Sunday, November 11, 2012

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!


Annual Macy's Labor Day Parade
with Snoopy the Roofer Float

It's started again! 

Just after Flag Day and well before July 4th, commercials and decorations have once again exploded everywhere and anywhere you go.  

Let's all sing:
It's beginning to look a lot like Labor Day!
A Fair Deal for every Jane and Joe,
Take a look at that closing mill, jobs to China fly they will,
But we'll honor every worker as they go!

Yes, Labor Day Season!  
The most wonderful time of the year!

What can match the grand buildup to Labor Day with its lights, tinsel, and "Unfair to Local 457" picketing signs?  Everywhere you look you see Labor Day Villages springing up - many made of candy, chocolate, and other treats - all with the Triangle Shirtwast Factory right at their heart and center. 

And 'tis the season when he comes to your local mall or department store, boys and girls, none other than 


Old  Grandfather Gompers!   



Children love to sit in the lap of Old Grandfather Gompers as he regales then with tales of 19th Century Labor Disputes, including the Chicago Haymarket Riot of 1886.

Then arrives Labor Day itself with its barbecues, pool parties,  and deep reflection on the contributions of the American working man and woman.  Many enjoy this day by playing golf or tennis at posh country clubs, driving down to their condos at the shore, or eating out at fine restaurants which working class Americans could never afford where they stiff the waiter because the bread basket was late.

As Clement C. Moore penned in the classic The Night Before Labor Day

'Twas the night before Labor Day when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a private equity louse; 
The organizing kits were hung by the chimney with care, 
In hopes that Grandfather Gompers soon would be there; 
The children were nestled all snug in their beds 
While visions of higher wages and shorter hours danced in their heads.

What a shame that Labor Day comes but once a year. It's the true Season of Peace ... and piece work.

As Clement Moore wrote: 

And I heard him exclaim as he strode out of  sight, 
Happy Labor Day  to All and to All, a Collective Bargaining Right!




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Old Grandfather Gompers attempts to talk a Snowman into joining the AFS, the American Federation of Snowmen


3 comments:

Lexi said...

We don't have Labor Day. Or even Labour Day. It's not fair!

Perry Block said...

Next you'll be telling me you don't even have the Fourth of July!

Or as you would call it "the Fououth of July."

Perry Block said...

Thank you, Libby.

Here's hoping you make many bookings for the upcoming Labor Day Season!