09-06-2010 So why do we celebrate Labor Day still?

I don't know anyone who is a member of a labor union.  I'm certain I interact with Teamsters and such on a daily basis when I ship things, but living down here in non-industrial Florida, union affiliated workers are a rarity.  Robert Reich wrote this editorial a few days ago, in anticipation of our upcoming holiday.  Essentially he writes, we're in a pit we can't earn our way out of, as a nation.  The seeming prosperity of the 90s was just brought on by people working unprecedented high hours, large numbers of women entering the workforce, massive consumer debt, and (may I add?) email.  Anyway, notice how conservatives don't complain about unions so much anymore?  Because they got what they wanted: unions are mostly gone, so now conservatives focus complaint on "big government" and "red tape".  Not that I ever was in a labor union, or that they were even always a good thing.  Unions always seemed like a lame employer/employee relationship to me, and people in unions always struck me a complacent and entitled, but I recognise that their existence was at least a mechanism of prying wealth from the .001% ultra-wealthy society; however uninspiring the mechanism's form.  So, happy Labor Day!  I'll be grilling Malaysian Coconut Shrimp to celebrate.  Seriously, that's what I'm doing, and there's no hidden joke or meaning in that.  Mainly because I've got the day off and I'm hungry, not for any real reason.