On this Labor Day of 2010, I’m sure we’re all feeling a bit nostalgic for the days when the 3 greatest problems plaguing the American labor movement were corruption, racial discrimination, and communist infiltration.

In celebration of our dear American leaders rushing legislation to make Labor Day a national holiday in 1894 following the deaths of workers at the hand of government guns during the Pullman Strike, I’d like to share a few thoughts from a reading of “Labor in America: A History” by Melvyn Dubofsky & Foster Rhea Dulles.

One thing is sure: things are better. No one is getting shot by the government during labor disputes. Yet. But things are not good. 6 people were recently charged with human trafficking.

And of course the government is a little occupied right now with a black president, hurricanes, Islam, gay marriage, legalization of marijuana, health care, the Middle East, terrorism, the economy, unemployment, gulf oil spills, mosques at ground zero, and illegal immigrants.

Whatever happened to abortion and stem cells?

There has always been a scarcity of persons content with performing the humble tasks of society. The earliest record of a labor disturbance in America was in 1636. A group of fishermen employed by Robert Trelawney at Richmond Island fell “into a mutany” [sic] when wages were withheld.

There is a perpetual antagonism between Labor & Capital as one strives to sell their labor for as much, and the other strives to buy it for as little. Labor is a commodity bought at the cheapest rate.

When asked what the labor movement wanted, founder of the American Federation of Labor and its president from 1886 to 1894, Sam Gompers answered, “More.” Which seems a reasonable request in alignment with corporate America’s demands.

Ultimately, the story of labor in America is a harrowing epic of antagonism, inherent conflict, exploitation, extortion, corruption and woe, fought for the right to organize and thus bargain collectively.

It has always been Labor vs. Capital, Trade vs. Craft, skilled vs. unskilled, carpenters vs. woodworkers, and AFL vs. CIO, the irony being that capitalism benefited labor. The market was good for labor when competition between the AFL and the CIO led to more vigorous organizing efforts and to an enormous increase in the size of organized labor. If there is one thing that has hindered the labor movement, it is the labor movement.

Labor is an enterprise for which many have died, many have suffered, but mostly a few have gotten fairly rich.

Will we forevermore live in a world where dealing with people confers much more prestige and satisfaction than manipulating things?

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