Even though the modern American labor movement has, far too often, turned into a haven for gangsters, an enabler of an entitlement culture, a bankrupter of employers, and as leg-breaking power-brokers themselves — we’re a far sight better off for having it than if it had never happened. Little things like 40 hour work weeks, child labor laws, workplace safety laws, pensions and benefits and 401(k)s and the like, for blue and white collar both, are a direct result of the dynamic between “labor” and
“management” (even in those instances where the two sides act more like pissy school children than people out for mutual success and a win-win).
So to the Labor movement, and those who paid for its gains with sweat and blood, I salute you this Labor Day.