Hello! Hello! Hello! Welcome to episode 33 of We Don’t Talk About P-word. I am so excited to herald the launch of season two with today’s episode! We have a lot planned for this season. With a presidential election looming, I know we will have even more to talk about. 
Today, I’m going to ruin another holiday. Well, I like to believe I'm not ruining it, so much as letting you in on a few little secrets kept by the “winners”. Today, we are going to talk about Labor Day. I hoped to launch our inaugural episode last year on Labor Day but was unable to. So this year, I decided to kick off season two with it. It is, after all, the reason for this podcast. 
Working Americans are exactly who Labor Day celebrates. It remains my goal to motivate working Americans to get involved. My aim is to help everyone understand our political system. I want to show you how we can take back our power from the corporate and political elites.  
So… what exactly does Labor Day represent? What are we celebrating on the first Monday in September? Here comes the part many won’t like. Labor Day is the celebration of the labor movement. AHHHHH! I know, I can hear the cacophony of screams  poisoned by the Corporate Political Agenda. 
Too many people view labor like a four-letter word. Too many think it is something to avoid. Too many think it is counter to American Values. 
The facts are the exact opposite. The labor movement is the epitome of American Values . 
Now, here’s where I anger the other side of the argument. I am not saying that the labor movement doesn’t have its issues. There are some changes needed to modernize them. I won’t deny that. 
That said, the labor movement is unfairly demonized. This demonization comes from uninformed at best, blatantly misleading at worst , partisan politics. At its very foundation, the labor movement is about the rights of workers. It is about the rights of those who mine, harvest, and create things sold for profit. The labor movement was founded to present working Americans’ redress of grievances. It is, if you will, the lobbyist for working Americans.
Those who see it as a threat to their power vilify it to the public. Without it, working Americans, The People, have little voice. That was especially true in the first half of our Republic. 
Now, in the early days, this was not such a problem. We were mainly an agrarian society, and non-agrarian jobs were usually family businesses. We relied on exporting crops (cheaply grown through slave labor). We traded our abundant natural resources. Our manufactured goods were mostly imported before the 1890s. The industrial revolution took hold here later than in Europe. We were only trickling west. For quite a while, it was faster to travel from New York to San Francisco via Panama than to cross the United States. The railroads built during and following the Civil War pushed industrialization forward. 
This is not to say that there were no labor issues or unions during this time. They were very local and specific. The first reported strike occurred in New York in 1768. Journeymen tailors went on strike over wage reductions. This wage would not have been enough to support a family. Skilled tailors were rare, and eventually, their demands were met.
In 1794, the first union was organized. The Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers came to life in Philadelphia. (A cordwainer was a shoemaker .) They received a wage increase but later a reduction. A dispute over exported (to the south) boots led to a strike. In the end, the journeymen agreed to a decrease in wages on exports. The expectation was that it would increase work and only be temporary. This triggered a bigger strike in 1805.
The strike shut down work for close to two months, so the Master Cordwainers took the matter to court. This court case would have nationwide implications for most of the next forty years. Eight strikers were tried and found guilty on charges of conspiracy. The strike ended abruptly. The ruling also established the illegality of unions through common law. (This is a law that comes into being through court precedent and not legislation.)
Courts of the time decided that labor unions were a conspiracy. A conspiracy to do what, I'm not sure. Was it a conspiracy to defend the People's power from a corporate takeover? Was it a conspiracy to keep the People safe so they could enjoy life? Was it a conspiracy for higher wages for the People to pursue their happiness? I'm not sure what Constitutional grounds they used to make that decision. Despite that, unions would remain illegal (but still exist) until 1842. 
Throughout most of the 19th century, labor laws and regulations were nonexistent. Manufacturing was, well… the wild west of the east. Those working in manufacturing worked between 60 and 70 hours a week. Most of the time, it was in very harsh conditions that prioritized speed over safety. Wages grew slowly over our first hundred years. From 1789 until the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 wages went from two cents an hour to eight. It was never enough to support a family. Children were not only allowed but encouraged to work. In fact, families needed them to do so to survive. If they could hold a tool, they trained them to work. 
The exact number of workplace deaths and injuries is unknown. Frankly, the owners (and the government) didn’t care enough to keep track. It is known that US manufacturing was particularly dangerous during this period. Safety wasn’t a priority for the industrialists or the government. Accidents were cheaper than doing things safely. Even when workers or a family would sue, the courts would side with the monied interests.
In fact, incentives were often designed to encourage unsafe work. Between 1890 and 1904, mining was particularly dangerous. For every 1,000 miners, they averaged roughly 3 deaths per year. Between 1880 and 1923, more than 70,000 coal miners died on the job. Children were especially susceptible. Their small size made them ideal for tight working conditions.  
Early industrial capitalism had only one purpose. The idea was to raise two distinct classes: the wealthy few designed to rule, and the poor masses to labor for them. The government, completely controlled by corporate interests at the time, encouraged it. 
The labor movement slowed during the 1860s because of the Civil War. After the war ended, the movement raged  back. In 1866, the first labor federation, the National Labor Union (NLU), was organized. This was the first successful melding of different unions. It sought to unite all national unions and labor issue groups. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get past the bigotry of the time. They did little for people of color or women. African Americans created a brother union under the same umbrella. The NLU was successful early, if ultimately ineffective. They achieved an 8-hour workday for federal employees. While negotiating, they didn’t foresee the inevitable reduction in pay to compensate. Loopholes also negated their wins in New York and California. The NLU’s decline began when they started pushing politics instead of labor issues. The Panic of 1873, the worst economic recession before the Great Depression, spelled the NLU’s end. 
During economic downturns, when it’s needed most, labor has much less power. When jobs are scarce, labor has little leverage. In 1873, the railroads had over-expanded their lines and overextended their credit. The collapse of the railroad industry reverberated throughout the United States. Almost ninety out of 364 railroads declared bankruptcy. Additionally, 20,000 other businesses went bankrupt. 
Moving forward, we began to see a drastic increase in labor unions. This gave rise to such unions as the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, or the AFL. The AFL still exists today in the form of the AFL-CIO. 
In 1882, New York City played host to the first Labor Day parade in the United States. On September 5, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off and marched in solidarity from city hall to Union Square. The origins of this parade are unclear. Interestingly, the idea has been credited to two different men with similar names. They were Matthew Maguire and Peter McGuire. The event would become popular across the nation. In 1887, Oregon would be the first state to make Labor Day a public holiday.
Throughout this period and into the mid 1900’s, to go on strike was to risk your life. There were many instances of state-sponsored violence against strikers. To put that in plain English, the government would send military troops to end strikes. This would often end violently. It is important to remember that the military is not a peacekeeping organization. That's why we must always be careful where we deploy them.
Another famous agitator was the Pinkerton Detective Agency. After the Civil War, this corporate police force began protecting corporate interests. They became notorious for infiltrating, intimidating, and ending labor actions with violence. The Pinkertons still exist today, under the Securitas umbrella. They moved away from union-busting in the mid-1900s, but a zebra can never change its stripes. They infiltrated union activities for Amazon in 2020, and Starbucks in 2022. There are other modern instances, one involving the card game Magic: The Gathering. Let's just say their reputation for intimidation remains intact. 
In a little over 100 years, from 1850 until 1959, over 800 unionists were killed during strikes. This often included women and children, family members caught in the crossfire. When the strike busters arrived, they did not discriminate. These numbers don’t include those executed after convictions for union activities. It also does not include vigilantism or hate crimes instigated to fight unionism.
One of these events took place in Chicago on May 4, 1886. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions was the precursor to the AFL. They set May 1 as the date the eight-hour workday would become standard. On May 1, thousands of workers went on strike across the country. The strike remained mostly non-violent until May 3. 
Outside the gates of a farm equipment plant, strikers were picketing. The police fired on the crowd, killing at least two. Incensed, anarchists called for a rally at Haymarket Square, a busy commercial district.
The rally began peacefully on May 4. It seemed so uneventful that the mayor left early. A group of police stood by and watched from a distance. The last speaker began late in the night. As he spoke, a large contingent of police arrived and demanded that the rally disperse. Before the police could reach the stage, a homemade bomb was tossed in their path. It exploded, killing one and injuring many others. Immediately, a firefight ensued. Most sources agree the police fired first, reloaded, and fired again. In the darkness and chaos, many of the police were victims of friendly fire. The square quickly emptied except for the dead and injured.
All told, seven police and at least four workers were killed. Roughly 60 police and at least 70 workers were injured. The number of workers is only an estimate; the fear of reprisal kept many of them from seeking medical help.
This event had a negative effect on unions and the labor movement in general. Public support waned, and the workers returned to ten-plus hour workdays. Anarchists now found themselves outsiders of the labor movement. Many workers blamed the Pinkertons’ infiltration for the riot’s spark. Since it was never discovered who threw the bomb, we can only speculate. 
The trial would be biased by all involved. The judge was biased against labor. The bailiff, biased himself, seated biased jurors. The newspapers convicted and hung the defendants before the trial even started. All eight defendants were found guilty, and all but one were sentenced to death. Eventually, two had their sentences commuted to life in prison. One died by suicide before hanging. Four hung. They became worldwide martyrs for the labor movement. In 1893, the Illinois governor pardoned the three still alive. May first would be commemorated by the AFL as International Workers’ Day. 
The 1880s saw a major shift in the United States economy. For the first time, farming was not the largest share of the American economy. From this moment on, manufacturing and mining would grow their market share. Our newfound reliance on manufactured goods meant that workers became less dispensable. This would, over time, increase the influence of the labor movement . 
But as is still true today, Working Americans had a long way to go. In 1893, the country was facing a new economic crisis. The Panic of 1893, shockingly, was not the fault of the railroads. This time, it was over-extension in the silver industry. This and bad policies would have dire consequences for the country. We discussed one of these during our Hawaii series, the McKinley Tariff.
One of the most notorious aspects of manufacturing in the early days was Company Towns. These were towns built by companies for the use of their employees. If you have seen the movie Oppenheimer, imagine Los Alamos. Instead of the military, they were run by greedy corporations. These towns were completely controlled by the companies who built them. The employees who lived there were subject to the whims of their employers. In fact, companies often paid their employees in scrip. Scrip is an alternative currency that was only legal tender in these towns. 
For companies looking for total control of their labor force, it made sense. For the workers, it was a disaster waiting to happen. The company town system made the worker completely dependent on their employer. You could only buy food at the company store because no one else accepted your scrip. You could only rent a home in the company town because no one else accepted your scrip. Working Americans were surviving and providing for their families with Monopoly™ money. Everything in your life depended on your employer, just the way they liked it. 
Worse than the whims of the companies are the whims of the economy. The Panic of 1893 put the Pullman Company in the crosshairs of those whims. Pullman was a company town in Chicago that built railroad cars. The economic crisis saw the demand for railcars deteriorate. In response, the Pullman Company reduced wages and laid off employees. They did not reduce rents or prices in the company town. In response, Pullman employees organized an American Railway Union (ARU) local chapter. The Pullman company refused to recognize the union or negotiate. So, the employees went on strike. 
The strike was going nowhere. They escalated it to a nationwide boycott of all trains using Pullman railcars. All told, the Pullman Strike lasted from May until July and involved around 250,000 workers in 27 states. Not all labor was behind the boycott. The most egregious was the AFL who refused to strike. It wasn’t because they disagreed with the ARU. They refused to strike because the ARU was poaching its members. 
The racial politics of the time did not help things. African Americans, excluded from the ARU, accepted jobs that “crossed the line”. This created tensions between white unionists and African-American workers. At the time, there were limited job opportunities for African Americans. They worried that not accepting the jobs would hurt them worse.
It didn’t take long for the halting of the rail lines to garner federal attention. That attention came from the Grover Cleveland administration. More accurately, it was left to his Attorney General Richard Olney. Olney, before serving as AG, was a railroad attorney. Olney sought, and received, an injunction from an anti-union judge. This was to force the strikers to stop inciting the strike and allow work to resume. The ARU refused. The Cleveland administration deployed the US Army to end the strike. They did this under the pretext that they had a responsibility to ensure the mail ran. It was also argued that the boycott was a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This was a law designed to put a stop to corporate monopolies. Instead, it was being used to legitimize state violence against strikers.
The lack of solidarity among workers and unions led to an unsuccessful end to the Pullman Strike. It also didn’t happen without a significant loss of life. The US Army’s effort to forcefully end the strike resulted in 30 strikers dead and close to 60 wounded. That’s not to mention property damage exceeding $80 million. 
A pastor in Montana had this to say about the government at the time. Party leaders are... “the pliant tools of codfish  monied aristocracy who seek to dominate this country.” They still are; some things never change.
Again, perceptions were mixed. General public opinion opposed the strike. Unfortunately, the American public is notorious for “If I can't see how I benefit, it doesn’t concern me”. The mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois both supported the unions. The media, like today, controlled by corporations, demonized the workers. 
Later, the Cleveland Administration would appoint a national commission. Their job was to investigate the cause of the strike. The conclusion was that Pullman was partly to blame for the strike. The commission decried the paternalistic company town as un-American. This and the economic hardships put upon the workers were the catalysts. In 1898, the Illinois Supreme Court forced the Pullman Co. to divest ownership of the town. Today, it is a historic district in Chicago. 
Washington looked to placate the labor movement. They moved to create a day to celebrate the American worker. Many thought the most appropriate date to be May 1. For years, President Cleveland supported a date in September. He feared making May 1 the official holiday. He worried it might become a commemoration of the Haymarket Affair. That might strengthen the socialist and anarchist movements. Only eight days after the Pullman Strike ended, Labor Day came into existence. On June 28, 1894, President Cleveland signed into law the first Monday in September as Labor Day. 
Ever since, the labor movement has thrived! American workers lived happily ever after… 
If only… I wish that were true, but it was nothing more than a crumb dropped from the table of power to shut them up. It would be quite a while more before labor laws would begin to protect the worker.
It wouldn’t be until 1904 that a committee was established to examine the impact of child labor. States didn’t want to stifle their ability to attract business. Nothing came of this committee’s recommendations. It wasn’t until 1916 that a federal law was passed to protect children. The Supreme Court in 1916 also liked wealth and power. (From all reports, they still do today.) They found this law to be unconstitutional. Another, passed in 1919, was also deemed unconstitutional. It wasn’t until 1938 that child labor laws became standard. The wording was nearly identical to the so-designated unconstitutional 1919 law.
The United States has had a complicated relationship with labor. Working Americans didn’t even get a voice in the cabinet until 1913. President Taft reluctantly signed the Department of Labor into existence that March. 
Complicated doesn’t do the relationship justice. It has often been downright hostile. This is interesting, considering the majority of The People are working Americans. It goes to show how easily convinced Americans are to work against their own interests. For a nation of, by, and for The People, you would think their safety and happiness would be the top priority. Unfortunately, The People have been pushed aside in favor of monied interests. And we've let them do it.
Before you get the idea that I blindly support the labor movement, I want to stop you and say I do not. I support the idea of unions. I support what they can achieve for the People. I support their role in protecting American Democracy. But I do believe that unions have problems. These are different problems than they had in the 19th century, but still detrimental.
Unions today have become too corporate. As unions get bigger and more consolidated, the individual worker gets forgotten. This is a catch-22; you need mass to ensure your voice gets heard. Often, this means the individual needs of workers get lost in the shuffle. This leads to workers not feeling supported by their unions. Bad workers protected by their unions make unions unpopular for many. This makes workers denigrate paying union dues and unions in general. This allows corporate elites to demonize the labor movement. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. 
The unions must remember their purpose and protect good workers. 
This means helping members survive during strikes. This means not protecting bad employees from termination. This means tailoring union activism to ensure workers in different regions are considered. Too often, union members are played one off the other, much like they used racial politics in the past. It is a ploy that the Corporate Political Agenda has utilized since day one. They stoke regional misunderstandings to pit the working class against each other. They know that as long as we are divided by rhetoric, we will ignore our own interests. 
If I am being completely honest, I used to think like many of you. As a registered Republican, it was natural to give in to the propaganda. Even after I saw the Right’s warts, I was still convinced unions had outlived their usefulness. I was taken in by the lies. 
Growing up, my late father was a member of the teachers’ union. He hated it. He complained about many things. Some were irrelevant, as they were more opinions than facts. Others were legitimate. He complained about the lack of support he received when the union decided to strike. He complained about bad teachers, safe from termination, which made them all look bad. He complained about the politics involved in the union. He complained about striking for people in the cities. I understand that this is anecdotal. But in my years of life and studying politics, he has not been the only one to complain about these specific things. 
Despite these issues, you cannot discount the effect of partisan politics on unions. When they treat the labor movement as adversaries, the unions have no choice but to respond in kind. The government, for the People, must support the labor movement. Labor is the People. The government works for the People. They must reject the Corporate Political Agenda. The rights of the People must be the priority.
The fact is that unions, like every other industry, have their internal issues. But the importance of unions cannot be understated. Without unions, we wouldn’t have the eight-hour workday. Without unions, child labor would still be legal. Without unions, there wouldn’t be a minimum wage. Without unions, safe working conditions would not be a priority. Too often, we as Americans denigrate unions. Without their accomplishments, the Corporate Political Agenda would have already won.
We the People still have a chance to regain control of our nation because of the efforts of the labor movement. The next time you drive by striking workers, honk your horn. If not in solidarity, do it in appreciation for their past efforts we enjoy today. 
It is time we realized that what affects one of us affects all of us. The People only have each other. The parties and the corporations are not our allies. They want to take our power. They want to convince us that a government by the People isn’t feasible. They want us to believe that only those with money should have power.
Their success relies on the apathy and lack of solidarity of working Americans. Only together can we put an end to the Corporate Political Agenda. 
We the People are the Power.