Today is "Labor Day" in the U.S. This is one of the major holidays in the U.S. Even though it doesn't close down as many businesses as Christmas, or Thanksgiving, the business world of the U.S. pretty much shuts down on Labor Day. Also, Labor Day also roughly symbolizes the end of the warm season for that year. The actual end of summer is still a couple weeks away, but Labor Day represents the beginning of school seasons, (although most now start ahead of that) the beginning of a new TV season, the end of the summer vacation season, and the beginning of preparation for winter.

But doesn't all of that avoid the purpose of the holiday? On June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. This was the beginning of the national Labor Day. But the fact is, it was a response to the growing power of people working together to form unions to fight the rip-off businesses that were exploiting their labor with low pay, poor working conditions, and no rights on the job. People died during that time trying to organize unions, and our government was responsible for some of those deaths. This holiday was formed to recognize the labor rights movement, to atone for the brutality, and as appeasement for the past mistreatment of workers.

But today, unions are under assault. They are under assault by republican politicians and their business supporters. And that assault has been pretty effective, although unfair. The attack has been that union workers are making more than they deserve and therefore are a drag on the economy - taking from everyone else. The fact is that for the most part, even the best paid union workers are "middle class." At the same time, mega-institutions that the system identifies as "too big to fail" are getting handouts of public money that start in the billions. The most venomous kind of propoganda is particularly aimed at public union workers, but in general, the attack on unions is across the board. The businesses that negotiate with unions would rather negotiate with people individually. It's much easier to find an individual dispensible than all of your workers at once, and you can get workers to work with less pay and benefits that way.

And the unions have less than prevailed in countering these attacks. Look what has happened this year - with the election of anti-union governors who have successfully reduced the powers of unions, and thus, the pay of their members - it has happened in a number of states. Sure, it has been subject to a lot of protest, and it's not over by any means, but the unions have taken some significant blows. In reality, it started with the crushing of the air traffic controllers union by president Reagan. The national labor movement stood by and let that happen, and since then, it's been open season.

So here we are on Labor Day. The working class has less jobs, less money, and less rights on the job than it has had for awhile. If we get a republican government - with legislative, executive, and judicial branches all controlled by republicans, we might see Labor Day repealed. After all, wouldn't the best way to celebrate Labor Day be to go to work?