Putting the Labor Back in Labor Day

Normally when Labor Day comes around I’m thinking about eating apple dumplings and catching some bands at Bumbershoot, Seattle's annual Labor Day music festival but this year I took part in a movement to put the labor back into Labor Day. Workers all over the Puget Sound are standing up across industries to demand a higher standard of employment.

               

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Instead of a day off we have collectively created a two week wave of days on, starting this past Tuesday with the hotel workers launching their boycott of the Hyatt. Despite the fact that the Hyatt has signed a national agreement stating that they will allow their employees to unionize without management interference, Seattle Hyatt owner Richard Hedreen has refused to recognize these workers’ rights. On Wednesday, grocery workers across Western Washington held informational pickets at 38 locations to send a message to Safeway, QFC, and Fred Meyers that they are serious about getting a fair contract. Just yesterday I stood with fast food workers in the pouring rain at the Fight for 15 Rally and March where we went through capitol hill letting workers know that we’ve got their back if they are ready to stand up. When I say we, I am not referring only to unions, but rather to the greater community.

       

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Perhaps that is what is so exciting about this time for me. Looking around and seeing not only workers and labor organizers, but actual random people who are just standing up because they believe workers deserve better.

       
The next big action will be the Rally for Respect on September 5, 11:00 AM at the Renton Walmart. As the largest retailer in the world and third largest employer in the world (2^ndbeing China’s Red Army and 1^stbeing our US Department of Defense), what Walmart does affects everyone. Their wage scale and the way they treat workers in this country and abroad set a terrible standard that other companies are clamoring to follow.

       

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This week also coincided with the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington where MLK gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Anniversaries are an invitation to contemplate what has been accomplished. And in light of this anniversary. I have to say, not enough.

       
While the dream Dr. King referred to during that speech was one of racial equality, as King’s activism evolved he became increasingly concerned with achieving economic justice as well. His last major campaign was focused on poverty and one of his last acts of solidarity was to stand with the sanitation workers. What he realized, and tragically we as a community are just coming to realize is that a living wage is not some out there, idealistic goal but a necessity if we plan on having a functional economy.

       

Workers in Washington have a lot going for them. At $9.19, our state boasts the highest minimum wage in the country. Just recently Seattle passed a mandatory paid sick and safe leave, meaning even workers without seniority will have access to paid leave for when they or their families are ill or if they need to attend court for domestic violence situations. But we can do better. What I have come to realize is that better wages, health care, sick leave and in general a higher quality of life doesn’t just magically happen. It happens when workers and their communities come together to demand it.

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 Reagan Jackson is a writer, artist, YA fiction aficionado, afro-punk, international educator, and community organizer based in Seattle, WA. You can find her most Tuesdays at the Seattle Poetry Slam or maybe just being nerdy at her favorite bookstores.