Labor Day Cancelled

Maybe it came as a shock to some that the Labor Day Parade was canceled in Grand Rapids, but it shouldn't have.

The lead sponsor (the UAW) said it was committing its resources to the fall election and would forgo the parade as a result. This is a clear recognition of the fact that the labor movement is at the breaking point in the U.S., and cannot take another Republican administration.

The industrial unions are in tatters from years of outsourcing and the decline in manufacturing in the U.S. They are in a defensive crouch, trying to protect the rights of current members and retirees. The emerging service unions are hamstrung by aggressively anti-union sentiment in Washington and the effective union busting tactics of corporations such as Wal-Mart.

Workers seem to have forgotten what the union movement did for them, and don't recognize that the demise of the unions could make benefits like vacations and pensions disappear (oh sorry, pensions have already disappeared.) A UAW friend of mind likes to saw "we are the people that brought you the weekend".

It's true, and workers need to remember that this November. The parade we really need is the union-hating Republicans marching out of Washington.