ClarkCast 024: Labor Day Message
transcript by Reg NYC

Happy Labor Day.

Today it seems we use Labor Day as a well-earned break to rejoice with friends and family, and of course, it marks the end of summer, the coming of football season, school and sweaters.

When I was a Commander in the military, I always worried about traffic accidents on Labor Day, because our big challenge was to get all our troops home safely - everybody took a long weekend - and get them back safely, and that was the measure of command effectiveness. And I think it's good for every American to be safe and be conscious of safety on this Labor Day weekend.

You know, Labor Day's been a part of our life for more than a hundred years. Democratic President Grover Cleveland signed it into law. Samuel Gompers, one of America's great union leaders called it "the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward when their rights and wrongs would be discussed, that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders and march in phalanx and feel the stronger for it." It was a celebration of people who worked. It was a celebration for people who worked. And it was a celebration by people who worked - a celebration of labor, of toil, of human effort, of energy - and the union movement created it, stood for it and represented this.

In the 1950s when I was growing up, American was a manufacturing economy. More than half of America's income came from the manufacturing sector, and 50% of American households had union members under their roofs. In those days unions were not so much in the services and governmental centers, but they were in manufacturing. Today unions have changed, but also the number of households with union members has declined. Some reports have that number down at around 15%, one-five percent today, meaning 85% of American households don't have the experience of understanding unions. I don't think that means there's no role for unions in our changing economy, but I think it does mean that we have to reflect carefully on the contributions that unions can best make in the 21st century global market economy.

I'd like to take just a few minutes and talk about unions today, because they're very near and dear to my heart. My son's a member of the union. My sister-in-law is a member of the union. And of course as an Army guy, we didn't have unions, but we had strong Sergeants Major and First Sergeants who really looked after the troops. And we really believed in taking care of the people who worked with us and were in the organization with us. So, I feel very close to the labor movement and to unions.

I think, though, as we look ahead that what we have to recognize is the gradual transition of the economy from an economy in which unions served as the essential element of interface between a management that was determined to drive costs down and profit up and workers who lacked the education, skill, leadership individually to confront that management and speak up for their own interests. I think as the economy's changed and gone more global, there are new opportunities for the union movement.

For example, what we saw in the military was the need to take care of soldiers irrespective of their unit of assignment. So, it didn't matter whether you were in an artillery unit at Fort Sill or an artillery unit at Fort Stewart, if you moved between these units, you were still part of the Army. You still had your healthcare. You still had your training responsibility. People still knew how to reach you if there was an emergency, and you had somebody you could contact if there was a family emergency, even if you were transitioning between units. The unit that you were assigned to wasn't responsible for your education or your professional development, schooling. That was handled separately. The unit that you were assigned to just developed you in terms of your performance, skills and contribution in that unit.

As I look at the workplace today in the global economy, I think that model can work for American business. I think that unions can become the backbone of labor in America, growing in importance, responsible for providing developmental education, responsible for organizing healthcare, providing emergency assistance, serving as the transition focal point, helping point union members to new job opportunities and new skills. I think to do this opens up new possibilities of teamwork, collaboration with management without giving up the essential responsibilities that unions must have to speak up for the needs of workers, to speak up for fair wages, for full benefits, for all the other elements of workplace safety and performance that are essential to the workers that sometimes management doesn't recognize or a strong union voice to help with. Without giving up any of that, I think unions can do even more and help the economy even more as we move ahead.

Isn't it possible that we could have a union movement in which individual unions work together, share membership, help union members transition from one union to another, one location to another, one job to another, one profession to another, in which unions take pride in the number of their members who have graduated from the union movement and become part of management, in which unions serve as the, as the source for employment information, direct members to training, provide training opportunities and licensing, not only in their own skill-sets, but in skill-sets for jobs yet to be, encourage people to move beyond the boundaries of the skills for that particular union and move elsewhere geographically or skill-wise to keep up with the changing needs of the economy? A union movement that was organized like this would be an important partner to management. It would be vital to management and would be sought after by management.

And so, I think that as we look ahead on this Labor Day, we can find opportunities to reflect on the great achievements that unions have given us in the past. So much of what we appreciate in modern America, not just Labor Day, but so much of what we appreciate is due to the influence and effect of the labor movement - retirement, paid vacations, healthcare benefits, 40-hour work week, weekends - all of that came from the labor movement. We take it for granted today, but looking ahead, there's a new requirement for the labor movement, and that is to work in a new collaborative role with other institutions in the country to help strengthen the productivity, increase the skills, improve the fitness and health, and add to the quality of life of the American worker and the American family. I think the labor movement can do this. It starts with minimum wage and a fight for fair trade, enforcing the spirit of the Davis-Bacon Act and all the other things that labor stands for. But it goes beyond this into building a new labor movement to enhance the prosperity and dignity of America and improve our national strength for decades to come.

What better time to give some thought to this than Labor Day? So, let's enjoy it and use it, remember why we have it. I'd love to hear from you on these ideas about unions and the labor movement in America. Thank you.