A Gentle Reminder to all US Workers
It is a story that dates back to 150 years ago. Back then, the working day was calculated by looking up to the sky: from sunrise to sunset. It took many struggles, protests, strikes and casualties for workers to achieve the right to legally dedicate only eight hours a day to labor.
In many countries around the world, this is considered a national holyday. Not in the United States of America. The story of the U.S. and May Day is sadly ironic.
The first of May actually commemorates the martyrs of Haymarket in Chicago who lost their lives protesting to demand for an eight hour working day. The tragic events occurred at the beginning of May 1886 and three years later the Second Socialist International declared May First International Workers’ Day.
In the year 2009, workers are still exploited worldwide. In Central America, the 1994 NAFTA agreements have allowed agribusiness to expropriate campesinos and take over their land. National governments have opened their door to foreign capital and highly mechanized and destructive practices in the agriculture of their respective countries. Rarely have Central American governments resisted this process that have thrown more people into poverty and often forced them to look for a better future up north (in the United States or in Canada). Human labor is still needed, even in the era of industrial agriculture. Campesinos, braccianti, farm workers, women and men, children and elders all over the world are among the most exploited workers. They harvest the land, in most cases no longer theirs, on behalf of twenty-first century faceless, unaccountable agribusiness. Yet, these workers—human beings with families to feed and dreams to realize—are the ones who pick the vegetables and fruits we enjoy.
Farm workers in the United States, from Immokalee, Florida to Anthony, New Mexico, are still paid by piecework. And their working days still begin before the sun rises and end when the sun sets.
In the United States, Labor Day is national holiday as well but it has been moved to September purposely to forget the infamous history of the martyrs of Chicago. To once again erase the history of class struggles in the U.S. Class does not exist in America. Just mentioning the word is enough to be called a communist or a socialist, as if there was something inherently wrong in believing that capitalism is not the way to international social justice. Hard work and strong values are all it’s needed to make it in this country.
On May 1st I would like to remind all American workers of the great tradition of struggles and protests that they have in this country. US workers' struggles for better working conditions have made this a better country. In the words of President Obama, these Americans have done their part "to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.” (A More Perfect Union - Delivered March 18, 2008- Philadelphia).
Hundreds of people throughout the country have rallied and marched today to celebrate May Day and support immigrant workers and request a humane Immigrant reform.
I believe today is the time to recognize agriculture workers their right to work eight hours. I believe today is the time to acknowledge the role that over eleven millions of undocumented immigrants play in the US economy and offer them a path to citizenship. I believe global citizenship rights are the future. And it will be a brighter one for all humanity.
In many countries around the world, this is considered a national holyday. Not in the United States of America. The story of the U.S. and May Day is sadly ironic.
The first of May actually commemorates the martyrs of Haymarket in Chicago who lost their lives protesting to demand for an eight hour working day. The tragic events occurred at the beginning of May 1886 and three years later the Second Socialist International declared May First International Workers’ Day.
In the year 2009, workers are still exploited worldwide. In Central America, the 1994 NAFTA agreements have allowed agribusiness to expropriate campesinos and take over their land. National governments have opened their door to foreign capital and highly mechanized and destructive practices in the agriculture of their respective countries. Rarely have Central American governments resisted this process that have thrown more people into poverty and often forced them to look for a better future up north (in the United States or in Canada). Human labor is still needed, even in the era of industrial agriculture. Campesinos, braccianti, farm workers, women and men, children and elders all over the world are among the most exploited workers. They harvest the land, in most cases no longer theirs, on behalf of twenty-first century faceless, unaccountable agribusiness. Yet, these workers—human beings with families to feed and dreams to realize—are the ones who pick the vegetables and fruits we enjoy.
Farm workers in the United States, from Immokalee, Florida to Anthony, New Mexico, are still paid by piecework. And their working days still begin before the sun rises and end when the sun sets.
In the United States, Labor Day is national holiday as well but it has been moved to September purposely to forget the infamous history of the martyrs of Chicago. To once again erase the history of class struggles in the U.S. Class does not exist in America. Just mentioning the word is enough to be called a communist or a socialist, as if there was something inherently wrong in believing that capitalism is not the way to international social justice. Hard work and strong values are all it’s needed to make it in this country.
On May 1st I would like to remind all American workers of the great tradition of struggles and protests that they have in this country. US workers' struggles for better working conditions have made this a better country. In the words of President Obama, these Americans have done their part "to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.” (A More Perfect Union - Delivered March 18, 2008- Philadelphia).
Hundreds of people throughout the country have rallied and marched today to celebrate May Day and support immigrant workers and request a humane Immigrant reform.
I believe today is the time to recognize agriculture workers their right to work eight hours. I believe today is the time to acknowledge the role that over eleven millions of undocumented immigrants play in the US economy and offer them a path to citizenship. I believe global citizenship rights are the future. And it will be a brighter one for all humanity.
Tags: farmworkers, mayday, rights, workers
Add a Comment
2 Comments
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Comment by Silvia Giagnoni on May 4, 2009 at 4:41pm
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George,
thank for making the point about education. I know first-hand how ideology works in the US. Suffice is to see how clueless are college students about certain part of history of the US and the rest of the world. Every country has its own invisible histories, but especially here in the US the Gramscian hegemony has been quite effective indeed...
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Comment by George De Stefano on May 2, 2009 at 8:04pm -
Ciao Silvia
Thanks for posting this -- very good points and I totally agree. It's shocking how little most Americans know about labor history, but perhaps not surprising given our corporate-owned media and our educational system. Evviva la classe operaia!
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