Monday, September 4, 2017

Labor Day

The country’s first Labor Day parade in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882. This sketch appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
If Labor Day (today) once honored the working men of the United States, well, a day of rest is hardly the meaning any longer ... any more than God's resting on the seventh day (Sunday) is a day for spiritual observance and reflection. Shop till you drop!

Still, it puts a quasi-focus on labor -- the folks who make whatever widgets need to be built and on the economic disparities that seemed to contribute to Labor Day's nationwide ascendancy.

I wonder: If "productivity" -- a buzz word on the labor front these days -- is largely defined by widget-producing management, at what point does labor get a chance to determine productivity of that management?
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1 comment:

  1. olcharlieSeptember 4, 2017 at 11:22 AM

    As I understand history, the workers only had a say when there was a shortage of workers and the bidding for their time sent some wealth to the bottom. This would happen after a plague and or war and would lead to a bit of a renaissance. But under usual circumstances, labor is just a commodity.

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