Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time

It’s labor day. A day off from work. The “last day of summer.” But what else is it? For too many that is all it is. But where would we be without organized labor? I always find it distressing when I read articles or letters blaming unions for everything. If it weren’t for organized labor there would be no such thing as the weekend, or an eight hour workday, or so many things we take for granted about our working life. I heard a DJ on the radio talking about how Google was hiring and how great it would be to work there. They provide meals, childcare, laundry, haircuts, health clubs, and more. So much stuff that there is little incentive to leave work. So while the employee may be duped into believing they are getting a sweet deal, really the corporation is the winner, with employees who voluntarily work unpaid overtime. This push towards corporate dominance is scary. The corporations don’t care about the employees, they don’t even care about the product, they just care about the profit. We need to be strengthening our unions rather than weakening them. A decent salary, benefits, and a pension are not too much to ask. In every letter to the editor I read where someone is blaming unions for having these things it just seems like the person is jealous, and rather than fight for those things himself he would rather take them away from those that have them. We can’t assume that unions are an outdated relic from the past. We need to stay vigilant lest we find ourselves corporate slaves.