Rep. Ellison Statement on Labor Day

Statement

"From the factory floor to the high school classroom, American workers are the backbone of our economy and the foundation of our nation's prosperity. Labor Day is an opportunity for us to honor the workers who teach our children, maintain our highways, and build our homes. It is also a time for us to show our gratitude for the labor movement, which has been on the front lines of the fight for equity and justice since our nation's founding.

"80 years ago John Belor and Henry Ness, two Minneapolis truck drivers, were shot and killed while striking for the right to join a union. Throughout our nation's history, workers have sacrificed for the rights and privileges many of us take for granted today. The minimum wage, the 40-hour workweek and weekends, Social Security and Medicare, the right to collectively bargain -- all won by the American labor movement. Workers paid for these victories with their sweat and blood. Some of them paid with their lives.

"And still the fight for economic justice continues. Workers are being asked to work longer hours for less pay. They're having their wages kept from them and being forced to work without paid-leave or health benefits. They're being fired for trying to create unions and organize for better working conditions.

"The American Dream, which so many have fought for, is still too far out of reach for too many who reach for it. We must do more to lift workers up, to ensure that those who work hard have the opportunity to succeed. This is why we need a living wage. This is why we need better working conditions. This is why we need to protect the right to organize. We owe it to those who made a way for us to make a way for future generations.

"On August 26th, Minnesotan home health workers voted to unionize in the largest labor election in state history. Their vote was a vote to restore economic mobility and help rebuild the middle class. Senator Paul Wellstone used to say that if politics is the art of the possible, then organizing is the art of making more possible. The workers of America are making a better future possible. Let's take today to thank them."

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