Happy Labor Day!

[CDNSushi]

This one's a little late as it's more appropriate for International Labor Day (May 1) but here goes anyway...

It's really a catchy little ditty. (You can listen to it here: http://unionsong.com/u078.html )

Stand Together
A song by Bernard Carney©1996 Bernard Carney

Chorus
We will all stand together and sing a union song
We will all stand together and know that we belong
To the strength of the future
In a common working bond
Stand together and sing a union song

There's trouble fast approaching
And the skies are overcast
But let us not lose sight of
All the lessons of the past
The victories that were fought for
In battles loud and long
By the millions who sang a union song

United we will bargain
But divided we will fall
Injustice to the one will mean
Injustice to us all
But when we stand together
The future will belong
To the millions who sing a union song

(optional May Day verse)

It was on the first of May
That I heard the union say
Eight hours of decent working
For eight hours of decent pay
And we won't forget the reasons
Why were marching here today
With the millions who sing a union song

[Beertigger]

The Union Maid

There once was a union maid, she never was afraid
Of the goons and the ginks and the company finks and the
deputy sheriffs who made the raid.
She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,
And when the Legion boys come 'round
She always stood her ground.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

This union maid was wise to the tricks of company spies,
She couldn't be fooled by a company stool, she'd always organize the guys.
She always got her way when she struck for better pay.
She'd show her card to the National Guard
And this is what she'd say

You gals who want to be free, just take a tip from me;
Get you a man who's a union man and join the ladies' auxiliary.
Married life ain't hard when you got a union card,
A union man has a happy life when he's got a union wife.

[PiobBear]

American worker's Real (adjusted for inflation) Median Income peaked in 1970, and has been declining ever since. Less than 9% of the American workforce is unionized, and at least 20% have no health insurance, and only half have any sort of pension plan (25% of which are frozen), and which collectively have been underfunded by $450 billion. 15% of American workers have a net worth of zero; 20% earn less than $20,000 a year. The price of gasoline and food is up 40%. 2.5 million Americans face foreclosure this year. The average American has 8 credit cards, and owes $8,000; an increasing number are using credit cards to pay for monthly basic necessities and health care, total consumer debt is $2.46 trillion and increasing. Bankruptcy filings are up 95.8%. The real unemployment rate is 12.3% and expected to grow at least through 2009. Nearly half a million jobs have disappeared so far this year alone. Most of these numbers haven't been seen since the Great Depression.

Meanwhile, income of the richest 10% rose 87%; income of the richest .1% rose 181%; and income of the richest .01% rose 497%, a distribution of wealth not seen since the Gilded Age.

Precisely what, pray tell, does the working class have to "celebrate" on Labor Day?