Whose labor is it? A few thoughts on Labor Day

In 1950 there was a parliamentary election in Britain. This ten year old boy asked his parents over supper who was winning. My Dad answered first by saying that 'we' were losing. My mother then gave an impish grin and said 'No we're not' She, as the daughter of a union organizer, had voted for the incoming Labour Party. Nevertheless, it was not until about fifteen years later after the famous Dagenham workers strike, when women struck for equal pay in the Ford Motor plant and the strike spread, that a Labour government passed the equal pay legislation in Britain. 

It is difficult for me to believe that fifty further years later this simple point is not the law in every civilized country. But not here folks in the land of the free and the brave. How is it that someone doing the same job of work is paid more money simply because he has a penis? I know - testosterone tends to create stronger muscles, but we're not talking about sledge-hammer jobs. And seventy years ago Rosie the riveter showed that women could do a lot of what were previously considered a man's job.

We have a Congressional election this November. It's simple: ask your candidate if he or she is for equal pay for equal work. If not, don't vote for him.