I can’t believe it’s already the first Monday in September. Which means that today is Labor Day. And, since 1882, when folks first celebrated the event in New York City, it has grown to become a national holiday. (No- New York State was not the first state to make it a holiday; they dawdled passing the bill, which gave Oregon the shot at earning the honor.)
While we know when it was first celebrated, we can’t pinpoint who thought the idea up. Some say it was Peter McGuire (the co-founder of the American Federation of Labor- the AFL in the AFL-CIO), but it probably was his homonym- Mathew Maguire (of the Machinists Union) who should be honored with the concept.
Over the course of my life, I have served as labor and I have been the “man”. (To be honest, I spent a lot more time in my life as the “man”, but, hopefully, I have been an enlightened version of a boss.) I’ve written before about my first real job– working in a dry cleaning store… But, I was only “labor” in that situation for about a year- I had become assistant manager before 12 months elapsed.
And, then I worked as a waiter for a catering hall. It was a union gig. (To be honest, the union wasn’t an omnipresent focus on the job.) After a few years (I think it was three), I became shop steward (of Local 923) and eventually an officer (Treasurer) of the union. But I resigned that position almost immediately upon my election- I had just been appointed to the management team of that same catering hall.
As an employer, I never paid anyone the minimum wage. There were a few reasons for that. For starters, most folks can’t make ends meet getting paid that little. (I do admit that it was easier to do so some 30 years ago, but…)
I also never hired the “just adequate”, but searched for those with a little bit more. That quest matches one of my eMail signatures:
The difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is just that little bit “extra”. Let’s aim for the extraordinary!.
And, as an employer, I always made sure our firm shared its profits with our employees- at least, with those that were around for at least 18 months.
Given the state of the economy- in the US and around the world; given the way firms don’t consider the efforts of their employees who make the products or deliver the services that generate the revenue for that firm; and given the way corporate executives extract 100X, 250X, 500X the average wages they pay their staff for their own compensation, it’s pretty hard for folks to get psuched about the concept of “Labor” Day in today’s world.
Nowadays, it seems that Labor Day is only the separation point between summer vacation and the first day of school for our public schools. And, a bunch of parochial institutions, too.
It is not just the overpaid CEO’s who are denigrating the efforts and abilities of their employees. The less-than-qualified CEO of America, TheDonald, attempted via executive order this past May to abrogate decades of procedures that obtained for dealing with federal employees. His decree attempted to reduce the time marginal employees need to demonstrate adequate performance and to remove their ability to appeal the decisions made by TheDonald’s cronies. The courts overruled him, by the way.
(Do I need to remind you that TheDonald promised to drain the swamp- instead he added alligators. His violation of the emoluments clause, Manafort’s bank frauds, Cohen’s bank frauds and attempts to hide TheDonald’s affairs from the public via illegal political contributions, Wilbur Ross’ insider trading and false federal filings, Scott Pruitt [so many violations, there’s no need to list them]… OK. You get the idea.)
It’s time to celebrate labor again- because it’s those folks who make things or do things that lets the company thrive.
We too quickly forget about Labor (my husband is working today) and consider Labor Day a shopping day. But do we care about those who check us out? Do we think about those who risked death and injury to get us our 40 hour weeks (for those of us fortnate enough to have 40 hour weeks, or even jobs). It’s such a tough thing now to survive and thank you for speaking out.
Fantastic point there, Alana!
Thanks for bringing it to the fore!
If only other employers could operate under the same mindset as you! I’ve always been amazed at how companies and corporations don’t realize that the better they treat their employees and labor force, and the more generous they are re sharing the profits of a company into the paychecks of those doing the labor, it fosters greater loyalty, and harder, more productive workers, which in turn generally drives higher profits.
Megan-
It confounds me when these CEO’s- of large and small firms- all believe that it is only THEIR effort that makes their companies succeed. Like all those folks we hire are simply automatons doing everything on autopilot. Until things don’t go quite so well with the firms- and then it’s the fault of the employees- never the CEO or management.
Kind of like a new autocrat that managed to find his way into an iconic building in DC.