Happy Holiday

today, in what must be one of the greatest paradoxical statements on the calendar, we all take a day off in honor of the working man. that, as well as the roots of the holiday, have always left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. the DOL web site tries to dress it up with a nice idea - that the holiday began to celebrate those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold." i'm all for honoring producers, but the origins of labor day are a bit mysterious. the one thing that everyone tends to agree on is that the founders of the original observances were labor unions, and that the day was conceived as a way to recognize the contributions of organized labor.

what has organized labor done for you lately? in the union city of philadelphia, it regularly delays projects, halts construction, and raises the cost of everything by refusing to compete. nathaniel branden has this to say about the unions:

Today, the labor market is no longer free. Unions enjoy a unique, near-monopolistic power over many aspects of the economy. This has been achieved through legislation, which has forced men to join unions, whether they wished to or not, and forced employers to deal with these unions, whether they wished to or not. As a consequence, wage rates in many industries are no longer determined by a free market; unions have been able to force wages substantially above their normal market level. These are the "social gains" for which unions are usually given credit. In fact, however, the result of their policy has been (a) a curtailment of production, (b) widespread unemployment, and (c) the penalizing of workers in other industries, as well as the rest of the population.

this essay was written in 1963. a smaller percentage of the workforce is organized today than was thirty years ago. unions tend to be stronger in more traditional areas and occupations. but with so many americans feeling frightened by the state of the world and the economy, labor unions are once again organizing aggressively.

our favorite candidate for president, howard dean, says that he wants to take america back from the special interests. today on his web site there is a picture of him talking to some labor union members. his site says that he had a 100% pro-labor voting record as a state legislator. and that in 2002 he was awarded the first Paul Wellstone Award by the AFL-CIO. let's play the highlights game: what's wrong with this picture?

so, how will you celebrate labor day?

Monday 01-Sep-03