Happy May Day! Hug a union organizer!
In most of the world, May 1 is celebrated as Labor Day.
To shed the day of its icky socialist origins, the US recognizes the ominously-named "Loyalty Day" instead, which frankly sounds a bit Maoist, if you ask me.
Regardless of what they decide to call it, today brings certain facts to mind:
Union membership in the United States has been steadily declining from its peak in the 1950s; as of last year, only 12% of US workers were unionized, and that includes all the unionized teachers, firefighters, and cops. Among public sector workers, around 35% are unionized; however, in the private sector, only about 7% of American workers belong to a union.
Think about that, while reflecting on the society that trend has wrought. It's no coincidence that the decline in union membership has been accompanied by a steady decline in real wages, and a de facto requirement that a middle class existence for a family requires two working incomes instead of the single income needed in previous generations.
Unions are the single most important factor in the post-War boom in living standards. The modern American middle class exists almost entirely because unions and their members stood up for themselves and demanded fair compensation for their labor. The companies benefited, the workers benefited, and their families benefited. Generations after that boom began, that great middle class is now shrinking. With only 12% of workers unionized, it's not hard to understand why.
Considering the fact that union membership in the US has declined so dramatically over the years, I can certainly understand the motivation to change the subject from Labor Day to Loyalty Day: "Let's not talk about unions as a positive force; let's question everyone's patriotism instead!"
Sound familiar?