thethirdnippleseesall:

crimefighter-bae-b:

I was at work today for Labour Day and on TV was Good Morning America. The theme was celebrating the American worker and their accomplishments. I’ll tell you how it went down.

Kelly put on her glasses, smile wide, and pulled out a piece of paper which she read from. The paper was from an article

(which I have issues with, but I will leave alone for now) by ABC news. Kelly proceeded only to read the opening of it, which reads: ‘Americans work more than anyone in the industrialized world. More than the English, more than the French, way more than the Germans or Norwegians. Even, recently, more than the Japanese. And Americans take less vacation, work longer days, and retire later, too.’

And everyone cheered.

And they kept cheering when Kelly put her paper down and smiled at everyone. (not continuing with the rest of the article which suggests that this may in fact be a problem).

And I just couldn’t BELIEVE that anyone was cheering. America. AMERICA you work more than the French, who are entitled by law to have 5 weeks off a year for vacation and can not work more than 35 hours per week. You work more than Norway, who average 33 hours per week and 44,000 dollars a year. Germany, where AGAIN, we see a shorter work week and better pay! And all of these countries have health care and better pay and free/affordable education!

WHY ARE YOU CHEERING?

I have a different interpretation of this information: the American worker is the most taken advantage of worker in the industrialized world. It’s plain and simple. You work long hours and get horrible pay. You take multiple jobs and work and work and work just to get by. Unions are disappearing, jobs are always looking for part timers and all you are doing is giving up your time for less money, less vacation, less safety and stability and less education than anyone else on the list.

Celebrate Labour day. Celebrate the accomplishments of the common worker, but don’t let these people trick you into thinking you should celebrate the theft of your time and energy, or the fruits of your labour.

They are using you. Stop cheering.

Ok, so I always wondered why y’all commemorate Labour Day September instead of May 1st like the rest of the world. After this post I finally decided to google it. This is a very quick overview of what I found and I’m 100% sure there’s people out there that know more about the subject.

Basically it’s all because of President Grover Cleveland.
May 1st is commemorated worldwide because of the Haymarket affair,May 1st 1886.
The Haymarket affair was an almost country wide strike of union workers demanding an 8hour work day. The protest extended and on may 4th police fought back in Chicago, trying to disperse the protesters from public assembly, which resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths, death of 8 policemen and injuring tens more. As a result Hundreds of labour leaders were round up and four were publicly executed. May 5th in Milwaukee, state militia attacked another group of strikers.
In 1887, Oregon was the first state to recognize Labor Day.
The May 1 date was established in 1889 a Paris meeting of the Socialist International declared May 1 as an annual event. (Which is now commemorated as International Worker’s Day)
By 1894, most states had recognized Labor Day on May 1st as a state holiday, however it had not yet passed federal legislation. That’s when the drastic chain of events happened: the Pullman Strike May 11, 1894.
Pullman Chicago was pretty much an industrial city. Pullman Company was a big Luxury rail car manufacturer in town. Their workers lived in housing built and managed by the company and shopped in shops managed by the company too. The economic crisis of 1890s cause many companies, including Pullman, to lower costs by lowering workers’ salaries. They did not however lower the cost of living for their workers. Workers went on strike to protest the low wages, high prices and lack of political fairness in their company owned town. The ARU (one of the biggest Railroad worker unions) tried negotiations which Pullman refused, so they called for the boycott of any train that had Pullman cars. The boycott has been said to have involved 250,000 workers and affected the railroad systems of 27 states, especially west of Detroit. The Railroad Brotherhood and the AFL opposed the boycott. Thirty people were killed in response to riots and sabotage that caused $80 million in damages. The federal government ordered the ARU to stop boycotting mail carrier trains, but the union refused. Here’s where it gets interesting: President Cleveland ordered in the Army to stop the strikers from obstructing the trains.
Cleveland Declared Labor Day first Monday of September a federal holiday, to appease his constituents after the controversial handling of the strike which lead to so much damage. He did refuse to recognize it on May 1st, since he was concerned that would encourage Haymarket-style protests and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements, especially because it had been recognized by the rest of the industrialized world as International Worker’s Day.

Labor Day on the first Monday of September exists to eclipse both the Pullman Strike and the Haymarket Strike.
Labor Day on the first Monday of September has sales to make you forget about worker’s rights.
International Workers Day on May 1st exists to remind you of them.
Labor Day on the first Monday of September is a Capitalist and political move. Always observe May 1st guys.