Samuel Gompers and Harry Bridges Must Be Spinning in Their Graves

Samuel Gompers and Harry Bridges Must Be Spinning in Their Graves
You probably don’t know who Samuel Gompers or Harry Bridges were. That’s fine; I wouldn’t expect you to know this.

Samuel Gompers is largely recognized as the founder of the modern American labor movement. One of his major results was the creation of a national holiday in honor of the working man and the labor movement. Labor Day is celebrated by organized labor and the rest of the nation on the first Monday in September.

Harry Bridges was the long term leader of the Pacific Coast longshoremen and dock workers. Bridges and his union fought countless battles with the shipping companies that resulted in several deaths of union workers. Labor Day is a major event for the union today. The Los Angeles and Long Beach locals unions organize the biggest Labor Day parade in California.

So, why you ask, is Charles going into the history lesson.

Because a labor union local at a Tyson chicken plant in Tennessee negotiated a new labor contract that dropped the traditional Labor Day holiday for observance of Eidi al Fitr.

Eidi al Fitr is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. This year, the holiday will be observed on Thursday, October 2nd. Since Ramadan is based on the calendar on a lunar cycle, the holiday will change every year. That ought to make plant operations tricky to arrange.

So much for labor solidarity and labor tradition.

Obviously, this decision has not gone over very well with many Americans. Some Americans are in favor of a boycott of Tyson food products. I can do that easily; I can eat California chicken and more fresh fish.

Doug would say that I could eat more beef or pork too. I could do that easily enough.


Be well and stay happy.