Tales told to me as a child…
By Gwyllm Llwydd)
My mother’s family were Unionist. My grandfather organized Rail Workers in the early 19th century up into the Teens. The Pinkertons made 2 attempts on his life. The last one, he defended himself with swinging his lantern, braining the Pinkerton before he could be shot. He stood trial, and was acquitted as the story goes.
My uncle William was an organizer for the Teamsters. He was assassinated in 1936. My first name in part is in his memory, along with being my fathers’ first name of course.
Without Unions, we could still have kids going up the equivalent of chimneys etc. We are seeing that trend again in dismembering work safety, and child labor laws in states that are run by the GOP. This must be resisted.
I stand for our friends and comrades at Kroger/Fred Meyers & Seasons with their strikes going on today, and into next week.
Take a stand folks, an injury to one is an injury to all. Don’t buy the BS put out by the media, which has been owned by Oligarchs forever. Go back in history and read the press. Shameful.
I have high hopes for the future. Organize, Dammit!
(Contributed by Gwyllm Llwydd)
Comment from Michael Crowley:
It may come as a surprise to many of you that the
Labor Day
of which Gwyl wrote so movingly is only one of hundreds of Labor Days celebrated around the world. There is one astounding difference howerver: all the other Labor Days are celebrated on May 1st.
Only in the US did the government decide that the US Labor Day should be celebrated at the other end of the year, six months from May Day so as to be as far from solidarity with the “workers of the world” as possible.
Let’s unite,
Mike Crowley
