EDITORIAL LABOR DAY BREATHER AMERICANS HAVE EARNED A DAY OFF - AND HOW.FOR most Americans, Labor Day Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. marks the end of summer and a much deserved day off to spend with friends and family. Life is tough for American workers. We have the highest productivity as well as the highest standard of living in the world, but we work our tails off for both. It's a trade-off: Bigger cars, more TV sets and a home more than twice the size of the typical 1960s model. Our houses are air-conditioned, and our SUVs now come equipped with DVD players A stand-alone device that plays DVDs. It contains a DVD drive and the electronics to decode the digital video. The device may play only manufactured DVDs, or it may be able to play DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs. DVD players are cabled to a TV or home theater system for display. . But at what cost? We work longer hours, more days and more years than past generations. The family vacation has become a quaint quaint adj. quaint·er, quaint·est 1. Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way: "Sarah Orne Jewett . . . thing of the past for many. Family time is limited, with both parents working late and the kids shuttled around from one activity to the other. And those are just the burdens we impose on ourselves. There are also plenty of involuntary involuntary adj. or adv. without intent, will, or choice. Participation in a crime is involuntary if forced by immediate threat to life or health of oneself or one's loved ones, and will result in dismissal or acquittal. INVOLUNTARY. burdens that today's worker must shoulder. Lifetime job security no longer exists in America, at least not for most people in the private sector. That means most workers operate knowing that their job could disappear at any time - an especially daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin prospect in these days of downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing and outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. . Then there's the ever-mounting costs of health care and the incrementally rising toll of taxes at the local, state and federal levels. And the constant threat of lawsuits has inflated insurance costs of all kinds, meaning that an ever-larger share of American workers' paychecks go to invisible services they're likely never to use. Traditionally, it's the labor movement that's shielded workers from some of capitalism's harsher realities, forcing employers to put people before profits. But the American labor movement has become increasingly irrelevant in the private sector and limited to the public sector, where it secures for its members lavish compensation plans that drain public treasuries and reduce the services that benefit the whole of society. This Labor Day marks a good time to reconsider our priorities, as individuals and as a nation. It also ought to serve as a call to action for the labor movement to seek a more active role in protecting all workers, not just the privileged few. But most of all, the holiday should be a respite RESPITE, contracts, civil law. An act by which a debtor who is unable to satisfy his debts at the moment, transacts (i. e. compromises) with his creditors, and obtains from them time or delay for the payment of the sums which he owes to them. Louis. Code, 3051. , a mandatory breather for a society that has a hard time just relaxing. Kick back, spend time with your family, enjoy the day. You've earned it. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion