03
Sep
LABOR DAY- TAKE A BREAK TO REFLECT
Labor Day weekend is known as the last weekend at the shore, back to school, and the start of football season. Yet each of us has some tie to the labor movement that transcends these notions of what labor day is all about. For me the labor union movement gave me the opportunity to earn some much needed cash to pay for school. I worked as a union carpenter while attending college. My friends would often mock me by telling me i went to work with a “pillow and a lunch box”. Little did they know that i worked my ass off stripping concrete forms in 90 degree weather. Yet somehow i knew that i was lucky to be part of a union. I was paid more than what my friends made and felt part of something bigger than the concrete forms i was building. I got to meet some great tradesman and learned from the best. At union meetings i learned that in the 30’s and 40’s members would often show up at meetings with bats and tools. The early union movement was often violent. Whether or not you are a union member you are part of the labor movement. You work hard so that your family is taken care of and that some day your kids may not have to work so hard to get the same things you have. Everyone wants a better life for their children. This basic human instinct is and always will be the driving force behind the labor movement and unionism. It’s not to get an easy job, or to push some socialist agenda. We all have ties to the labor movement because one of our relatives ,whether it be an aunt, father, grandmother, or cousin, at some point in time labored so that we could have a better life. Today i am taking 5 minutes out of my day to thank all my relatives who were part of the labor movement. My great-uncle ,Ceasar Polimeni who started the carpenters union in Essex County. My Dad who is a member in that union for 47 years. My grandfather, Daniel Testa who was a tailor by trade and worked in a union shop. Both of my grandmothers who worked in factories on assembly lines. And the grandfather i never knew who was a laborer. I hope you will also take a few moments to think about how your family is part of the labor movement. Today we get to spend time with our families because of labor. So enjoy your day off but be mindful of the thousands of workers who struggled to make this day a reality. If you have any labor stories to share i would love to read them. E-mail me.
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