end of summer. Nowadays, however, school usually starts in August. Officially, summer starts September 21 with the autumnal equinox.
Labor Day was established officially as a day of street parades, speeches and festivals for the workers. It seems to me that only lip service is given these days to the work force. Labor Day is popular instead because of its retail sales and the fact that it is a holiday. Other days during the year are more popular for the sales, but Labor Day still competes in a big way.
When I worked for General Motors in 1955 and 1956, I helped prepare a manpower
report every morning. Each foreman would count his men, I would tally the department total, which would be counted with other departments to reveal the size of the day’s workforce.
I’m sure, based on what I read, that in today’s world robots do much of the work that men and (later, after my time at GM) women used to do. In a way, that’s probably good, because some jobs (like painting the cars) are more safely done by robots. Back in my day, men wearing cloth masks spent the entire shift every day in a booth spraying paint. Ventilation was at its maximum but the smell of paint filled the air in the booth. I don’t see how workers could have emerged from years of doing that without health problems.
Technology has taken jobs away but has also created other jobs. Over all, however, it has had a great impact on the “working man” and the ways in which he makes a living. Add to that the current phenomenon we call “global economy,” and we begin to understand why so many people are out of work these days.
One of Merle Haggard’s most popular hits was “The Working Man’s Blues:”
It’s a big job gettin’ by with nine kids and a wife
You know I’ve been a workin’ man dang near all my life
I’ll keep on working long as my two hands are fit to use
I drink my beer at a tavern and sing a little bit of these working man blues
Well, I keep my nose on the grindstone, work hard every day
Get tired on the weekend, after I draw my pay
But I go back workin’, come Monday mornin’, I’m right back with the crew
I drink a little beer that evening, sing a little bit of these working man blues
Sometimes I think about leavin’, do a little bummin’ around
Throw my bills out the window, catch me a train to another town
But I go back workin’, I got to buy my kids a brand new pair of shoes
I drink my beer at a tavern and cry a little bit of these workin’ man blues
Well, hey, hey, the working man, the working man like me
Never been on welfare and that’s one place he will not be
He’d be workin’ just as long as his two hands are fit to use
Might drink a little beer at a tavern sing a little bit of them workin’ man blues
* Wikipedia
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