Equal Time With Martha Burk

Labor Day has been a national holiday since 1894, when President Grover Cleveland signed the law making the first Monday in September a day off for workers. Labor unions had campaigned for years to gain recognition of both the contributions and the mistreatment of workers at the time. Since then, unions have enabled workers to negotiate for higher wages and benefits, and better conditions in all kinds of workplaces, from the textile mills of the 1800s to thousands of other workplaces today. History is littered with examples of of all kinds of dirty tricks to keep unions out, up to and including murdering organizers. Today it’s a little more genteel than it used to be. Companies don’t generally fight unions with bullets and billy clubs. Nope, they’re a lot more subtle.