CLEVELAND, September 3 — The following is a statement from BLET National President Don M. Hahs:
This weekend we celebrate the American worker and the labor movement which has for so long represented the interests of workers in this country. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City.
Samuel Gompers said about the day: “Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country. All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man’s prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day…is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation.”
In other words, Labor Day is a celebration of the work that has made this nation great. Labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.
For the past four years, however, workers have seen their standard of living eroded by the policies of a Presidential administration that cares more about corporate special interests than about the needs of working men and women.
The typical household’s income is now $1,535 less per year than in 2000, and 45 million Americans don’t have health insurance — 5 million more than when George W. Bush took office. With every major decision he has made, President Bush has catered to corporate interests over those of working families. He has cut the right to overtime pay for up to six million workers; proposed new tax breaks for corporations that move jobs to other countries; rolled back safety and health protections; slashed worker training, opposed a minimum wage increase; refused to tackle out-of-control health care costs; passed a prescription drug benefit that helps drug companies more than senior citizens; proposed cuts in after-school care for children while giving huge tax breaks to wealthy taxpayers; and undermined workers’ rights, from Project Labor Agreements to the right to bargain collectively for better standards.
President Bush has been talking recently about how our nation has turned the corner, but, in fact, he has turned his back on working Americans. The working men and women of this country are trying to change this trend. With their focus on jobs, health care and worker rights, more than 15,000 volunteers visited the homes of up to one million union members and their families in 16 swing states on September 2 in an effort to persuade them that Bush has failed in all three areas.
These workers will keep working until November 2 to make a change in Washington. I would urge all BLET members to take a look at the record of President Bush and then vote for change on November 2.
I wish you and your families a safe and happy holiday.