September 4, 2020

Labor Day is Our Day

On this Labor Day, more than ever we must lay claim to the holiday and all that it stands for: recognition of the working men and women whose sacrifice, struggle and sweat has always carried us from challenge to triumph and moved our nations forward.

Through wars, recessions, depressions and pandemics, it has been workers and their unions on the frontlines, and no one has been more willing than the strong, proud and united members of LIUNA across the U.S. and Canada.

LIUNA members have risked their livelihoods and even their lives for justice, honor and strength for all workers, and we continue to do so today. It is LIUNA members and all essential workers who keep our economy afloat in these historic, turbulent times.

Labor Day is a time to reflect and commemorate all that has been accomplished. It is LIUNA members who continue to build and maintain North America despite the COVID-19 crisis. It is LIUNA members in the federal and public sector, in healthcare and those in the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, who continue to go to work every day, to serve the needs of our communities, our states, our provinces and our countries.

On this day, we must also recommit ourselves to fight against the anti-union, anti-worker forces of evil that threaten both unions and the middle class. We must combat efforts to gut our pay and benefits, push back on so-called right-to-work laws and the dismantling of the Davis Bacon Act. It is also imperative that we protect the right to negotiate in the public and private sector and fight for comprehensive immigration reform.

As always, may every LIUNA member feel the power, be the power and use the power! On behalf of myself, General Secretary-Treasurer Armand E. Sabitoni and the entire LIUNA General Executive Board, I wish you and your family a safe, meaningful and well-deserved Labor Day.