Some Union Notes On Labor Day

By Peter Ward

With America observing Labor Day on the date of this edition of Hotel Voice, it is certainly a good time to recognize the historic gains that the union movement has made for their members and for all working men and women in the U.S.

A good place to start is with the Labor Day holiday itself. Not surprisingly, the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated right here in New York City, on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. The event was held in Union Square, and it was sponsored by the forerunner of the New York City Central Labor Council and its member unions. The idea caught on. The next year several other cities hosted Labor Day festivities and more joined in the year after that. Finally, only five years after the first observance of Labor Day in Union Square, it was declared a national holiday by U.S. President Grover Cleveland.

But unions did more than win the declaration of certain observances and commemorations as holidays, they won them as paid holidays—occasions where workers could spend time with their families without losing out on a day’s pay.
Unions were also responsible for paid vacations. Before the rise of labor unions in the U.S., paid vacations—and in many cases even unpaid vacations—were virtually unheard of in U.S. workplaces.

Unions also led the way in ending the sweatshops and child labor that was so prevalent at the beginning of the 20th century. And when 146 garment workers—mostly immigrant Jewish and Italian women—perished in the horrific Triangle Factory Fire right here in Manhattan 113 years ago, it was the union movement that led a nationwide crusade to enact safety regulations in all kinds of factories.

The labor movement didn’t stop there. Unions continued to fight for stronger safety laws, as well as regulations that would protect the health of miners, pavers, chemical workers and anyone else who through their jobs came into contact with caustic or toxic substances. This resulted in the historic Occupational Health and Safety Act in 1970 and the creation of the federal OSHA administration that oversees enforcement of this law. Unions have been successful several times since then in strengthening OSHA regulations.

Throughout the country most full-time workers enjoy a 40-hour workweek and overtime pay for any hours over that amount worked in a week. This, too, is the result of the efforts of labor unions to obtain federal legislation to make these standard features of U.S. workplaces. Unions and their members campaigned hard for a standard 40-hour workweek and the creation of overtime pay, and this effort culminated in the enactment of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. FLSA’s provision of time-and-a-half pay for overtime pay not only resulted in extra pay for millions of workers, but also in the creation of millions of new jobs. Many employers did not want to pay time-and-a-half, and so they often hired new employees in lieu of providing overtime hours to their existing workforces.

The FLSA also established the minimum wage. From 1938 forward, workers were guaranteed a minimum wage for their labor. And although the federal minimum wage today—$7.25 an hour—has failed to keep up with inflation, there are few who doubt that without this federal standard many workers in the U.S. would be earning even less than that.

As we will explain in an upcoming edition of Hotel Voice, the importance of the Fair Labor Standards Act cannot be underestimated. During the time when the U.S. labor movement was leading the effort to enact this legislation the number of union members in the country more than doubled. The FSLA was a true credit to the union movement that helped bring it about and it remains so to this very day.

Another indisputable fact about the labor movement is that unions were the first ones responsible for quality health coverage being provided to workers and their families through employment. Prior to this, people were on their own when it came to receiving healthcare. Unions initiated coverage through employment, an idea that spread rapidly, and they often ceded higher wage increases in return for healthcare for themselves and their spouses and dependents because the alternative was unaffordable. Unions also created the concept that longevity in employment should be rewarded with a benefit to assist workers in their retirement. This led to pensions being negotiated into many collective bargaining agreements and, later, access to other retirement programs like 401 (k) plans.

Through political activism unions also fought for social legislation that benefited all U.S. workers and their families. As George Meany, a former president of the AFL-CIO, once said, “Every piece of progressive social legislation passed by Congress in the 20th century bears a union label.”
There are historic examples. Unions fought for enactment of the Social Security Act. They fought for Medicare. They fought for workers compensation legislation. They fought for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

None of these battles was easy, but unions realized that they were at the forefront of the effort to create and maintain the middle class and to bring about equality among all people.
Union presence in the fight for progressive legislation continues today. The AFL-CIO is the loudest voice in the country in calling for immigration reform that reunites families and gives undocumented workers a pathway to legalization and citizenship. There are plenty of other examples.

It is no secret that the percentage of union membership in the private sector in the U.S. has declined in the last 40 years. A portion of the public has lost touch with the purpose of unions and does not understand that workers are far stronger as a group than they are as individuals. But union members like ourselves can and should take deep pride in the long list of accomplishments won for all working families in the U.S. by the labor movement.

We also should consider the two best ways we can help unions remain at the forefront of the fight for working men and women. The first way is to buy American-made, union-made products. When you buy union-made products you are guaranteed that you are not lining the pockets of a sweatshop owner or supporting a foreign company that pays its employees low wages. You are guaranteed that you are helping the American economy. You are guaranteed that you are helping to protect good-paying jobs with benefits.

The other way is by supporting candidates for public office who understand and serve the needs of working families. This edition of Hotel Voice lists some of the candidates our own union recommends. We hope you’ll vote for them and volunteer to help their campaigns. If you would like to help the campaigns of candidates recommended by the Union, please contact your HEAT Supervisor.