This Labor Day, thank the unions

President Obama greets Hector Sealey, Safety Director, Ft. Myer Construction Corporation, as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka looks on. At a Rose Garden event Wednesday, Aug. 31, Obama urged Congress to pass a federal highway bill.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

All to often the average citizen doesn't realize how much their own lives are touched by unions.  If it weren't for unions the forty hour work week would not exist.


It is the will and spirit of unionization that brings people together to fight for bills such as the Family-Medical Leave Act.  

I hope everyone takes time this Labor Day Weekend to realize how much of the greatness of our Middle Class, the strength of our economy, is due to unionization and the demand for recognition for work done well.

....Over the past century, (click title to entry - thank you)  labor unions have fought for more than just this workers’ holiday, struggling to improve wages, hours and working conditions. Early on, the courts considered union and group bargaining to be illegal, and employers would not negotiate with representatives. Laborers didn’t give up. In 1935, under President Franklin Roosevelt, the National Labor Relations Act and other laws required employers to bargain with unions.



Forty-hour work weeks, workplace safety, vacation time, benefits, pensions, even lunch breaks — these rights were secured by unions. Whether you’re a union member or not, public or private sector, take a moment today and give thanks to those who came before us in the American labor movement. It’s time for our generation to carry the fight forward, and to renew and preserve the American Dream for the next generation — the workers of       tomorrow and our nation’s future....