Mark Schwiebert: Thoughts on Labor Day

Our national holidays are set aside to remember significant individuals or groups whose efforts contributed to building our nation. Thus, we honor the father of our country and preserver of our union, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, on Presidents' Day. We honor those who died for our freedoms on Memorial Day, and those who served on Veterans' Day. On Labor Day, we commemorate those whose steadfast work and constructive labor built our roads and bridges, our homes and factories, and produced the goods that have made our nation an economic powerhouse. Some years ago, I recall hearing a song written by Tom Paxton, the celebrated American folk singer and songwriter. It began 'I'm the man that built the bridges. I'm the man who laid the track; I'm the man who built this country with my shoulders and my back. I'm the man that built the power dams and oiled all the cars. And I laid down the cornerstone for this great land of ours'. Yet, for all their contributions, too often American workers — both men and women — get short shrift in the story of our nation. While we celebrate movie stars and professional athletes, and praise captains of industry who've made great fortunes, the workers who silently but steadily keep the machines running and bridges standing, too often get left out. The movement toward the creation of Labor Day came in reaction to this seeming collective amnesia. As labor unions emerged to protect workers' rights, to secure fair compensation and workplace safety, pressure mounted to annually celebrate the contributions of America's workers to our nation's enterprise. So in 1894, Labor Day was designated by Congress and President Grover Cleveland to occur on the first Monday in September. Today the workplace has changed dramatically from 1894. Where factory lines once hosted hundreds of workers on assembly lines, far fewer workers now often pilot robots to do similar work. Where warehouses were stocked by 'elbow-grease' and manual inventories, now computers and automated controls often replace these traditional jobs.