I may not be all that…

…but I am, for the moment, "it." Well, part of "it," anyway. PSoTD has tagged me among an illustrious group with this query.

What does the federal holiday, "Labor Day", really mean to you?

First of all, Labor Day doesn't mean "federal holiday" to me. The Feds were late to the game. Labor Day was envisioned and created whole cloth by the labor movement itself. Like the eight hour day, the five day week, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, worker's comp and so many other achievements of working people, the holiday wasn't a gift from a benevolent government or enlightened management, but an affirmation of the value of work, and of workers, by workers themselves.

Organized workers. Organized to work together on the job and in their society.

Together.

What's Labor Day mean to me? Ralph Chaplin summed it up pretty well…

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one
But the union makes us strong

Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever
Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong!

It is we who plowed the prairies, built the cities where they trade
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid
Now we stand outcast and starving 'mid the wonders we have made
But the union makes us strong

Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever
Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong!

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn
But without our brain and muscle, not a single wheel can turn
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong

Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever
Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong!

It's a celebration of what we can do together. Of what we're doing now. See Nathan Newman on The Brilliance of Labor today.

(Oh, yeah. It doesn't really mean "holiday" to me, either. I'm working tonight. Drop by The Cabin in Richmond Beach, sing a chorus of Solidarity Forever and I'll buy you a beer.)