Solidarity Forever

Here's a song for Labor Day --- performed by Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president-elect of the 3.2-million member National Education Association, now the largest and one of the most effective labor unions in the United States. Pretty good musician, too.

Labor Day, around since the late 1880s, is another of those holidays that's come unhitched from its original purpose --- to honor those who work for a living rather than those who manage (and exploit when the opportunity arises) those who work for a living.

Curiously, the U.S. labor movement struggles these days in part because of its success. Many workers, treated comparatively well by their corporate masters in part because of the potential threat of organized labor, figure organized labor no longer is necessary. 

Or, because corporate interests have figured out how to exploit impoverished workers in other countries in order to keep the shelves at Wal-Mart stocked, buy into Republican gospel --- that organized labor is bad for the economy.

Neither is the case. As most likely will become increasingly evident. Solidarity forever!