Ghosts of Labor Days past

Western Federation of Miners made this poster
in the 1903 Telluride strike

Forget the barbecues--unless you do hard physical labor and need a break.  Let's honor Labor Day by supporting workers in our communities and our nation.

My grandfather was ten years old when the miners in Telluride, Colorado, went on strike, demanding that their workday be reduced from 12 hours to 8 hours.  His father was a miner, but the Black Bear Mine was owned by its workers and no one went on strike there.

Sheriffs arrested the striking miners of other mines and charged them with vagrancy.  Mine owners called on the governor of Colorado to intervene.

In November, mine owners at Telluride made several requests that the governor send in national guard troops. There were no disturbances, but the owners wanted to reopen the mines with strikebreakers, and wanted national guard protection. The governor sent a committee of five led by the attorney general. The committee reported that Telluride was peaceful, but that the union picketers were armed, and if the mines reopened, local authorities would not be able to prevent violence. Governor Peabody asked President Theodore Roosevelt to send in US Army soldiers; the president refused. The governor sent in 500 Colorado National Guard troops, who arrived in Telluride on 24 November 1903.^[11]

On this Labor Day, 2019, in addition to miners around the world, I'm thinking of two groups of workers:

1) Caregivers for elderly and sick people, who work 24/7 shifts 6 or 7 days per week.  See today's NY Times report by Andy Newman for details.  Thank you to the many who cared for my mother after she got Alzheimer's and broke her hip.

2) Temporary and part-time workers, especially those who don't have benefits because they are seen as self-employed.  See this op-ed piece by Louis Hyman in today's LA Times.  He's an associate professor at Cornell University whose recent book is “Temp: The Real Story of What Happened to Your Salary, Benefits, and Job Security.”

One sub-group of these marginalized workers are the drivers for Uber and Lyft, who are striking to win benefits.

What you can do today is contact your state assembly member and state senator, asking them to support any bill that protects labor.

In California, it's Assembly Bill 5.  Hyman writes:

In California, there has been a great debate over the gig economy. The state Assembly in May passed Assembly Bill 5, which would strictly define who is and who is not an independent worker. The lawmakers hope that if Uber and Lyft drivers are defined as traditional employees, then they would have better economic security.

Get on it! Do your part.