On Labor Day 100 years ago, workers paraded in groups according to their trade. Accounts in the Biddeford Daily Journal spoke admiringly of the disciplined ranks of elite tradesmen like the loom fixers, or the machinists of Saco & Pettee as they marched during the annual Labor Day parade.
On this long weekend, most of us are happy to be thinking about anything but work. Employment remains a point of pride for many, but for others, work days are clouded by a lack of job security, inflexible management and stagnant pay rates.
Wages, in fact have been stagnant for years despite steadily rising productivity. In good times, hourly pay inched upward, while the earnings of high-income households soared. Today, with five unemployed workers for every job opening, wages everywhere are under pressure.
One of labor’s champions, John L. Lewis, founder of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, declared 73 years ago that workers had waited too long for fair wages and working conditions.
“They, therefore, have organized a new labor movement, conceived within the principles of the national bill of rights and committed to the proposition that the workers are free to assemble in their own forums, voice their own grievances, declare their own hopes and contract on even terms with modern industry for the sale of their only material possession ”“ their labor. ”¦”
“The United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and similar groups representing industry and financial interests, are rendering a disservice to the American people in their attempts to frustrate the organization of labor and in their refusal to accept collective bargaining as one of our economic institutions. ”¦”
“Certainly the workers that are being organized want a voice in the determination of these objectives of social justice. Certainly labor wants a fairer share in the national income. Assuredly labor wants a larger participation in increased productive efficiency. ”¦ Under the banner of the Committee for Industrial Organization American labor is on the march. Its objectives today are those it had in the beginning: to strive for the unionization of our unorganized millions of workers and for the acceptance of collective bargaining as a recognized American institution.”
There is no such voice today calling for labor to flex its muscles on behalf of social justice. Even the effort to make organizing easier and fairer through a sign-up system has been effectively bottled up in Congress, thanks to Chamber of Commerce protests.
But the words of John L. Lewis on Sept. 3, 1937 should at least remind us of the what organized labor once accomplished, and how its influence has been diminished. Respect for labor could rise again; all it needs is leadership, solidarity and a determination to seek a fair share of the economic pie.
— Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Nick Cowenhoven by calling 282-1535, Ext. 327, or via e-mail at nickc@journaltribune.com.
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