This past weekend in the US is called "Labor Day Weekend," with the accent on (long) weekend. The underlying reasons for the national holiday have been long forgotten, it seems, in the national urge to have one last summer barbecue before the public swimming pools close and the kids return to school.
When President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed the issuance of this wonderful stamp in 1956 (Courtesy of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, which provides a fascinating look at four countries' attitudes toward labor through their stamps), he declared:
Labor is the United States. The men and women who, with their minds, their hearts and hands, create the wealth that is shared in this country - they are America.
Not bad for a Republican President, who as an Army major once helped lethally bash the "Bonus Army," war veteran labor protesters in Depression-stricken Washington. And Eisenhower pronounced these words a quarter century later at the dedication of the AFL-CIO Building in Washington, America's epicenter of trade unionism!
My point is not hypocrisy; I think much of Eisenhower, who learned from his mistakes, and who left the Presidency warning of the dangers of the military-industrial complex, that employer of millions of laboring Americans. It's that Eisenhower, a Republican President, would probably not recognize what his Republican successors have wrought on the American labor movement in the ensuing decades.
In the Eisenhower era (literally the first years of my life), my labor unionist construction worker father was able to build the first two houses we lived in. Had he chosen to, he could have availed himself of the GI Bill, the road to the middle class for many of his fellow ex-servicemen (and, to a lesser extent, service women). As it was, our family's union wage income - augmented at times by my mother's part time work in factories or as a cleaning woman - was sufficient to give myself and my siblings a very comfortable lifestyle. Spacious (by fifties/sixties standards) home, two cars in the garage, and the prospect of affordable higher education. Wonder of wonders: as a union family, we were entitled to nearly-free care at the Philadelphia "Medical Center," a place where generalists, specialists, and a pharmacy dispensed quality care.
Not only would Eisenhower not recognize the sorry state of the working/middle class in 2008 America, but he would probably hang his head in shame that it has been his political party - more than globalization, privatization, gentrification, you name it - that has been primarily responsible for creating the union-busting climate of today. Where a whole profitable sector of the consultant world exists for the sole purpose of advising companies how to prevent unionization of their employees or to break existing collective-bargaining units.
So today, Labor Day, I want to salute a few people who have given me respect for the dignity of labor, and for an abiding belief that you cannot build or maintain a democracy if inherited wealth gets higher priority than earned income:
- My parents, who, probably without realizing it, instilled a sense of the "just mean" in their children, and a sense of fairness. After growing up in Ireland, they saw opportunity in America, and took pride in their children's "graduation" from the working class
- My first bosses, the late Dr. J. Mitchell Morse and his wife Frances, who provided intellectual stimulation and an awakening to progressive politics to this young handyman working his way through college
- The best bosses in my diplomatic career (I'll refrain from mentioning their names, but they'll recognize my tribute). One, a "Kennedy Democrat" who got her start with Sargent Shriver when he was Ambassador to France, taught me to make the most out of every situation, but mostly, how every employee could be inspired to make a contribution...
- ... The other, a "Colin Powell" or "George Schultz" Republican (I think he'd embrace either moniker) and a demanding military man who segued into civilian service, and who gave trusted employees complete freedom of action after he taught them the ropes. Both are lifelong friends.
- My union, the American Foreign Service Association or AFSA, which represents serving and retired diplomats, and fights the good fight against "the buying of ambassadorships"
I leave you with this handy little list from the AFL-CIO, "Ten Things You Can Do To Celebrate Labor Day." Surprisingly, they didn't mention this:
Have a happy Labor Day.