New Jersey Labor: Rising to Meet the Moment This Labor Day

By New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech

When we think of Labor Day, we often think about how we plan to spend that day off with our friends and family, as we reflect on the progress we have made in our country for working people throughout the history of the labor movement. This Labor Day is different, due to the recent attacks on workers’ rights from the highest levels of government.

More than just a holiday, this year’s Labor Day should be a call to action for every single worker, for everyone who believes in the sanctity of our democracy, and for those who believe in fairness, equality, and economic security for all.

From building trades workers, government workers, retail workers, to healthcare workers, and service and industrial, workers from every sector in our labor movement perform essential and vital work each day. Today we celebrate these core principles that serve as the foundation of our labor movement which uplifts the voices of millions of working people in New Jersey. Yet, we also know that there is more work to be done for working people to ensure that we can continue to exercise the fundamental rights and freedoms our predecessors have fought and died for.

Historically, our unions have been on the very frontlines of the battles to improve the lives of everyday Americans. We have our unions to thank for the eight-hour workday, and for laws that ensure that workers can return home safely to their families. However, in the past months, the progress we have made has been jeopardized in an effort to pander to the needs of billionaires and corporations, all while sidelining working people. In July, Lori Chavez-DeRemer the Secretary of Labor, announced that the Department of Labor planned to rescind 63 regulations that are instrumental in protecting worker’s health and safety, claiming that this decision “eliminated unnecessary regulations that stifle growth and limit opportunity.”

The right to workplace safety regulations, to collectively bargain, and to organize should never be in jeopardy for union members, and yet everyday these basic rights and freedoms are under attack from the highest levels of government. However, at a time when support for unions is at an all time high with 70% of Americans saying that they support unions there is no reason for these attacks to be tolerated, and there is no reason to believe that we will not prevail.

Every day, whether it is through lawsuits, rallies, or by calling on our legislators to do the right thing and stand by working people, the labor movement is fighting back.

Any attack on our labor movement is not just limited to our workplace, it contaminates working people’s ability to put food on the table, retire with dignity, access quality healthcare, and the quality of the public education their children receive. Above all, the fate of our democracy is intwined with the fate of our labor movement. As the late president of the AFL-CIO John Sweeney said, “If labor has no role, democracy has no future.”

With the New Jersey Gubernatorial Election just two months away, it couldn’t be any more apparent that every day from now until November 4 is consequential for the future of our labor movement. Our collective voices are too important to not be heard this election, and so we will continue our efforts to carry out a mobilization campaign like never before for the future of the one million members we represent. Each of our actions matter in creating a tangible difference in the quality of the lives we live. As union members know, nothing has ever simply been handed over to us. We will continue to show up for our fellow members each and every day and for ourselves, because an injury to one is an injury to all.

Together, we will ensure that with each generation, the standards for workers’ safety will continue to rise in addition to the bar for our benefits, pensions, overtime, and paid family leave. Guided and united by our union values: equality, dignity, and fairness for all working people, we will continue to rise to meet the moment and fight for our hard-won rights every day, if that’s what it takes.