Just when it seemed the right wing couldn’t get any more divorced from reality around here, a local conservative group has launched a protest against what it sees as a pernicious cultural touchstone.
Labor Day.
Yes, bittersweet old Labor Day — the first Monday in September, the holiday that’s been around for generations and is known to most non-ideologically blinkered Americans as an end-of-summer free day honoring all the hard work you put in the rest of the year.
But to the Freedom Foundation, a business-backed Olympia think tank, the day is evidence of the power of unions, which to them equals the decline of America. Rather than stoop to taking a union-backed day off, they plan to fight the power by ... working all day Monday instead!
“I can’t think of a problem in society that can’t be traced in some way back to the abuses of organized labor, so it would be hypocritical of us to take a day off on its behalf,” said Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe, in announcing the “work-in.”
That’ll show those unions who control everything around here. Let’s all go into the offices and the factories and work like dogs instead of barbecuing or watching parades! Who’s with me?
Of course, if McCabe followed this principle to its logical end, he’d have to work every Saturday, too. Year round.
But why end with working Saturdays?
The unions are also responsible for out ability to be paid overtime, have lunch breaks, receive paid vacations, the 40 hour work week, safety standards, child labor laws, etc, etc., etc..
Clearly these idiots know NOTHING about American history.
"Clearly these idiots know NOTHING about American history."
ReplyDelete--------------------------------------------
Oh, yes they do. And they don't like the changes brought about by organized labor. They want to go back to the "good old days."
For a quick and highly interesting read, filled with contemporary cartoons, photos, images and quotes, I highly recommend "The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible" by Otto Bettmann, founder of the famed Bettman Archives in New York. Every time I replace my copy, one of my kids asks for it or gives it to a friend. I claimed my mother's copy back in the 70s. It is just as relevant now, especially with the rise of the republican-'bagger revisionist view of American history.
Stupid is still spreading on the Right.
ReplyDeleteAll good nature lovers will be happy trails today! Cain't that right, Track?
DeleteNATIONAL TRAIL MIX DAY – August 31
Today, everyone grab some dried fruit, grains, nuts and chocolate, mix it all together, start snacking and celebrate National Trail Mix Day! Celebrated annually on August 31, this day honors the mix that was developed as a healthy snack to be taken along on hikes.
http://nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-trail-mix-day-august-31/
The idiots don't stop to think that what made this country great was a middle class that made good wages and SPENT money stimulating the economy and paid taxes. They sent so many jobs overseas that they have sent the economy into a tailspin it won't soon recover from.
ReplyDeleteHenry Ford knew that. "Build a car that my workers can buy".
DeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteThey forget that they might temporarily increase their profits by cutting labor costs, but in the long run they will suffer when no one can afford to buy their products and services anymore.
Henry Ford was a Nazi sympathizer. A portrait of Henry Ford graced Hitler’s Munich office in 1922.
Deletehttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/interview/henryford-antisemitism/
A portrait of Henry Ford graced Hitler’s Munich office in 1922.
DeleteUnless it was personally autographed, that's only evidence that Hitler was a Ford sympathizer, not the other way around.
Actually he would have to work seven days a week for 12 or 14 hrs a day, or for as long as his employer told him to. Of course the pay for the day would be the same no matter how many hrs he worked.
ReplyDeleteRead the Real, Bloody and AMAZING Story of Labor Day
ReplyDeletehttp://aattp.org/read-the-real-bloody-and-amazing-story-of-labor-day/
Assholes.
ReplyDeleteThey should have just become nurses, doctors, pharmacists, policemen, etc etc etc etc who work on any holiday.To keep humanity alive.
assholes.
Sarah 'team' won't be working, they are tanked. LOL
ReplyDeleteOT. Video Shows IDF Snipers Shooting Palestinian Children For Fun, But Facebook Won’t Let You Share It
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/08/31/video-shows-idf-snipers-shooting-palestinian-children-for-fun-but-facebook-wont-let-you-share-it/
Conservatives don't "think" per se, they are merely organisms that tend to ignore and/or act contrary to the stimuli before them in a way that would endanger their own existence.
ReplyDelete" in a way that would endanger their own existence."
ReplyDeleteOne can only hope.
You know.......perhaps they're not as bigoted as we would like to think........consider this......they're getting paid for Monday ....... any work after 40 hours/week is at time and a half....... so working on labor day pays 2 1/2 times normal wage. Don't think their masters considered that. They will obviously refuse to pay..... however they are entitled to the premium ....... Federal labor laws. I will help them sue their employer for lost wages ect. Ha Ha......... kinda backfires on them ... poor stupid righties... why would anyone be involved in policies that are against their own self interests?.
ReplyDeleteNot if they are salaried employees.
DeleteBut see, Gryph, all those things you cited as positives are all negatives to these guys. The bosses made as much money as they could skim from the company. THEY never worked overtime, holidays, or third shifts. THEY made sure they had a pension that would keep them in the style to which they were accustomed. Of course anything that makes their workers even close to their lifestyle is abominable.
ReplyDeleteI heard yesterday that Michigan's minimum wage goes from $7.40 to a whole $8.15 tomorrow! This was Snyder trying to pretend he cared about workers, when the truth is, there was to be a ballot initiative in November raising it to $10. Now we don't get there for six years or something. I'm sure that 75 cents an hour will help, but gee, how stingy can you be?
Well, Ohio's legislature voted on $7.95...
DeleteI have been a "stay-at-home" mom and Domestic Goddess for 56 years and holidays always meant more work for me! 24/7 on the clock with no monetary benefits but loved every minute of it. Fortunately, my husband was well educated, had a wonderful job that made it possible for me to attain my position. Not so for my kids and grandkids whose jobs are all sent overseas and have to work 2 jobs to make ends meet! Enjoy your long weekend everyone...if you don't get out the vote, it may be the last one you will enjoy every first Monday in Sept!
ReplyDeleteOnly 11% of the US population is involved with Unions. In the '60's it was closer to 30% of the work force.
ReplyDeleteThat's okay, you work while I enjoy celebrating the meaning of the holiday with my family.
ReplyDeleteA lot of you don't work any way, you live off the money people send you and off the money people send your PACs
80 year old retired registered nurse here. In the beginning (laughter) I worked with RN's in their 70's and 80's who had to continue working to eat. Nurses and teachers were not allowed in the Social Security system yet.
ReplyDeleteWe worked 8 hours straight. There were no coffee breaks, no lunch relief and if your replacement for the next shift was late you still got paid for 8 hours and so did the late nurse.
It REALLY pissed me off when the night shift nurse overslept and got there 2 or 3 hours after shift change. I still got paid only 8 hrs.
Time and a half for overtime and for working holidays was a myth. Weekends off were for the well connected.
I started smoking only because I realized I was often watching over other nurses patients while they skipped out for a "smoke" which also might include a donut and cup of coffee. I got a turn to go to the bathroom and get a snack with my "smoke."
Bushy Jr. was rallying to stop all overtime for RN's during his error reign. He said it took a degree to get the RN and that meant you were supervisory staff and salaried so no overtime!!
More than once during my management years in the industry I had to call on RN's to work an extra hour or shift during a week. Not only did I pay them overtime but I made certain they had free meals for that extra shift and snacks too. Humane treatment puleese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There were no "rules" and no disposable diapers, surgery drapes etc.for many early years of my career. If I had a lot of deliveries on my shift it was up to me to get all the bloody linen rinsed out before it could be tossed in the laundry hamper. If I couldn't do it during my shift then I stayed after to finish it.
Think about as a student nurse when there were sh___ cloth diapers from at least 30 babies during an 8 hour shift. Lots of smelly work to complete before I left rinsing the chunks out of that batch before they could be deposited in hampers for the laundry.
Mine was a great career but the unions and labor laws made it the great experience it was - to say nothing of the discovery of plastics and disposables.
Support those who support our workers! You need to whether you know it or not.
Although conditions have certainly improved since those early days of your career, nurses are still some of the most overworked and under-appreciated people in our communities.
DeleteThank you for helping so many in need, and I hope your retirement is long, healthy, and filled with joy!
As someone who's been exposed often to hospital environments, the Nurses do the lions share of work while the doctors get credit. I admire men and women in the caring professions, especially the nurses, who work so hard and make it look so easy.
DeleteI have been a nurse for 29 1/2 years. A year or two ago I added up all the lunch breaks I never got, all the 15 minute breaks I never got, and it added up to a year of paid time off. A YEAR!!!!
DeleteI have a bladder wih the storage capacity of 2 liters, I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it is in fact, my ONLY meal of the day, I have bled thru pads when I had my period because the pt was too sick to leave the room and I had no coverage.........
Be nice to your nurses people.
11:00 Thank you for sharing your story. And Bravo! to you. It sounds like you were one hell of a good nurse.
ReplyDelete"Conservative Think Tank", isn't that an oxymoron? Speaking of working, where's the folks in Congress? Shouldn't they all stop what they're doing and go to work?
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh, on the show "Sunday Morning", they mentioned that american workers don't use all their vacation days, and then said if they did, they'd pump more money into the economy, reset their loyalty to the company, produce more and feel better about themselves and their jobs. Other countries mandate you must use all your vacation and sick days. The GOP would have a heart attack.
Enjoy working on Labor Day, "think tank" folks. If you really want to impress people, do their jobs and give them a day or week off. Think tanks are highly overrated. HA HA HA
"I can’t think of a problem in society that can’t be traced in some way back to the abuses of organized labor"
ReplyDelete--Was the illegal war in Iraq an abuse of organized labor?
--Was the mortgage crisis an abuse of organized labor?
--Is Global Warming an abuse of organized labor?
These are all problems that have affected society, thus, they are societal problems. That guy is an idiot, end of story.