Having a baby is the hardest work in the world. Ask any mother, she’ll tell you. That’s why I’m suggesting that women celebrating Labor Day remember that giving birth is hard, giving birth to change is even harder.
Before labor unions started in America most folks worked twelve hour days, six days a week. In many countries workers still do, some goods sold in this country are made by children who are literally chained all day to sewing machines. Thank you to all the workers, who came before me, for coming together with the support of unions to improve our lives.
The cost of raising a child, shoot, even the cost of delivering a baby has many mothers working outside the home. This dilemma has occurred since the days of Adam and Eve when Eve decided to become a quality control worker for the apple industry.
Even then, Adam got a higher salary because he took the credit for taking the first bite.
It was only when World War II forced women to take on the jobs normally maintained by men, that women got a taste for fair pay. I wonder, if men had to carry and give birth to babies, would it be legal to take on another job outside the home? After all, isn’t raising children to be adults who will care for future generations enough?
As the late Mary Ivins once said:
“Although it is true that only twenty percent of American workers are in unions, that twenty percent sets the standards across the board on salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.”
If you like the modern day conveniences of epidurals and disposable diapers, thank science.
If you like observed holidays, 40 hour work weeks, a living wage, benefits and humane working conditions, thank the American Labor Movement.
Related articles
- Labor Day Is a Time to Mobilize (readersupportednews.org)
- Letter: Stand up today for America’s workers (norwichbulletin.com)
- Standing by the worker (goldspider23.wordpress.com)
- Women and the Labour Movement (simplyit.eu)
- Labor Day 2013: What is the Holiday Really All About? (moinaturale.com)
- 5 Reasons to Celebrate Labor Day, Presented by CreditLoan.com (prweb.com)
