The Labor Day Holiday Is a Farce
The Labor Day Holiday Is a Farce
Junious Ricardo Stanton
No one seems to grasp the fact US
union membership is in steep decline. “The
share of US workers who are union members and the share of those who are
covered by a union contract have both declined substantially over the past four
decades. In 1983 20.1 percent of workers were union members and 23.3 percent
were covered by a union contract. By 2010 union membership and coverage had
fallen to 11.9 and 13.1 percent respectively. In recent years both measures
reached historic lows. Membership declined to 9.9 percent in 2024 before
ticking up to 10.10 percent in 2025, while coverage fell to 11.1 percent in
2024 and edged up to 11.2 percent in 2025.” Union Membership Stagnated in
2025 https://cepr.net/publications/union-membership-stagnated-in-2025/
American labor unions are declining in membership,
influence and effectiveness. Some politicians still attend parades; give
speeches and ramp up their campaigns around this time of year, but for all
intents and purposes organized labor is on life support. This is not just
because of the shift of economic activity away from industry and manufacturing
to a more service-oriented economy such as: hospitality and tourism,
restaurants, healthcare etc. but also
the rapid changes technology is making in the workforce environment. Today the
US political climate is basically anti-union.
In 1981 when Ronald Reagan decertified the Air Traffic
Controllers Union and the national AFL-CIO leadership passively allowed him to
do it, that sounded the death knell for union power and prestige. When powerful
blue-collar Unions like the Teamsters and Longshoreman failed to stand up to
Reagan on that issue that sounded the death knell for organized labor. Unions
were not seen as the heavyweights they once were from then on.
State legislatures around the country rushed to pass “right
to work” laws that have effectively curtailed union recruiting, membership and
organizing. Right to work laws do not forbid unions, they provide a way for
non-union employees to work and not have to pay union dues while still being
covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the unions, management and
ownership. https://www.thebalancecareers.com/right-to-work-2071691
Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
But Americans still mindlessly celebrate Labor Day even as
the 1% oligarchs and their bought and paid for politicians dismantle and
undermine both public and private sector unions. In recent years busting public
worker unions has been a key plank in the Republican agenda. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/trump-labor-dept-lets-union-busters-loose-again/
The Democrats under Bill Clinton and Al Gore moved the
party farther to the right, courted Wall Street and big corporations and
abandoned, except in rhetoric only, their support of organized labor. https://www.lawcha.org/2016/11/23/bill-clinton-remade-democratic-party-abandoning-unions-working-class-whites/
As both major political parties increasingly depend on
corporations to fill their campaign coffers and they respond to their lobbying
with favorable anti-union legislation; organized labor has literally been
kicked to the curb. Under Clinton and his Democratic Party successors the party
became Republican lite, especially when it came to working class polices and
legislation.
Both political parties have ganged up against unions; both
have effectively undermined organized labor and as a result, organized labor is
in rapid decline for a myriad of reasons. https://www.workplacefairness.org/labor-day-reflections-the-state-of-unions-in-america-and-why-membership-is-declining/
Yet Americans still celebrate Labor Day a relic of a
by-gone era.
posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 7:58 AM
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