Labor Day 2006
Labor Day Message by Allan Burns
Labor Day for a lot of us is a day to relax with family and friends or catch-up on those unfinished projects around the house. For many, it is just another day of work, some because they choose to and some because they have to. For those of us lucky enough to enjoy a day-off from work, we should enjoy the holiday but also be thankful for the police and fire fighters, doctors and nurses, cashiers and store clerks, waiters and waitresses and many others who are working today.
Like many holidays, it is easy to overlook the significance of Labor Day. But Labor Day is a day of celebration for the American worker. To be sure, all of us who work for a living are working Americans, whether we are paid a salary or an hourly wage. And we all face similar challenges: making a decent income, spending more of our take-home pay at the gas pump, finding affordable health care, paying the increasing cost of a college education, and planning for our retirement income.
Facing these challenges is made more difficult for many because of competitive pressures from the global economy that limits income growth, threatens health care and pension benefits, and sends jobs to other countries. But the global economy seems to be working just fine for corporate profits, which are at a 40-year high, due in large measure to increased productivity and subdued wage growth. As a nation, Americans are working harder, producing more, and in many cases making less.
It is the American worker who is responsible for and should be rewarded for corporate America's improving bottom line. "Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed" (Abraham Lincoln). Instead of rewarding workers with higher wages, the economic benefits have flowed to stockholders and CEO's. Wages have not kept up with inflation. The minimum wage has been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1996, and Congress has refused to act. In 2005, an average CEO was paid over 800 times as much as a minimum wage earner. An average CEO earns more before lunch than a minimum-wage worker earns all year.
We can and must do better. The economy isn't working unless it's working for everyone. Americans are hard working and innovative, and with determination and desire we can make our economy work for all of us. But it won't happen with a "stay the course" approach. We need positive change, new ideas and a new attitude. Together we can make next Labor Day a day of celebration for all working Americans when we make a change in Washington on November 7.
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